[2018.11.10] Bungeishunju: "Yuzuru Hanyu generation" Born in 1994 - The Strongest Legends

[yuzurujenn]

*Machine translation, inaccuracies exist. Please do not comment in this thread other than translations*

 

Source: https://bunshun.jp/bungeishunju/articles/h248 (paid article)

 

"Yuzuru Hanyu generation" Born in 1994 - The Strongest Legends

 

From Shohei Otani, Seiya Suzuki, and Miho Takagi to badminton and the NBA.

 

Spoiler

　Not only the fans who came from Japan, but also the local Korean audience, and people from all over the world, including China, Europe, and the United States, cheered and praised their performance.

 

　When we look back on the sports world in 2018, the first image that comes to mind is that of figure skater Hanyu Yuzuru, who won his second consecutive gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, following on from his victory in the Sochi Games.

 

Last season (2017–2018), Hanyu suffered from injury and after the international competition in October, he withdrew from tournaments.

 

He ended up facing the Olympics in what could be called a “barely prepared” state. However, Hanyu showed a performance that did not let the gap (time off) affect him.

 

What was most astonishing was his mental strength that did not let the gap feel like a gap.

 

It is a grand stage held once every four years, and a competition he had targeted for four years. Even under circumstances with immeasurable pressure, even if everything had gone smoothly, he splendidly demonstrated his full ability.

 

At the post-competition press conference, Hanyu said:

“A lot of things really happened. Right now, sitting in the middle of this press conference and being able to talk, this is the best moment. I really feel that if I hadn’t met various people over the past 23 years and 2 months or so, I wouldn’t be able to sit here.”

 

Hanyu was born on December 7, 1994. He will turn 24 this year, and recently, athletes born in the same year as Hanyu (including those born early in the year who are considered the same grade) have come to be called the “Hanyu generation.” That is how many athletes of the same age are active.

 

In the past, in the baseball world, many players including Daisuke Matsuzaka, born in 1980, rose up and were called the “Matsuzaka generation.” Those born in 1988 like Yuki Saito and Masahiro Tanaka were called the “Handkerchief generation.” In soccer, those born in 1979 such as Shinji Ono were called the “Golden generation.” Also, in the shogi world, players centering around Yoshiharu Habu, born in 1970, have been called the “Habu generation,” leading the shogi world for over 20 years.

 

However, until now, the “〇〇 generation” referred strictly to a single sport.

 

The "Hanyu generation" centered around Yuzuru Hanyu is characterized by the fact that it spans a wide range of sports.

 

There are some talented players in the soccer world too

 

First, let me introduce the names and achievements of athletes from the “Hanyu generation.”

 

Among the athletes who also performed well at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, on the Japanese women’s side, Miho Takagi, a speed skater born in 1994, was the first Japanese woman to win three medals—gold, silver, and bronze—across summer and winter Olympics.

 

Takagi attracted attention when she participated in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics as a third-year junior high school student. However, she was unable to compete at the next Sochi Olympics. Overcoming that frustration, at her second Olympics she delivered a performance that made her name resonate in the world speed skating community.

 

Showing a presence comparable to Hanyu is Shohei Ohtani, the baseball major leaguer.

 

After joining the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani continued to play both as a pitcher and batter. This year, he joined the Los Angeles Angels. He became the major leaguer he had envisioned since high school and practiced the two-way role there as well. Due to injury, he focused mostly on batting in the second half of the season, but his achievements both as a pitcher and batter attracted great attention not only in Japan but also in America.

 

In baseball, the name Seiya Suzuki of the Hiroshima Carp cannot be left out. This season, he recorded his first-ever 30 home runs. His batting average was .320, and as the cleanup hitter he confidently led the team and brought them to their third consecutive league championship.

 

The name Shintaro Fujinami of the Hanshin Tigers also comes up. Although recently his control has faltered and he has struggled, his potential is well established, having achieved double-digit wins as a high school rookie in the Central League for the first time in 46 years since Yutaka Enatsu in 1967.

 

This year also featured the Japan national soccer team advancing to the knockout stage for the third time, after missing it for two tournaments, at the World Cup in Russia. While veterans such as Keisuke Honda and Makoto Hasebe stood out in the tournament, their successors were born in 1994 and are rising. Representatives of this new generation are Shoya Nakajima and Takumi Minamino.

 

Nakajima, one of Japan’s top dribblers, transferred from FC Tokyo to a Portuguese league team last year. He has demonstrated his high ability by accumulating goals and assists. Although he was not called to the World Cup, he was selected for the national team by coach Hajime Moriyasu, who took over after the tournament, and was given the important “number 10” jersey.

 

Minamino moved from Cerezo Osaka to an Austrian team in 2015. Continuing to play a key role overseas, Minamino was also selected for the Japan national team by Moriyasu. He scored goals in all three matches starting from September this year, including a match against strong Uruguay, greatly contributing to the team’s victories and making a strong impression as a next-generation leader.

 

Rivals since elementary school

 

The achievements of the Hanyu generation also stand out in summer Olympic sports.

 

Among Japan’s male swimming representatives, Kosuke Hagino and Daiya Seto were born in 1994.

 

Hagino is undoubtedly the ace of Japanese swimming. As a third-year high school student at the 2012 London Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the men’s 400-meter individual medley, the first for a Japanese swimmer in that event and the first for a high school student in 56 years. At the subsequent Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he won Japan’s first gold medal in the men’s 400-meter individual medley. He also won a bronze medal in the men’s 800-meter freestyle relay, the first medal in that event for Japan in 52 years since the Tokyo Olympics. Furthermore, he won a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley, showing a performance worthy of being called the ace.

 

Seto, who has competed as a rival with Hagino since elementary school, won a bronze medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He also won consecutive world championships in the same event in 2013 and 2015. At the world championships, he also earned a bronze medal in the 200-meter butterfly.

 

Kento Momota and Nozomi Okuhara in badminton are also part of the Hanyu generation.

 

Momota was expected from his junior years to be a top world contender, but in 2016 it was revealed he had been gambling at an illegal casino in Tokyo. This caused him to miss the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, for which his selection was all but certain.

 

However, after his return, he demonstrated his true strength. At the World Championships this August, he won Japan’s first-ever gold medal for a male player, and in September he became Japan’s first male player to reach number one in the world rankings. Momota has now become an indispensable figure in Japanese badminton.

 

Okuhara won a bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, becoming the first Japanese singles player, male or female, to win a medal. At last year’s World Championships, she won Japan’s first gold medal in singles for either gender, and she greatly contributed to Japan’s victory in this year’s world team championships.

 

“Unconventional” Athletes

 

In judo, there is also Masaki Baker, competing in the men’s 90-kilogram class. He participated in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and won a gold medal in a weight class where Japan had struggled.

 

Among Paralympic sports, Yui Kamiji, born in 1994, is a wheelchair tennis player.

 

In 2014, she achieved a calendar-year Grand Slam in women’s wheelchair tennis doubles, becoming only the third pair in history to do so. Achieving this at 20 years and 135 days old was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the youngest ever to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam in women’s wheelchair tennis. At the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, she won Japan’s first bronze medal in women’s singles. This year, she also won the French Open, continuing to excel as a pioneer in her sport.

 

These six athletes are gold medal contenders for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

 

In autumn, a big news came in.

 

On October 27, Yuta Watanabe appeared in the NBA, the world’s top professional basketball league. He became the second Japanese player in 14 years, following Yuta Tabuse, to play in the NBA. Watanabe was selected as a Japanese national team candidate as a high school sophomore, the first ever for a high school student, and has continued to perform on the national team since. This year, he graduated from George Washington University in the United States and made his NBA debut with full readiness.

 

Watanabe was also born in 1994.

 

His characteristic is that, despite his tall height of 206 centimeters, he excels in speed and passing. In Japanese basketball, where large players have had the image of lacking agility, Watanabe can be called an “unconventional” player.

 

Overturning conventional wisdom

 

Up to this point, we have introduced the main athletes of the “Hanyu generation.” Among them, some readers may have noticed the repeated use of the words “Japan’s first” or “the first in history.”

 

Yes, what characterizes the members of the Hanyu generation is not only that they have achieved good results, but also that they have overturned common sense and paved the way for “a new history.”

 

Ohtani, the “two-way” player, is a typical example.

 

Many players who become professionals were often the “ace and cleanup hitter” during their amateur days. However, the common sense until now was that when turning professional, you had to choose whether to pursue the path of pitcher or hitter. Ohtani overturned that. Even while sometimes receiving criticism from commentators, he insisted on being a two-way player, and by producing results, he silenced such criticism.

 

Swimmers Hagino and Seto are also like this. The individual medley and freestyle, Hagino’s specialties, and the individual medley and butterfly, Seto’s main events, were once said to have an insurmountable world barrier that Japanese athletes couldn’t overcome. But breaking through that wall, the two continue to thrive as top swimmers in the world.

 

The same goes for badminton players Momota and Okuhara. With the popularity of Kumiko Ogura and Reiko Shiota, aka "Ogusio," women's doubles has been gaining attention in Japan. In reality, women’s doubles had been the category producing results at international competitions, and at one time, some insiders called singles a “barren event.” But these two have boldly become top players in the world, almost as if laughing at such words.

 

Of course, the crown bearer of the generation, Hanyu himself, is nothing less than the leading figure among the athletes who have carved out this “new history.”

 

Since the current scoring system was introduced in 2003, he became the first ever to score over 100 points in the short program, over 200 points in the free skating, and over 300 points in total, holding the world’s highest scores in all of these categories. At the Sochi Winter Olympics, he won the Olympic gold medal in men’s figure skating, becoming the first Asian athlete to do so.

 

In this way, the Hanyu generation can be said to have broken out of the conventional frameworks or expanded them with their achievements. They are figures who have caused paradigm shifts in their respective sports.

 

But why did such outstanding athletes emerge one after another from the Hanyu generation?

 

One reason pointed out by experts is that they belong to the “Yutori generation.”

 

The Yutori generation refers to those who received the “Yutori education,” a system based on reflecting on the “cramming education.” From fiscal year 2002 to 2010, they attended elementary and junior high schools under a curriculum that placed emphasis on "life skills."  Class hours and subject content were reduced, and they were said to have had a relaxed school life. However, from the mid to late 2000s, Japan’s declining performance in the OECD’s PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) became a concern, and from fiscal year 2011, the policy changed to “post-Yutori education.”

 

The Hanyu generation, born in 1994, are the generation in which the "relaxed education" system began in the second grade of elementary school and continued until they graduated from junior high school. It has been pointed out that the system of two days off per week from the second grade of elementary school onwards, and the lack of restrictions on school life, have created an environment in which children can easily devote themselves to sports or other pursuits other than studying.

 

In fact, Ohtani joined a little league baseball team when he was in the second grade of elementary school.

 

Also, one of the goals of Yutori education was to “develop children’s individuality.” For this reason, there was criticism that the Yutori generation was unable to take part in group activities, but on the other hand, their individual strengths increased.

 

The idea that Yutori education had an effect on the sports world is not entirely unreasonable.

 

Progress in Internationalization

 

The improvement of the environment surrounding sports is also a point that cannot be overlooked.

 

In 2008, the National Training Center was opened in Nishiogi, Tokyo. The well-equipped training facilities undoubtedly benefited the athletes. It is not uncommon for various sports organizations to hold long-term training camps there.

 

In 2011, the Basic Sports Law was enacted. This increased the budget related to sports, which in turn led to increased funding for strengthening activities on the ground.

 

Because of this, athletes had more opportunities to travel abroad for competitions and to learn from foreign coaches from an early stage. In fact, speed skater Miho Takagi’s growth was thanks to receiving coaching from overseas instructors.

 

The “internationalization” of the athletes is likely one of the reasons for the success of the Hanyu generation.

 

Hanyu, based in Toronto, Canada, has trained under Canadian coach Brian Orser, alongside rivals such as Spanish skater Javier Fernández. His English communication skills have now improved significantly, and he has fully adapted to the local environment.

Members of the Hanyu generation do not regard challenges abroad as something special.

 

When Hideo Nomo challenged Major League Baseball in 1995, the word “challenge” was truly appropriate, and there was a sense of venturing into foreign lands. The achievements of tennis player Kimiko Date in the early 1990s and the Japanese national soccer team’s first World Cup appearance in 1998 were also treated as great adventures when players transferred to overseas teams.

 

The current era, where athletes freely move across countries, feels like a world apart.

 

Hanyu as a role model

 

However, what must not be forgotten is the presence of Yuzuru Hanyu himself.

 

Before Shohei Ohtani moved on to play in Major League Baseball, he met Hanyu for the first time in 2016 at the awards ceremony of the 50th TV Asahi Big Sports Awards.

 

At that time, Ohtani said: "I think those born in 1994 are the 'Hanyu generation.'"

 

By then, Ohtani was already the ace and powerful hitter for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, a central figure in professional baseball. He was someone who could have rightly been called the "Ohtani generation" or the "Hanyu-Ohtani generation."

 

After the ceremony, Ohtani explained his true feelings: "I really believe that. I think Hanyu is the top athlete of this generation. Regardless of the sport, he is a top athlete in the world."

 

By then, Hanyu had already won an Olympic gold medal and was a top skater on the world stage, not only at the Olympics but also in numerous international competitions. Hanyu won the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics when he was 19 years old. He became a top athlete on the world stage, ahead of anyone else in his generation, breaking out of the confines of Japan.

 

For Ohtani, who aimed to play in Major League Baseball and pursue a career overseas, Hanyu was a "senior athlete" who had already realized those dreams. He must have regarded him as a role model.

 

It wasn’t only Ohtani; for other athletes of the same generation, there is no doubt that Hanyu became a goal and a source of inspiration.

 

Miho Takagi, a speed skater, said about Hanyu at the ceremony for the 2017 JOC Sports Awards:

"Having teammates of the same generation to fight alongside is encouraging and gives me courage. To me, he is a precious and powerful presence."

 

Badminton players Kento Momota and Nozomi Okuhara also spoke after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics:

"Hanyu’s victory was amazing. Seeing the success of someone in the same generation is motivating. I want to become a player who is supported and loved by everyone." (Momota)

 

"Even though he was on the edge of the cliff, that performance was simply incredible." Okuhara, who said this, has recently also expressed, "I want to become the absolute queen." This phrase somehow echoes the influence of Hanyu, who is often called the "absolute king."

 

Into the Unknown Territory

The influence Hanyu has had on his generation is immeasurable. People need a role model; having one allows them to follow a path confidently without hesitation.

 

Ohtani’s words, “I think we are the ‘Hanyu generation,’” likely came from a genuine feeling.

 

However, when asked about being called part of the "Hanyu generation," Hanyu himself humbly responds that, in terms of ability, he feels he is the lowest among them.

 

On July 2nd, Hanyu received the People's Honor Award and, despite speculation about his future, he announced he will continue competing. Starting in November, he plans to participate in the Grand Prix series, aiming for the December All-Japan Championships and the World Championships next March.

 

Attention has focused on what will motivate him going forward, but Hanyu is already stepping into new challenges. His goal is to successfully land the "quadruple Axel" jump.

 

This jump is an extremely difficult technique that no one in the world has yet landed. If he succeeds, it will be a first in human history.

Even after achieving the great feat of winning back-to-back Olympic gold medals, Hanyu’s willingness to venture into unknown territory and take on new challenges will continue to serve as a guiding light for his generation of athletes.