Yuzuru Hanyu: 2014-15 Season

Newbiespectator said:

and fair warning to anyone wanting to be his girlfriend. You must NOT be clingy, jealous, or fixated on things, and know that even if he likes you a lot he likes skating MUCH MORE.
Sounds reasonable to me.

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Newbiespectator said:

Yes, now with his love of earphones growing at full speed, a girlfriend might be in 3rd place on the love list. hehehe.

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~Pamina~ said:

Did you hear that sound? That was a thousand girls screaming "Where do I sign???"

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Newbiespectator said:

No, wait!! A girlfriend would be fourth place because Pooh is there too.

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~Pamina~ said:

- skating
- earphones
- Pooh
- chocolate
...
...
...
...
- girlfriend

I still don't see a problem here *gets earplugs before going deaf*

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~Pamina~ said:

well, excuuuuse me for trying to keep the things-he-likes-more-than-girls list shorter than the whole media thread *adjusts earplugs*

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~Pamina~ said:

ok, ok, you win, I'll keep a list on my phone... but you'll pay for the three packages of paper I'll need to print it in the end! (if all else fails there's still the time machine and plushy and mushy can destroy the universe and we'll never have had this discussion and now I'm getting all loopy again..... I still blame the butt-mask-gif)

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SuzyQ said:

At last, I finished my nitpicking.
I appreciate the original translater, as it takes me so much time to translate from the scratch. Such lengthy text just intimidates me, and I usually give up in the first place.
Also, please note this is just my try.

Original: 中日新聞
Chinese Translations: @Shigana_新旅程
(revised by SuzyQ)

The opening of new figure skating season is approaching. For the newly crowned Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, who has also claimed various major titles as well, this will be the first season where he will become the target of all the other competitors. The question is, what does this rapidly developing nineteen-year-old who has sprinted all the way towards the title of World Champion look forward to and want to challenge now? He was interviewed at the rink in which he trains at in Toronto.

Q: After half a year passed since the Olympics, how do you feel now about the weight or pressure of being the gold medalist?
A: I’m feeling a bit, but not as much as expected. I’ve always thought that the pressure would be much heavier, but I’ve come to realize that it was only one competition that I won, which just happened to be the Olympic Games. But, when I’m not in good condition, or performed unsatisfactorily, I think my gold medal helps me strive further. I can keep reminding myself as, “You have an Olympic gold medal in your hands, why are you doing such lackluster performance?” I think that the gold medal has actually served as one of the motivators for me to strive.

The atmosphere surrounding me has changed, where I feel bewildered at times. Not long before, I was simply one figure skater, but after winning the gold medal, it’s as if I’ve been suddenly dragged into the world of adults. Although there is a gap between my feeling and the surrounding situation, whenever I skate, I am just a figure skater, and still nineteen years old. I only want to put all my might into figure skating, the sport I like. This thinking has not changed.

Q: As the Olympic champion, what are your goals for the new season?
A: I have a kind of ambiguous but ambitious goals, such as improving myself, or winning in the new season again. But, I don’t have any in particular that I want to do. I think the goal changes depending on the situation, so all I can do for now is to continue my fitness training as well as improving my skating skills.

As people appreciate my capturing triple crown (of figure skating) in the last season, I am gradually realizing its value. To me however, the ten years or so since I started skating and the four years leading up to Sochi, and my skating career from here will be totally different. Being an Olympic champion doesn’t mean that I will always win in the next season, so I need to pull up my sleeves afresh and strive for the win of each and every competition in the coming season.

Q: What do you think is the most intriguing thing about figure skating?
A: In order to succeed, you’ll need complete control over your mind and body at the same time. It’s not just during practice, but also during the four minutes and thirty seconds or two minutes and fifty seconds, you need to compose yourself and bring out your best in performing the program. That is the most difficult part of this sport. We can put it this way. It’s a sport with a difficulty of one-time performance such as sprint or shot-putting of track and field, and in addition to that, you need stamina, and also mental strength. It’s because of its complexity and difficulty that makes it so much interesting. You can have a big audience as well. Furthermore, the whole thing just depends on you. That’s another thing attracts me.

Q: Your quads are now placed in the second half of both your short program and your free skate, with there being a total of three quads in your free skate all together. The difficulty level of your planned elements is a lot higher than the previous season’s.
A: I’m thinking that I don’t want to stay at the level of the last year. Also, as the consistency of my quadruple toe-loop is quite high now, I have a slight feeling that I might be gradually stepping over my (physical?) limits. But, at the same time, I don’t want to set any limit myself, or I’m not intending to step over the limit. I’m just doing what I would like to do. It’s quite challenging, but I’ll try my best to catch up to the level of difficulty that my program offers.

Q: Does it mean you have more what you want to try as your level has been improved?
A: It feels like I now love figure skating more than ever before. It may be because I have got good results so far, but either way, I’m really enjoying skating now. Although there are lots of things that I don’t really like outside of skating, they are just minor things coming along with the surroundings. After all, as I’m a skater, I should think about improving myself. I just want to be more competitive. That’s all.

Q: Wouldn’t that bring about further challenge or hardship?
A: Yes, it would. What I have to think about in the days ahead is that I’ll be turning twenty this year. I’ll definitely have to endure hardship that I’ve never experienced before in my teenage years. I’m still trying to digest the fact that my body will change, my mental state will change. And how I should face it and develop from here is quite intriguing for me as well.

Q: What kind of twenties do you image yourself?
A: I think I’ll still be the same ambitious skater in my twenties as I am now. Even if I need to train my mental strength more, I think I am the type of skater who keeps challenging physical goals, because it is my policy to accomplish such goals.

Q: It seems you have achieved good results steadily so far. Have you ever experienced any slump?
A: I have experienced the biggest slump during my novice years. Our rink was closed due to financial problem, so I had to switch to another rink to train. My training time was reduced by half, and I could not jump at all.

I think it is normal that we experience slumps. I geared up my condition so high that I fell in a slump afterwards in the World Championships and the Olympics, where I believe all the competitors are about the same. I think it was Dai Tamesue (Japanese hurdler, bronze medalist of 2001 World Championships) who said that your condition peaks are like an elastic rubber. The lower it is pulled down, the higher it jumps up next, but if you apply too much force, there’s a chance that the elastic band will be snapped. Right now, I’m just like a broken elastic band. If I was able to restore to the normal condition after the Worlds in March, it wouldn’t have been broken, but since I kept participating in various ice shows and kept pulling it, I’m in very low condition at present with my elastic band broken. I think however, it is good to recognize that, and I’m now calculating hard to figure out to what level I should boost my current condition.

Q: You are thinking that Toronto is the best place for you at present to train as it allows you to fully concentrate in skating?
A: Hmm, I’ve already decided myself to continue on until PyeongChang — to train hard for another four years, then retire and become a pro. So, I simply want to do my best to achieve good results in the next four years to come.

Q: When you talk about the earthquake you experienced, you tend to choose your words very carefully. Are you feeling that you don’t want to talk about it voluntarily?
A: Because it’s a very sensitive topic, it may be true that I’m feeling reluctant to talk about. However, there are probably a lot of details that I should talk about. Now I believe that I am in a position that I can do something, it is not such a burden for me if it is useful for the disaster areas.

Q: Once during the off season, you’ve been to one of the areas badly hit by the tsunami. What is the meaning for you to continue the support after 3 years passed since the disaster?
A: Right now, there’s not much that I can do directly. In the end, I’m just an amateur athlete, and although the Olympics have passed, this coming season will be most important for me now. However, when I went to the disaster area hit by tsunami, the port and so on was doing quite well recovering, but when you take a closer look, there are still many places that have not changed. For example, only the foundation of buildings remains, and things such as washing machines being abandoned. It is important, when thinking about the future, to explain to everyone that there still exists this kind of situation in many places. That’s my thought.

Post Interview Remarks:
The newly crowned Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu still continues to live a simple life consisting of him travelling between his home and the rink in which he trains at. The day that we interviewed him, he was studying at home in the morning, and training on the ice in the afternoon. After that was his pilates class, where he trained until he was exhausted and sweating hard.
Although he has significantly increased the difficulty of his programs by planning a quad in the second half of both of his programs, we believe that he will draw courage and strength from his mindset of “I love skating”, and “I want to do my very best”. To be able to turn the burdening pressure of the Olympic gold medal into a medium of motivation, this kind of thinking process is unique to Yuzuru Hanyu only. As long as he has no problem with his physical condition, I’m quite sure we will be able to see his breathtaking performance one after another this coming season as well.

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cruzceleste said:

I think this is new http://0p0p0q0.tumblr.com/post/96103503322

Credit to the owner and poster in tumblr

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WoChair said:

Practice for the 24hr show

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smasma said:

24Hr TV Interview

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satine94 said:

And here's a short clip of him getting nervous/embarrassed during the ghana event.

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satine94 said:

OMG I copied the wrong link, so sorry guys! Here's the right one

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dasani said:

Performance uploaded to youtube

Edit to add: Yuzu's full segment on dailymotion

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smasma said:

The elderly man said he's lost everything in the tsunami including his wife, his house, his dog, etc... As to why he was out of breathe, the fans said that his 6 mins warm up became a 15 min warm up due to delay on the NTV part. That's why he was tired.

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echotpe said:

Yuzu's life and his skating career is strongly linked with 311 disaster. It is impossible to relieve from those ties as someone expected.

In my view, he knows it's good timing and is trying to take advantages of what attentions and resources resulted from his OG success in order to be benefiting to the damaged areas.

In the video last night, when the male senior smiled talking about his family lost, Yuzu felt painful and was in tears. He really knew how much struggle those people suffered in past three years. The pains is still in life and won't be forgotten.

However he said, "even life is so hard, if you can always hold a grateful feeling and thank anything, anyone around you, the good thing will be happened. I believe that."

On the other hand, he truly got responses that people can get movement and strength from his skating, that encouraging himself to work hard to bring more good results back home. It is a good recycle with positive thinking as he always did - talk some but do more.

As a fan, we can continue rooting for him silently and maybe go to Karaoke stop to sing his cheering song for little donation.

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firal said:

It's lovely to see him, but the part where he visited the earthquake-affected area was really hard for me to watch. The narrator called him a sensitive person: he kept feeling guilty about "abandoning" those still in the area and getting special treatment because he is a skater, and he was very hesitant to visit before because he felt he was going to "step on their wounds". I think he was very emotional and fighting back his tears after talking to the seniors.

I didn't see this mention yet, but apparently they choreographed this R&J program right at this rink where he performed today. They also said that because they were trying to conserve energy, they only used the light source from outside through the ceiling.

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sajoya said:

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm24238060

Idk, I thought it was an interesting video coming from CBC

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smasma said:

Pandalion's performance from Sendai in 24Hr TV with Yuzu appearing in the VTR.

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Esopian said:

I'm not sure if this was posted before, but I discovered a particularly interesting article translation: [link]
It really got me laughing for some reason.

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@~Pamina~
Please put the video game on your list! It's as important as pooh and earphones in Yuzu's favorites.

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annca said:

yuzuru ghana choco CM uploads :yay:

15 secs CM ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPpsE-v6B4Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

30 secs CM ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moh6r8JhwEM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

CM making ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bw48lE1KAg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

interview ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuOQfbQuf7Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player


WEBPAGE (pretty! )

*thanks to blue_cosmos for the links*

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annca said:

yuzuru ghana choco CM uploads :yay:

15 secs CM ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPpsE-v6B4Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

30 secs CM ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moh6r8JhwEM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

CM making ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bw48lE1KAg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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