Daisuke Takahashi | Page 83 | Golden Skate

Daisuke Takahashi

ioanna

ioanna

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
A very kind ameba user has translated the talk show Dai attended yesterday evening in Makuhari. I'm going to post the text here but you can check out the source here as well.

The following is my translation of a report from the talk show　following the Fantasy on Ice show in Makuhari.

For the original report in Japanese with photos, please see blue-C's blog here.　Thank you, C-san, for a wonderful report and for your permission to share it in English.

(I translated most of the blog, but not all of it. I might add if I find time.)


＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Daisuke Takahashi Talk Show at Hotel New Otani Makuhari
June 8, 2014

Introduction by MC, Ms. Watari, and a manager from Matsukiyo (a drugstore chain sponsoring this event).

While we waited for Daisuke’s arrival, they entertained us with a few quizzes about Daisuke. They were multiple choice questions as pictures were shown on the screen:

Q1: Which costume did he wear at the Vancouver Olympics?
A: white Beatles Medley B: red R&R Medley C: La Strada

Q2: Which mascot did Mr. Takahashi hug at the Sochi Olympics?
A: the snow leopard B: the rabbit C: the polar bear

Q3: Which one is Mr. Takahashi’s childhood picture?
A: baby Dai B, C: pictures of unknown kids

Q4: Which university does Mr. Takahashi attend?
A: Kansai Gakuen Univ. B: Kansai Univ. C: Ritsumeikan Univ.

Q5: Which costume did he wear at the Sochi Olympics?
A: Beatles B: Sonatina C: eye


(After the quizzes, Daisuke finally appeared on stage. A HUGE applause!!)


MC: You just finished a show. Are you tired?
D: Not at all!

MC: You look very chic today…
D: No, it’s not chic. It’s very very casual.

(He wore a plain black short-sleeved T, a white pants with rolled-up hems, black shoes on bare feet, a pendant with a long chain, a watch, a shiny ring - different from the one he usually wears.)

D: I had a show today, so maybe my hair is a bit curly. (He touches the top of his head.)


The two sat down on stools. Dai looked surprised how low the seat was. A staff adjusted it, then Dai adjusted some more himself.

D: This is as high as I can make...considering my size... lol

MC: How was Fantasy On Ice?

D: I enjoyed a lot myself. It was great to have a collaboration with Hiromi Go. He is a legend in the entertainment field. He is a person full of charms, and I was so excited to see him backstage.

It had been a while since I skated two programs in a show. It was physically hard, but also fun; I felt the audience and I became one.

MC: Many of the people here also went to the show as well, right? (She asked the audience to raise hands).

D: That’s great! Thank you! (Looking very happy^^)

I felt great while I was skating. I wonder if it reached you... (The audience applause.)

MC: You and Hanyu-kun came out together while making a heart shape…that was so cute!!

D: Yeah, we made a heart and then he kind of carried me. When we did the heart, the audience went quiet, so we changed it the next time. It was Kenji sensei who came up with the pose. He checked our pose carefully, and we tried to stay still while waiting backstage.

MC: How was the Sochi Olympics?

D: It’s difficult to say in a few words. It was fun, it was hard. When I put it in words, it sounds contradictory, but I was able to take in a lot of different feelings at once.

MC: I’m sure people have told you many times already, but you were smiling after you finished.

D: At that moment, many emotions came up. I wasn’t satisfied but did the best I could. It was a complicated feeling. I was smiling, but I myself didn’t feel that way. I guess it just came out unintentionally.

I don’t have particular themes in my programs. However, I did want to make this Olympics a compilation of my career. Lori (Nichol)’s choreography was about love, for people I’ve met, people who support me, people who I will meet in the future, for all of those people. She told me I could show my feelings toward them and comfort them a little... So that’s how we made the piece...LOL...no, I didn’t compose the piece myself, I mean the program! So I skated the program with a feeling of appreciation.

MC: Could you tell us something about Sochi that you haven’t told anyone yet? Something you can reveal now?

D: After the free program, I was invited to the exhibition. Maybe it was a relief from all the pressure, but I...digested too many things, and my body absorbed them too quickly. So I gained weight. LOL

There is a place in the exhibition program where I lie down. I watched the video later and it looked awful. My tummy was bulging!

After coming home, even my doctor said, “That was too much. That looked terrible!” I gained about 3kg in less than two weeks.


Then, his childhood picture was shown on the screen (baby Daisuke in a red shirt)

MC: How old were you when you took this picture?

D: How old…? (To the audience) Do you know? LOL
Tell me if you know.

MC: You said you wanted to talk to your mother after Sochi. Did you have a chance to talk to her?

D: Usually we don’t get to see each other much, but (after Sochi Olympics) our entire family, all 6 of us, got together for the first time in maybe 10 years. My mom said afterwards that Dad looked really happy looking at all of us together. Only my second brother drinks, so he and I drank. It was so much fun and we kept drinking. I don’t remember what happened at the end. LOL

Questions from the audience:

Q1: You look much better in shape since the Rinkai Sports Center event. Did you go on a diet, or was it due to skating?

D: You have to exercise if you want to lose weight. There is a limit what a diet can do. My current routine is to eat salad and not-so-fatty meat for dinner. Then I eat whatever I want for breakfast and lunch. My dietitian had told me my body tends to lose weight when I have 3 square meals a day. Some people lose weight when they have only 2 meals, and you also need to do exercises besides the diet. You have to eat what you enjoy eating. Something that you find delicious.


Q2: What tactics do you use to wake up in the morning? How many alarm clocks do you have?

D: I use my cellphone alarm. I set it 15 minutes apart, and it takes me an hour to an hour and a half to actually get up. I want to ask YOU rather, what tactics I should use.

What my mom used to do was to come and hug us! She hugged all us brothers and we all jumped out of bed! LOL

I’m not a morning person… I guess it’s a matter of a strong will. I think I need a stronger will to wake up… (his voice getting lower and lower^^)

Q3: What kind of gift did you give your mom on Mother’s Day?

D: I rarely give presents on Mother’s Day. I do have it ready this year but I haven’t given it to her yet. I told her what it was, though.

I bought a ○○○ for her. She told me she wanted the one I have, but I like mine and didn’t want to give it to her. LOL So I bought her another one in a different color.

(He said part of his answer was a secret to his mother, so I’m keeping this part of my report to minimum.)

MC: Oh, isn’t it great to share a secret with him? Now let us have a word from him before we move on to the photo session.

D: I’ve decided to take a break from competing, giving myself some time to think about what I want to do next. I’m not sure if I will come back to competitions or decide to do something else. One thing I can assure you is that I will continue to skate, in one way or another. I might have fewer chances to skate in front of you, but I can picture myself always staying connected to skating. So please come see me if you have some spare time. Thank you very much for coming today and for your continued support.

The photo session followed. All participants of the talk show took pictures with Daisuke in groups of 50.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

A translator's note: Athletes in Japan are normally addressed as " (last name) senshu." Since there is no adequate English term for it (senshu means competitor), I just used Mr. Takahashi throughout. I heard the general atmosphere of the talk show, however, was very casual and friendly. ----n.
Click to expand...

Once again, many thanks to the poster and the translator!
 
mikaboo

mikaboo

Medalist
Joined
Mar 6, 2014
Thanks ioanap. I also saw some tweets about the talk show. One particular one I found amusing was the reason he has a goatee now is because he gained weight and it was hard to tell the line between the chin and the neck:laugh: He said he'll shave the goatee off when he has lost some weight!
 
ioanna

ioanna

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
I'm positively sure that McDonald's picnic Tatsuki admitted having in their hotel room after men's event was over is the same incident Dai is talking about here :laugh:
 
G

glenncoco

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Goodness, the past few days have been great with Dai overload. So glad he seems happy and at peace, and how great for fans that he's discovered Instagram.

That was a good interview. What a shame his entire family hasn't been together in the same place. As for the rest...maybe it's a cultural difference but I'm just imagining the uproar if an interviewer asked a female celebrity about her weight in good old US of A. And to have his doctor say, "Yeah you gained some pounds." Maybe it comes from a genuine place, but Dai often seems so self-deprecating and down on his looks that it seems harsh to have others add to that.

Also, hi ya'll. I didn't have any clue who Daisuke Takahashi was when the Olympics began but I certainly became a fan after he skated so elegantly and I went out and found out more about him. The man has charisma for days. Thought my first post should be in his forum :)
 
ioanna

ioanna

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Hello glenncoco! Please feel free to post more from now on!

Yes, Dai has an unfortunate habit of self-deprecating and is always brutally honest when expressing his thoughts. None of us have seen any bulging tummy during the gala but he's always critical of every little thing :laugh:

He has 4 more ice shows this summer so we'll be looking forward to more updates from him.
 
Meoima

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
I don't think Dai has gotten more even just a pound. He looks healthier and happier. And that's good. :)
 
ioanna

ioanna

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
D: I’ve decided to take a break from competing, giving myself some time to think about what I want to do next. I’m not sure if I will come back to competitions or decide to do something else. One thing I can assure you is that I will continue to skate, in one way or another. I might have fewer chances to skate in front of you, but I can picture myself always staying connected to skating. So please come see me if you have some spare time. Thank you very much for coming today and for your continued support.
Click to expand...
This was my favorite part of the interview. There were times in the past when he said he doesn't know if he wants to keep skating after retirement, because ice shows wouldn't give him the tension of the competitions. But now he says he can picture himself always staying connected to skating which is a big relief, because it would have been a shame if he just disappeared from the skating world. I wouldn't mind seeing him become a coach or a choreographer.

As for coming back to competitions, I remember reading an interview in a Japanese article right after Sochi where he said that seeing Plushenko still competing at the age of 31 at his fourth Olympics filled him with both admiration and thoughts of 'If he can do it, maybe I can do it as well. I'll be 31 in Pyeongchang."

Seeing him skate and jump at FaOI made me forget his knee is still not completely recovered. His greatest enemy has always been the quad but I always wondered, was it because of physical reasons or psychological reasons? I think it's always been 20% physical and 80% psychological. Whenever he skated with a conflicted mind, it would show in the rotations of his quads; but at the same time whenever he believed in himself, he always succeeded. The most recent example is last season's Skate America vs NHK Trophy. He admitted he went to Skate America with no motivation whatsoever - he lost all faith in himself seeing younger skaters and thought to himself "why do I keep doing this, I don't even have any realistic chances of making it to Sochi because everyone else is doing better than me". As a consequence Skate America was riddled with all sorts of ridiculous mistakes.

But then Nikolai Morozov (whose greatest contribution for Dai was probably giving him the motivation and self esteem he lacked) lashed out at him for the first time in 5 years and told him what he saw there was not the Daisuke Takahashi he knows. He practically forced him to get his thoughts together, snap out of his self pity and actually fight for Sochi. And then NHK Trophy happened, where "the real" Daisuke Takahashi left his coach in a very uncharacteristic emotional state (I never thought I'd see Morozov crying like that :laugh:). How unfortunate this skater has been throughout his life, getting another dangerous injury just after finding his will to fight - an injury that left him unable to land a clean triple axel all the way till February. His clean triple axels in Sochi were truly miracles, and the only reason the second one in the LP was underrotated and two footed is another psychological one. "I freaked out just before performing it" he said.

These days he says his mind is finally quiet - after years of noise, conflicts and "what ifs". Yuzuru and Tatsuki placed ahead of him both at Sochi and the nationals and he felt ashamed for having to go through that, but at the same time it gave him the release he needed. "My younger team mates have beaten me and that's ok." One of the reasons I've always admired him was his honesty; he dreaded getting beaten by his team mates or anyone else and he never kept it a secret. But that's what being a competitive athlete is all about, isn't it. He should have had this kind of attitude in his younger years as well, but he didn't. He never saw himself good enough to surpass Takeshi Honda, but he did. He created a class of his own and this is how he's reached greatness.

On the other hand Yuzuru is most likely the greatest competitor Japan has ever had in this sport. Yuzuru's kind of greatness is different than the one Dai has achieved and so is his skating. This is why I think Yuzuru and Daisuke should never be compared - they are opposite personalities, they have a different approach to skating and have lived different eras. They should just be appreciated for existing and for overlapping for a few years. For just being there together in Sochi. Daisuke has surpassed Takeshi and Yuzuru has surpassed Daisuke - but this is only measured by the importance of the medals because otherwise I think they are equals in the men's field in Japan. They have brought different kind of contributions.

Having said this, if Daisuke gets enough rest this year off and his knee will finally get some time to heal, he can come back in competitions with this very different mindset he's having right now. What would a Daisuke that thinks he's good enough to reach the kind of longevity Plushenko is known for be like? We've only seen bits and pieces of a self confident Daisuke these past years - most of the time he was busy counting all those "what ifs". On the other hand his body will keep being exposed to injuries and the passing years won't be of any help. So whatever he decides is absolutely fine as long as he doesn't give up on skating completely. Sorry for the long post :biggrin:
 
mikaboo

mikaboo

Medalist
Joined
Mar 6, 2014
I had to check the Olympics gala to look for the bulging tummy. Nope, I don't see it.
The doctor might have been concerned about his knee though.

Looking at the schedule on his website which ioanap posted for us yesterday, Daisuke will have 4 more talk events to go to this weekend. He's supposed to play a part of "1-day sales/marketing manager" for Amino Vital.
Sat: Fukushima
Sun: Tokyo, Kanagawa x2
I hope someone kind will keep us informed about the details again.

Hi glenncoco! It's nice to hear from a new Daisuke fan. I'm new myself.
Since I live in Japan, I knew his name, but wasn't interested in FS until quite recently. Now I'm kicking myself for all those years where I deprived myself from watching all those great skaters from my own country live during competitions. Thank goodness for YouTube.

@ioanap
Thank you for your long post. :)
I enjoyed reading it and wish I had seen NHK Trophy live on television. Now I'll go look for a video of Morozov crying.
 
Meoima

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
For some reason many people dislike Morozombie and they really didn't want Dai to return to Morozombie at all, if I remember correctly.
 
mikaboo

mikaboo

Medalist
Joined
Mar 6, 2014
ioanap said:
It's here, right after Dai finishes his program :laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4wl8N3uRy8
Click to expand...

Thank you. Too bad Daisuke couldn't do this in Sochi. That damn injury!

Meoima said:
For some reason many people dislike Morozombie and they really didn't want Dai to return to Morozombie at all, if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

I wonder why he's unpopular.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Morozov is what Nobu said in a TV interview once. He was asked how Morozov divided his time and attention between him and Miki (he had other students, but the question was specifically for Nobu and Miki) and Nobu's answer was 9 (Miki): 1 (Nobu). So when I think of Morozov, I think, "9:1".
 
C

cruzceleste

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
mikaboo said:
I wonder why he's unpopular.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Morozov is what Nobu said in a TV interview once. He was asked how Morozov divided his time and attention between him and Miki (he had other students, but the question was specifically for Nobu and Miki) and Nobu's answer was 9 (Miki): 1 (Nobu). So when I think of Morozov, I think, "9:1".
Click to expand...
Well first he has this very bad habit of having romance with his students. First it was Shae Lynn Bourne, then it was rumored he had somethink with Miki (some even said he is the father of her child), and after that with Elena Ilinykh (who is 18 year younger and that the romance was rumored started when she was something like 18 or 17) and even now some people think he is the one to blame for the Ilinykh/Katsalapov ice dance couple.
 
ioanna

ioanna

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Morozov was both good and bad for Daisuke.

Good in the way that Dai was a self-conscious teenager forever self-deprecating (and this still hasn't changed much) but back then he was exaggerating. As much as Nagamitsu sensei would tell him he has the talent to become a great skater he would always shake his head and say 'somebody like me will never win anything'. Morozov was the only person who managed to change his thought pattern and the only one Dai would believe. He repeatedly told Dai he was incredible. He told him he wanted him to become as great as Alexei Yagudin (I can see why he would make this kind of comparison since he's worked with Yagudin). Sometimes they created great things together. He won a silver at the 2007 Worlds and further shot up to popularity thanks to the Morozov choreographed Cyberswan.

On the other hand as Dai never said no to anything, Morozov got used to controlling him the way he wanted. Dai didn't really take any decisions for himself back when he first worked with him. Morozov started arguing with his agent and they stopped seeing eye to eye on things. After he offered Nobu to train him, Dai wouldn't understand why he would start focusing on his rival and this, as well as other past things made him end their contract. Morozov of course never got over this and started badmouthing Dai in the press declaring "I made Daisuke Takahashi" and other things similar to this.

It was a messy separation that has most likely led to Dai's unfortunate accident. In 2012 Morozov was the one pressuring Dai into accepting him back, and he said he never got over their separation and felt jealous seeing him become an Olympic medalist and World champion without him. He said Dai was the best student he's ever had. The only one he was this emotionally invested in. The past scandals and the uninspired choreography Morozov was doing were some of the reasons why people didn't want them back together.
 
mikaboo

mikaboo

Medalist
Joined
Mar 6, 2014
@cruzceleste
Yeah, but the skaters must know his reputation and still they want to be coached/choreographed by him so there must be something good in him. Plus Daisuke's a guy so I don't think fans were concerned about that. My question was meant more as, why didn't people want Daisuke to return to Morozov. Was he choreography repetitive? Was he not good at coaching in areas Daisuke needed improvement in? Those sorts of things. Thanks for your attempt though!

@ioanap
I see. I never knew about the first separation. Thanks for giving me the history behind it.
 
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