[2025.01.11] The Japan Times - Yuzuru Hanyu's Next Chapter

[yuzurujenn]

*article is in English, keeping this here for archive purpose*

 

 

2025.01.11

 

Source: The Japan Times Weekend - Sports, pg 14

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2025/01/11/more-sports/yuzuru-hanyu-interview/ 
Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20250111100827/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2025/01/11/more-sports/yuzuru-hanyu-interview/

 

 

YUZURU HANYU’S NEXT CHAPTER
The two-time Olympic gold medalist may no longer be skating competitively, but don’t call it a retirement

 

"You have no more than 30 minutes."

That's the stern reminder I'm given before being ushered into a room to speak with Japan's "Ice Prince."

 

Spoiler

The clock starts ticking, and the first six minutes are spent on a photo shoot in a conference room turned into a makeshift studio in his hometown of Sendai, about 350 kilometers northeast of Tokyo. 

He instantly puts on his game face and starts posing. He doesn't need instructions: Cameras and flashbulbs are part of his life.
He’s dressed in head-to-toe black athleisure wear- black hoodie, black pants and black sneakers. I’m told it’s his go-to outfit when he’s not donning glitzy costumes, which are specially created to accentuate his pencil-thin physique and enhance his performance on the ice.

When the photographer lets him go, he moves gracefully onto a sofa chair and signals with a friendly nod that he's ready for my questions. He's unintimidating and approachable, giving off boy-next-door vibes.

It’s been over two years since Yuzuru Hanyu- one of the best athletes Japan has ever produced- retired from competition, but he's not quite gone and he's far from forgotten.

 

Life after the Olympics

Hanyu hasn't exactly hung up his skates. In fact, his life has hardly slowed down since his Olympic days. In his post-competition life as a professional show skater, he still spends about 30 hours per week training – 15 hours on-ice and 15 hours off-ice – and every waking (and sleeping) moment thinking about figure skating.

 

"I'm never not thinking about figure skating" Hanyu says matter-of-factly.

 

"It's funny, in my dreams I'm still a competitor, and I'm running late, forgetting my costume or standing on the ice without my skates. I wake up from these bad dreams sometimes, but I have zero regrets about retiring because I love what I do now. I've found a new purpose in life."

 

Hanyu, who turned 30 last month, is crafting a second act as fulfilling as the first. He is relishing the chance to explore creative possibilities outside the realm of competition.

 

After winning two Olympic gold medals, two world championship titles, four Grand Prix Final victories and pretty much every honor a figure skater could win in both his senior and junior careers, Hanyu announced his retirement from competition in July 2022, shocking his legion of supporters around the globe, collectively known as “Fanyu.”

 

Now, the 172-centimeter, 57-kilogram skater produces and performs in solo ice shows – there is one stop remaining on his three-leg Ice Story tour – and he recently released a sci-fi storybook called “Echoes of Life,” designed to maximize the show-going experience.

 

He's a storyteller. He's also a Gucci brand ambassador. And a philanthropist. And so much more.

 

Safe to say, unlike many retired athletes, Hanyu didn't experience an existential crisis when he ended his competitive career.

 

"Maybe because I didn't retire into the broadcast booth like many athletes do," he says. "The butterflies are still there. "

 

He says moving on was relatively easy because, although the athlete label was something he wore proudly most of his life, he knew he had more to offer than just being an Olympic figure skater.

 

"When I retired and turned professional, (kyogen stage actor) Mansai Nomura said my name should be my job title going forward, and somehow it felt right. I want to be an artist but I'll always be an athlete because sport enriches my art. I don't want to let labels define me. I identify as Yuzuru Hanyu," he says.

 

Hanyu isn't feeling nostalgic about his glory days – at least not yet. The competitive spirit that propelled him to Olympic glory hasn’t faded: it simply has found a new arena. He says he’s under more pressure than he ever was.

 

He doesn’t keep up with figure skating news and has no plans to go to Italy for the next Winter Olympics in 2026. He doesn’t think watching competitions helps him in his career at this point because his focus is to “think outside the figure skating box.”

How ideas are born

A true artist, Hanyu is always in search of aesthetics and seems to have an invisible antenna attuned to frequencies others might miss.

 

He finds creative inspiration from art masterpieces and world-class talents in performing arts and sports, citing Royal Ballet dancers as an example. Sometimes he is surprised at what he notices and how it can inspire him.

 

"It's more about what than who. What tugs at my heartstrings," he says. "My antenna is always up. I make a mental note when I come across a body movement I like."

 

Most recently, the movements of NBA players have caught his eye and piqued his interest.

 

"Never would've guessed, right?" he says cheekily.

 

In order to refine his own tastes in art, Hanyu believes that he has to consume, experiment and learn more about what makes things beautiful.

 

For example, Picasso's drawings made no sense to him as a child, but Hanyu says he was able to find a way into the artist's work and appreciate them as he understood the deeper meanings behind the obvious.

 

Like Picasso, who redefined the boundaries of art, Hanyu is experimenting with new styles and techniques to reinvent his skating.

 

"Critics might agree that I'm making good art in the figure skating genre, but I want to impress people who are familiar with other forms of art like music, opera, dance and drama. In order to do that, I have to improve my aesthetic sense by understanding and appreciating art."

 

"Of course a seasoned skater or a knowledgeable fan will have a different viewing experience from someone who is watching my show for the first time. But my aim is to make spectators go ‘wow,’ even if they can’t tell how many times I rotated in the air or can’t name the technique."

Away from the ice

Hanyu no longer has a personal coach or trainer. He plans his own meals, sleeping rituals and workout regimens.

Weeks before a big performance, he stops snacking and drinking soda. As far as his diet goes, he eats according to his body's needs and occasionally takes supplements.

 

Even on the rare occasion that he’s playing video games and being lazy, he says he’s actively recovering to improve the quality of his training the following day.

 

When I told him that active rest sounds like an oxymoron, he threw his head back and gave a jolly laugh, right from his belly.

 

"Call me a skating geek," he says.

 

"Since my early teens, I had one goal: to become an Olympic gold medalist. My life revolved around that singular motivation that shaped my daily routines, and it's hard to live any other way. I'm scared to do anything that's unrelated to skating."

 

He says he tries to take one rest day a week, but he's never sure what to do with his time away from the rink.

He is notoriously private, especially when it comes to his family. In November 2023, he revealed on social media that he and his wife of three months were getting a divorce, citing intense scrutiny from the media and public and safety concerns as primary reasons for the separation.

 

He never signed up to have his privacy invaded, but Hanyu tells himself it's one of the costs of fame.

 

"It’s not like I don't long for an ordinary life. But the pressure of being in the spotlight is part of what allows me to create the stories and programs that I do. So I've come to terms with my reality," he says. "Sometimes I find myself seeking solitude, though, and when that happens I make sure to give myself alone time."

 

What normal thing does a man who spent career mesmerizing skating fans miss doing?

 

"I want to go to a batting cage. I really like baseball and used to go a few times a year as a kid and had the best time. I want to experience that pure joy again, but I wouldn't want someone to see me and write 'Hanyu sucks at hitting' on social media," he says with a big grin.

 

In that sense, he is aware of the pros and cons of social media use for athletes in an age when mental health is acutely in focus, but hasn’t set boundaries on how much time he spends on his phone each day.

 

"I think I'm mentally resilient," he says "Something could affect my mental health but at the end of the day skating is all I’ve got, and I know going back on the ice and hearing the audience applaud will save me. "

The big question

Hanyu has been thinking a lot about existential matters lately – the trajectory of his life and how he wants to live it. Philosophy has always fascinated him – he studied bioethics at Waseda University, one of Japan's top schools.

 

A huge event that impacted his life was the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which devastated his hometown in March 2011 when he was 16. Hanyu has fundraised and donated to Sendai and the surrounding areas consistently for more than a decade, and his support continues to this day.

 

"Using skating to help communities recover from disasters has been my life's work since I was 16," he says.

 

Hanyu said the disaster, which left more than 15,000 in the Tohoku region dead, is a classic example of how people become desensitized when faced with big numbers, but it’s important to remember that behind every statistic are real life stories. In his ice shows, the value of human life remains a central theme.

 

"The world feels so unstable right now, and I feel like we should all be asking ourselves life’s big question: Why am I here?"

 

"That said, I haven’t figured out life yet. I’ve had days when I wanted to die, and days I’ve wanted nothing more than to live and skate in front of a crowd. Sometimes I think my purpose in life is to be useful, by skating and making other people happy. How I view and approach life keeps changing. But that’s what makes me flexible and open-minded."

 

When asked what recently reminded him that he was glad to be alive, Hanyu said it was his three sellout ice shows at Saitama Super Arena on Dec. 7, 9 and 11.

 

"I couldn't see every face because the seats were dark and far away, but there was a lot of screaming, crying and standing, and seeing that made all the hard work worth it," he says.

 

Hanyu's tour wraps up with two shows in Chiba next month.

 

He estimates at least 30% of his fans are foreign nationals, which is why he was keen to publish an English version of his storybook and provide audio guides in English for his shows, which combine on-screen narration with live skating performances.

 

"It was my idea," he says. "I want to make my message accessible to everyone. I also want to improve my expressive skills to speak through the movements of my body, without relying on words. I thought to myself: Why not do both?"

Apart from the upcoming shows, there is nothing on Hanyu's calendar, and he admits to not having his retirement game plan fully mapped out. No more Olympics. No more judges. No more "kiss and cry" areas. No more Winnie the Pooh dolls raining down from the stands after a gold-medal skate.

 

Hanyu said his experience at the Beijing Olympics in 2022 taught him that he thrives under pressure, when he knows there is no next time. He went into it knowing it would be his last Olympics, regardless of whether or not he would land the quadruple axel, a gravity-defying 4 1⁄2-rotation jump that had not been done successfully in competition up until that point.

 

He failed to make the podium after falling on his quad axel attempt, but he walked away a winner. Everything Hanyu does now is, in some way, built upon the life lessons of living in the moment.

 

"Who knows if I'll be doing this next year or the following year. But I think that's what allows me to pour my heart into every job." he says. "I'm trying to live each day as if it were my last. When the COVID pandemic happened, figure skating was declared non-essential. The next pandemic could strike anytime. That's why I want to ignite the fire within me and put on the best show for the fans who come to see me," Hanyu says.

 

"No more working in four-year Olympic cycles. I'm only focusing on what's in front of me."

 

Time’s up, a voice says. Hanyu smiles apologetically.

 

Our 24-minute chat comes to an end.

 

“Thank you, this was such a fun conversation,” he says, as he gets up for his next media appointment. Two down, three more to go.

 

He may have “retired,” but the spotlight follows him everywhere. Such is the life of Yuzuru Hanyu.