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General Yuzuru Chat


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5 hours ago, jinxxoo said:

Yuzu has definitely been in the same shows as Mao, Daisuke and Shoma. 

 

He hasn't been in the same show as Mao since what? 2012? And Daisuke since 2013? Shoma is not a headliner yet so that's not a problem. To be frank, profit is second to pride... 

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Regarding ice shows, I think sharing a show with Yuzu is a bigger issue in Japan. While skaters themselves might not mind, their teams - managers, promoters whatever - might, because it essentially leads to comparisons: with Yuzu and without Yuzu. Shows with Yuzu will definitely sell out right away. Shows without Yuzu will maybe sell out, eventually. That's good for cashing in, but bad for the star skater's image. An example from JRock: Luna Sea, one of Japan's top rock bands, had a festival a few years ago, called Lunacy Festival. Among others, they invited X Japan - whom many consider to be THE biggest Japanese rock bands. The day X performed on was sold out. The other was not. So there were people saying that Luna Sea only sold out that day because of X. With these bands, it doesn't matter so much, but for a skater looking for endorsement contracts, it's not good to have it be known that they don't really sell that well. So I would be very surprised to ever see Yuzu on Mao's show again. Shizuka might say screw it and invite him anyway, because they go way back. Yuzu and Shoma will probably also be kept separate as much as possible. I mean, we have Heroes & Future. Despite Shoma, Javi, Plushy, and many other top skaters, including the Nagano legends, H&F Day 1, without Yuzu did not sell out. The days with him did. That's not great for Shoma's selling power - especially given that Plushy is really popular in Japan, too. So it's best to avoid comparisons.

 

Outside of Japan, shows are rarely about one skater. If a show in Korea centered around Yuna, they might not want her sharing the spotlight with Yuzu, simply because of her star status, but aside from that, I don't think anyone would care that much. In Javi's case, selling out is more important now, I think. Although getting Yuna is actually quite perfect. She's a lady skater, so she won't steal his spotlight. Plushy is also a different generation. I do think he will invite Yuzu eventually, but for now this is actually better for him. (Although if he wanted to sell tickets, he should know who to call...)

 

I'm pretty sure the skaters themselves want the best skaters to share the ice with. But for marketing purposes, all these other things need to be taken into account and also it depends on whether they think things short term - sell out a show - or long term - build up reputation to sell out more shows in the future. So for that reason, inviting Yuzu can be tricky. However, he does now, essentially, have his two ice shows. And I suspect it might be Continues he'll try taking abroad some day...

 

As for fans, while surely there are some young Japanese fans, as well, the grand majority of young fans traveling to competitions are Chinese or even Korean, from what I've seen. In fact, in both ACI and Helsinki I don't remember seeing even a single Japanese fan that looked under 30 (and we know Japanese people often look younger than they are). I admit I sometimes still have trouble differentiating between different types of Asians - mostly due to lack of exposure; not that many around here until more recently - without staring at them and I avoid staring at people in principle. I also know most people at the front of the line at ACI were Chinese (since a person of Chinese roots told me ^_^; ). But I'm not sure about the Chanel girl. I remember seeing some very made up girls, including one who was doing her make-up on her seat in front row during practices, but she was definitely Chinese. (Also, many Yuzu fans speak Japanese by now, so it's not necessarily an indicator. I speak Japanese even to myself nowadays, though admittedly, nobody could mistake me for Japanese :xD:)

 

Maybe more than nationality or race, the difference between fans comes more with age... many of the younger fans possibly come from other fandoms as well, like KPop or JPop, so they're probably more used to supporting idols and act accordingly. The older fans often have a longer history of following figure skating and are more familiar with the dos and don'ts of attending a figure skating competition. They like Yuzu, too, and want to see him up close and so on, but I tend to believe they wouldn't intrude that much. But of course, there are always exceptions.

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Well, from where I was sitting in the crowd at ACI, I heard far more Japanese than Chinese. The two languages sound nothing alike and are quite, quite easy to distinguish from one another so there was no mistaking it whatsoever. But maybe I just got lucky and happened to be sitting next to a cluster of Japanese ladies. The woman in the kimono was unquestionably from Japan. 

 

My point being, it was quite an interesting crowd and very different from what you would normally see in the stands at a Canadian arena, and dressed very differently too. Typical arena wear here would be jeans and sweaters and puffy coats. No one would ever wear a Chanel suit. So I was quite intrigued. 

 

 

 

 

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Why would Dai reject an ice show with Yuzu? I thought those are just his fan’s actions? 

 

Also, I agree that the Ice Show arrangements are more of a marketing strategy than pride. It's an illusion that skaters have 100% liberty to go to any ice show he wants without some commercial pressure here and there, especially from their sponsors. I mean Yuzu is constrained to only do advertisements for ANA, Lotte, P&G, Phiten and a select few brands, due to the interest of the sponsors to maintain exclusivity - that's why you don't see Yuzu on sport brands, which is an oddity for an athlete. More advertisements means more revenue for Yuzu, but less revenue for his sponsors because now people can get Yuzu products from other places, not necessarily theirs. I doubt people will buy 20 chewing gums for the Xylitol files if other companies have them too. 

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Yeah, there were some VERY dressed up people in the ACI crowd this year. I wondered how some of them didn't freeze while in the rink! I normally run hot and even I was cold in the rink. I also saw a lot of people dressed much warmer than I ever would too :rofl3:.

 

Like @KatjaThera I remember the year before seeing a pair of young Chinese fans also doing their make up while sitting in the stands, sadly it was during the actual competition. We likely have similar experiences in who we see/meet at competitions because I've also rarely ever met or seen Japanese fans at competitions that looked younger than 30. The Japanese tour crowds at least seem to skew toward older - maybe because these tour packages are very expensive from what I hear. I also noticed some Chinese fans at the front of the line since I overheard a few of them complaining outside the entrance the morning the police were called. I do find there are a lot of non-Japanese Yuzu fans (and figure skating fans in general) who can speak Japanese. It makes me wish I could communicate with the other foreign fans too, but sometimes the excitement of competition is all you need to understand each other :) . ACI audience though is a bit unique as a Challenger event. I personally find the audience for a grand prix more diverse, with the most varied audience typically at Worlds since I think more fans are willing to travel for a Championship competition.

 

As for future show chances outside of Japan, I expect Yuzu to accept an invitation if it's from someone he knows and has helped him as a skater. So if Javi invites him after he retires, I'm sure he'd accept. I think Stephane has mentioned he would like to invite him one day too, and I can't imagine Yuzu declining. I know Daisuke and Mao have also skated in Stephane's show before. In Japan however, he's likely to be the headliner for most shows he's in and he's a bit more selective on what shows he does.

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1 hour ago, KatjaThera said:

Outside of Japan, shows are rarely about one skater. If a show in Korea centered around Yuna, they might not want her sharing the spotlight with Yuzu, simply because of her star status, but aside from that, I don't think anyone would care that much. In Javi's case, selling out is more important now, I think. Although getting Yuna is actually quite perfect. She's a lady skater, so she won't steal his spotlight. Plushy is also a different generation. I do think he will invite Yuzu eventually, but for now this is actually better for him. (Although if he wanted to sell tickets, he should know who to call...)

 

Has ATS ever invited a Japanese skater, ever? I don't recall that any Japanese skater has ever skated in ATS. And I don't think Yuna has ever participated in a Japanese ice show either, nor any other Korean skater that I can think of, although for some reason I think that they would be more willing to invite her.

 

1 hour ago, KatjaThera said:

As for fans, while surely there are some young Japanese fans, as well, the grand majority of young fans traveling to competitions are Chinese or even Korean, from what I've seen. In fact, in both ACI and Helsinki I don't remember seeing even a single Japanese fan that looked under 30 (and we know Japanese people often look younger than they are). I admit I sometimes still have trouble differentiating between different types of Asians - mostly due to lack of exposure; not that many around here until more recently - without staring at them and I avoid staring at people in principle. I also know most people at the front of the line at ACI were Chinese (since a person of Chinese roots told me ^_^; ). But I'm not sure about the Chanel girl. I remember seeing some very made up girls, including one who was doing her make-up on her seat in front row during practices, but she was definitely Chinese. (Also, many Yuzu fans speak Japanese by now, so it's not necessarily an indicator. I speak Japanese even to myself nowadays, though admittedly, nobody could mistake me for Japanese :xD:)

 

I think I am also extremely good at telling Japanese from Chinese, especially the difference in style/makeup/clothing, and I also think that most of the young fans were Chinese and the older fans were Japanese. In Helsinki I did meet a young Japanese fan but she didn't look Chinese (although at first I thought she was Korean) but some of the fans were very obviously one or the other. I'd expect that some of the Chinese fans speak Japanese though, it's very common. 

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5 hours ago, sophiang said:

Why the version of Haru Yo Koi by Shinya is so short....where can we hear the full version?

 

This version was recorded & released back in 2016. I believe Shinya's releasing a new album in Dec that will include Haru Yo Koi as a bonus track. So hopefully he has re-recorded the ice show version...?

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21 minutes ago, kaeryth said:

Guys, I suggest to start saving / downloading your favourite FS videos from youtube as several channels have been terminated including Lorando Muffin (:13877886:), MM Desu, jewelskatersent, and se decca.

 

 

It's so sad, can anyone explain why this is happening now all of a sudden? I know some channels have been under pressure for a while, but why these sudden strikes?

 

People truly don't want figure skating to be accessible, huh?

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