Team Japan

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[ralucutzagy]

[Sammie]

 

[ralucutzagy]

 

[Guest turquoiseblue]

 

[Rainbow]

Episode 3 of Sota Yamamoto Interview

https://www.jsports.co.jp/press/article/N2018092510125406.html

Video is uploaded to dailymotion

Page 1

SP [Air on the G string] for This Season

K:  How are your SP and LP programs this season?

S:  The type of music used for SP is very different from the one for LP, and also different from last season.  To me they are new kind.  Especially, this is my first experience skating to that type of SP music.  I feel challenged but I am pushing myself to improve my skating to a higher level to be able to skate beautifully and carefully.  My SP music is [Air on the G string].

K:  Why did you pick [Air on the G string]?

S:  I chose this music after spending a lot of time myself and going over my mother’s suggestions as well in the selection process.  When the first time I listened to it as a music piece I thought “This music is difficult to skate to because it does not have a climax.” But after being choreographed to it I realized that there are many parts where I could go for beautiful expression. I cannot rely on the power of the music because it is not dramatic, so I need to make every movement and skating really beautiful to make my performance appealing.  This is the point I keep in mind in skating.

K:  When the music is reaching the climax the audience star clapping their hands and you get excited, but this music is sort of flat.  Therefore, I want you to do the performance that captivates your audience. 

S:  Yes.

K:  It’s not a dramatic piece that reaches a climax exciting the audience, but I choreographed it so that the audience would be enthralled by it.  Let’s refine it some more and make it better.  I think you did it very beautifully the last time.

S:  Thank you. I understand.

FP [Nobunaga Concerto] for this Season

K:  What about your  FP?

S:  My FP is [Nobunaga Concerto].  The last half is the main part and I really love the cut.  I asked (Kenji) sensei to work on the last half with it.  I left the first half cut to sensei.

K:  You picked that music because you love warriors in the Sengoku period in the first place? 

S:  No, having searched all over I was simply moved by this music.

Main Point of This Season

K:  Is there anything you pay attention to in SP and FP?

S:  There is a big difference between the tones of SP and FP music.  Melody is different from each other.  I keep telling myself to work hard to present varied interpretations and skating between the two programs.

K:  Well, I see you change the way you push forward and also your foot placements depending on which music you skate to.  I think they are quite different.

S:  Yes.

K:  Is there any particular move in SP that left you a strong impression?--a move that you really want the audience to see?

S: Ummm…

K: Nothing at all!? (laugh)

S:  It’s the other way round.  There are so many beautiful moves and poses (laugh)

K:  I do have one.  When I choreographed the program I thought that move was very beautiful, and I can see the image in my mind right away (laugh).

S:  Towards the end of the step sequence, the music ascends subtly and I make a pose that looks like praying.

K:  Oh, that one.

S:  Well, it is near the ending and one of the dramatic high points. It is just my subjective opinion though.

K:  Me too!  It is not the only one though.  But that’s the one most impressive.  Can you do it now?

S:  Ahh?! (standing up) Umm..I should be doing Ina Bauer to do that move….

K:  No, it’s Spread Eagles (laugh)

S:  Spread Eagle, hmm.  Like…this…?

K:  Wow! Then, what about impressive FP move?

S:  Oh?!(sitting down) Let me think about it.

K:  You must have one (laugh)

S:  Ummm… Memorable move …

K:  In my opinion it is this?  (gesture of drawing a sward off sheath)

S:  Ah, that was the first one popped up in my mind.

K:  Then you should have said that (laugh).

S:  (standing up) The music has Japanese flair and the choreography has many movements that suggest using a sword such as sward-drawing move in step sequence.  I think that move is cool.

[Rainbow]

Page 2

Inside the Bag

K:  I know it’ s sudden, but can you show me what you have in your bag?  It’s heavy.

S:  Yes, nothing unusual.  This is my training outfits.  I had a practice today.  My wallet,seets to wipe my sweat off my body, and a charger.

K:  (looking at an animal charm attached to a USB cable) What is this?  It’s kind of cute.

S:  Yes, someone gave it to me.  It’s from a fan.  Then, a headphone, an earphone, a smartphone.

K:  Then, can I see your headphone?  Oh, this is a good quality one.

S:  Yes, Bluetooth ready headphone.  Bluetooth headphones have to be recharged, but this one comes with a connection cord so I can use it even when the battery is dead.

K:  I have one similar to this one.  Huh?  Didn’t you say that you lost your headphone?

S:  No, earphone.  I lost an earphone.

K:  I see.  Then, what is this in this earphone case?

S:  There used to be a brand earphone that came with the same brand case.  But I lost it so I now have a different brand earphone in it (laugh).

K:  This is just an ordinary one (laugh).  You are not particular about earphone?

S:  Well, when I buy an earphone I tested out many earphones at the shop, and decide on the one I like.

K:  I see.  What do you listen to with your earphone or headphone?

S:  What do I listen to?  Umm... Something other than music…

K:  Rakugo (Japanese traditional comic storytelling)? (laugh)

S:  No(laugh). I use one of these when I watch Youtube and other videos.

K:  Oh, not the music.  You watch video clips.  What are your favorite genres when you listen to music?

S:  The way I listen to music is always odd (laugh).

K:  You listen to weird music only?

S:  Let me see…It’s not like that I listen to particular artists’ music.  I like to listen to a variety of music which I may be able to skate to.

K:  Ummm.  I got it.  I got it.

S:  Ah? Really?

K:  Yes.  Then, what are your favorite items among all of these?

S:  I have many things that my fans gave me.  (touching the sweat wiping sheets) I don’t buy these things.

K:  You were surprised like, “What the heck is this for?”

S:  Now that I have these sheets I find them pretty useful to me.  I can wipe off my sweat right away.  This is a gift I was given.  This is also a gift.  This is a gift too….

K:  You cherish the gifts you received?

S:  Yes, I do.

K:  Very well.  It is thoughtful of you.

[Rainbow]

Page 3

Strong / Weak Elements

K:  What are your strong elements?

S:  Nothing special.  On rare occasions some people tell me that I am an all-round skater.

K:  You are pretty good at spins though.

S:  But when I think of other skaters who are better at spins than I am, it makes me feel that I am not a good spinner.  So, perhaps I don’t have any specific strength.

K:  So you say “I can do everything.”?

S:  Hmmmm…I wish I could say that (laugh).

K:  How about the weaknesses?

S:  I have never been good at interpretation.  These days I am consciously working hard to improve it. When I started out I was not good at all.

K:  You are better now.

S:  Right now when I give it my best shot, I get to be so-so.

K:  For real, you are doing just fine.  Okay then.  Who do you look up to?  Do you have any idol skaters?

S:  There are so many great skaters.  When I watch them being cool or skate with great techniques I want to take in their qualities.  There are so many good examples to follow by watching.  It’s Hanyu senshu--lately I’m telling people it’s Hanyu senshu, so he is one of my role models.

K:  He is amazing-People’s Honor Award and all.

S:  Yes, amazing.

Preferred TV Camera Angle

S:  When FS competition is televised and you see camerawork on TV. Did you ever think “If I were the cameraman I would place the camera here,” or “I want to watch this event from this angle.”?

S:  At the last Japan Nationals where I was in I watched some scenes looking down on an angle showing a large part of the audience, and I though these scenes were beautiful.

K:  I see.  You want to be on camera from a distance and from above?

S:  It’s not that I want to be viewed like that.  In these scenes I could see the ambience of the arena and the mood of the audience so I felt these scenes were beautiful.

K:  Oh, now I see.  Everybody has different preference.  Some people told me before that they wanted the TV cameras placed right besides Judges’ eyes.  They thought it would be interesting to know what part of the skater in performance the judges are watching.

S:  Oh, I see.  It makes sense.

K:  We can see “That judge is not watching the performance!” or “Now he’s looking down at his coffee cup!”  It won’t happen anyway (laugh).  I see they worry about what these judges are watching though.

Routine before Competition

K:  What is your routine before competition such as particular behavior to bring luck?

S:  I take a hot shower one hour before I leave for competition.

K:  Morning practice or official practice?  So after you come back to the hotel from practice and before you leave for competition?

S:  That’s right.  I don’t take a shower before practice.

 K:  You take a shower one hour before competition.  What happens then?

S:   I feel warm (laugh).

K:  You feel warm?  You should do warm-ups instead. Warm-ups (laugh).  Do you take a shower instead of warm-ups?

S:  No, actually I did well at one competition and that was the first time I took a shower before going out to compete.  Since then I make it a habit.

K:  What made you decide to take a shower at that time?  Did you sweat a lot?

S:  Let me see… Why did I do that? … Perhaps, after a practice it’s a long wait (laugh)

[Rainbow]

Page 4

K:  So you had time to kill (laugh).

S:  Killing my time? I don’t remember very well.

K:  Actually different people do different things.  Some people take a very hot shower while some others soak in the lukewarm bath for 30 minutes—to energize body and stimulate blood circulation and things like that.  So you continue to do this routine?

S:  Yes I do - before competition.

K:  What will you do if you don’t get hot water when you’re overseas?

S:  I won’t have a choice but to give up (laugh).

K:  You’ll give up.  I see (laugh).

Measurement by KENJI

K:  Since you’re the first guest of this season I want you to see me do this because I’ve become very flexible.  Figure skaters need to be flexible and me too, as a choreographer.... Can you measure how much I can bend forward? (giving Sota a ruler)

S: Yes.

K:  Here I go! (bends forward on a stand while cheating with bent knees)

S:  (noticing Kenji is cheating) Wow! I was surprised!  I thought you were incredibly flexible!

K:  Hahaha (doing this time correctly)

S:  Let’s see.  About negative 0.3cm.

K:  0.3cm! Yay!  I broke my records.  Look!  I made positive 2cm the last time.  Right now I made 0.3cm.  Yeah, that’s how we do!

S:  Well, then the bigger the minus number the better.

K:  Yeah, you’ve got it.  The best one so far made 31.  You hear me 31.  Kana Muramoto made negative 31cm.  Among men one (Kazuki Tomono) hit negative 18cm. 

(Sota bend forward)

Wow…. Negative 31cm!  Flexible!

S:  Hehehe

K:  Isn’t this crazy?  You may be able to go down even further if you take off your shoes.

S:  Well (starting to take off his shoes)

K:  You must have bent your knees!

S:  What?!

K:  You did bend your knees, didn’t you!  I didn’t check your knees.

S:  No (laugh)

K:  Please go ahead.

S:  Yes (bend forward again).

K:  You reached further down from 30cm by about 2cm!  You made about negative 32cm.  Incredible!

(applauded by the staff) 

*past skaters’ scores*

Sota Yamamoto          -32cm              Kaori Sakamoto          -23cm

Kana Muramoto          -31cm              Kazuki Tomono          -18cm

Mai Mihara                   -29cm              Chris Reed                  -15cm

Wakaba Higuchi         -28cm              Aru Tateno                  -10.5cm

Rikako Fukase             -25cm              KENJI                         -0.3cm

[Rainbow]

Page 5 (last page)

Goal

K: Last of all tell me what your goal is.

S:  This season is starting and I want to bring up my performance to a higher level.  I do believe that I won’t be able to achieve good results unless I improve my spins, skating, interpretation, jumps and everything else.  I would like to do the best I can while giving a careful attention to details.

K:  Good Luck.  We are all rooting for you!

S:  Thank you very much.  I’ll do my best.

K:  Here you are a gift to you from this program (giving him a custom design [KENJI’s room] shopping bag.

S:  Thank you very much.

K:  Try putting it on your shoulder?  That looks really good on you.  Go to the events with it from now.

S:  Yes (laugh).

K:  You said yes. (laugh)

S:  It is helpful.  I appreciate it very much.

K:  It helps you.  I’m glad to hear that.  I’m happy that I can be helpful (laugh).  Today’s guest was Sota Yamamoto.  Thank you for today.

S:  Thank you very much.

Sota after the Interview

“I had previously talked a lot with him about skating during choreography sessions before. This time he asked me many personal questions and I am glad I got to talk about various things.  I have never talked so much with KENJI sensei before, and I really had fun with him in that room.”

 

THE END

[Rainbow]

When searching the information about Sota on the internet I came across this blog.  Has it been shared already?

https://ameblo.jp/kmn-psn/entry-12366673639.html

It has a video clip of broadcasted by a local station.  Sota's segment is from 1min 5sec to 8min 5sec.

Warning:  Sota's ankle with surgery scar is shown briefly.

[yuzuangel]

@Rainbow Thank you for the translations  

[surimi]

5 hours ago, Rainbow said:

When searching the information about Sota on the internet I came across this blog.  Has it been shared already?

https://ameblo.jp/kmn-psn/entry-12366673639.html

It has a video clip of broadcasted by a local station.  Sota's segment is from 1min 5sec to 8min 5sec.

Warning:  Sota's ankle with surgery scar is shown briefly.

 

Yes, I always use sota-sooko's blog to fish for Sota updates, she's really meticulous! Another useful one is shelley39's blog, also in Japanese. These also feature the interview transcripts that have been omitted on jsports page. Which reminds me - thank you so much for all your translations, I wouldn't be able to understand the vast majority of it without your help! If you fel in the mood, I would also be gratuful to learn what Sota and Kenji say about Sota not wanting to wear a red outfit for longer than necessary (not sure about the googled translation) - it's definitely in the first episode (video), but I'm not sure where exactly. I just know about its existence from sooko's blog transcript and some fanart. Maybe it's in the opening after Kenji's remark about seeing Sota's casual clothes for the first time?

And one more question, maybe more suitable for the Japanese study thread: when Sota (asked about girls) says "スタイルいい人", how does the expression for 'shapely' differ from 'with a good style'? So confusing for me. ^ ^

[monchan]

 

[Rainbow]

17 hours ago, surimi said:

 

Yes, I always use sota-sooko's blog to fish for Sota updates, she's really meticulous! Another useful one is shelley39's blog, also in Japanese. These also feature the interview transcripts that have been omitted on jsports page. Which reminds me - thank you so much for all your translations, I wouldn't be able to understand the vast majority of it without your help! If you fel in the mood, I would also be gratuful to learn what Sota and Kenji say about Sota not wanting to wear a red outfit for longer than necessary (not sure about the googled translation) - it's definitely in the first episode (video), but I'm not sure where exactly. I just know about its existence from sooko's blog transcript and some fanart. Maybe it's in the opening after Kenji's remark about seeing Sota's casual clothes for the first time?

And one more question, maybe more suitable for the Japanese study thread: when Sota (asked about girls) says "スタイルいい人", how does the expression for 'shapely' differ from 'with a good style'? So confusing for me. ^ ^

Sota’s red outfit story is on page 6 of Episode 1 (Page 181 of this thread)

After Sota was asked what he would spend his money on if he were given 100 million yen, he mentioned spending little by little such as buying clothes.  Then they talked about the recent incident when Sota was wearing a red outfit for choreography group session.  Although Kenji thought Sota looked really cool in it Sota took it off right away saying he didn’t like wearing clothes that attract people’s attention.  He said 「なんか目立つから嫌なんで」I didn’t like it (the color/that outfit) because it made me stand out.

Kenji was amused and teased Sota by reminding him that Kenji had actually made a specific request to him to come wearing something red so that he could easily spot Sota among a bunch of skaters.  We can assume that he does not like to be conspicuous and prefers to wear quiet colors.

 

About スタイルいい人 (person with good style), this is one of the Japanese phrases that has a completely different meaning from the original English.  In Japanese ‘good style person’ means ‘person of pleasing proportions and/or having shapely body’—it has nothing to do with good fashion sense. 

 

Please feel free to ask me questions whenever you are confused about any Japanese words and phrases.  When Japanese is translated into English sometimes things become confusing.  What’s more, my English is not proficient and I will be happy to clear any confusion in my translations.