Oh, she is her ex-coach Machiko Yamada. She has coached Midori, Yukari, Mai, and Kanako Murakami.
She says:
- She is seeing Mao almost everyday at her rink.
- Mao has good days and bad days.
- She kind of wonders how clean Mao's jumps may look. Currently, it is extremely important to land a jump cleanly. The evaluation also depends on judges' eyes. But she somewhat feels that that the situation so far might not have seemed to be in favor of Mao.
- She tells Mao that she is luckier than Midori. Today Japan has other brilliant skaters than Mao. But at Midori's time, she was the ONE, which made Midori suffer a lot. Mao can just walk her own way without being crushed under pressures.
- (Being asked what the audience should be looking forward to seeing at the Japanese Nationals) Now things can be puzzling. Say, the audience may find, "Wow this girl was wonderful" and then the scores of the two programs are combined, "Oh, that girl won!" So it is a bit difficult to figure out (for the lay audience). But each skater prepares for this event and perhaps the audience should be looking forward to seeing how each of them tries.
Mao herself basically repeats herself. Almost exactly the same as what she has been saying so far. No updates.
Oh, she uses a newer expression. She wants to be good friends with 3A. She also looks happier than before.
Mai says:
Mao may have been stressed having been abroad for a long time. But now she has her own pace of life back home. Her coach is visiting her, too (Is she referring to the assistant coach, perhaps?). So she would be fine.
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I wonder if Machiko can be her coach again. She seems a very humane, mature person with a balanced outlook and perceptive, relaxed interpersonal communicative styles (see how often she smiles and laughes; despite talking about sensitive issues, the way she talks sounds very relaxed, calm, and optimistic). She seems a little bit like a mother in downtown. She seems very down to earth. These could balance out Mao's determined mind. I feel that this could work better than TAT's toughness. Flexibility is greatly important under the CoP. Besides, Mai sounds that Mao is happier back in Japan.
Daisuke is doing fine with his long-term coach alone. His coach, Utako, does not have international reputation. But it does not affect his PCS. Machiko is an internationally well-known coach.
