Daisuke Takahashi | Page 18 | Golden Skate

Daisuke Takahashi

deedee1 said:
Let's talk, how many languages do you handle??? :eek: I have always wondered. You must be at least trilingual!
SkateFiguring is trilingual at least, too. It often amazes me that a lot of GS members speaks so many languages, while I am struggling with singular/plural form on nouns and/or subjunctive mode all the time...:o:
Click to expand...

I am also amazed and impressed. In several different alphabets and writing systems, no less! Add skatinginbc to the list of multilingual prodigies as well. This is a talented and accomplished bunch, isn't it?

And your English is splendid, deedee. As for subjunctive, as let's talk says, many native English speakers goof up this mood--probably because we don't really have a separate subjunctive form. (On a related topic, if I had a nickel for every time I heard a native speaker say "I should have went" instead of "I should have gone," I'd be a lot better off.)

By the way, let's talk, I read somewhere that before the Civil War, people used to use the plural verb for the United States: "The United States are." Now we use the singular: "The United States is." I love how elastic language can be. Part of that particular change may be philosophical, and part may be a separation from British English. I've noticed that in Britain they use the plural verb for a company name: "Cadbury are a British chocolate manufacturer." In the U.S., we use the singular; "Hershey is an American chocolate manufacturer." The Brits say "My family are in London for the Olympics." We say "My family is in London for the Olympics." (I wish!)
 
Last edited:
I'll take a guess:

At the time just prior to the Revolution, the states were actually occasionally in shooting wars and often in legal confrontations with each other. They were separate colonies of England, as separate as say, Australia & Canada or India & South Africa in the day of the British Empire. They were separated by religion, and even by ethnicity.

NY had many Dutch folk.
Pennsylvania was Quaker.
Maryland was Catholic.
Vermont was Deist/Unitarian.

And lest you doubt the military stuff, for example, Vermont's Green Mountain boys were an already existing military force who spent their time keeping away invading folks from New York, which is why they were organized enough to seize Fort Ticonderoga immediately after the Battle of Bunker Hill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mountain_Boys

Consequently, the origin of "the United States" is similar to "the European Union". The states were separate entities organized together because:

"If we do not hang together, we will most certainly hang separately."


Consequently the definite article "the" is used with the adjective "united" to describe the States. At first the united states was normal English syntax, and not a name at all. ( Previously, they would have been "the" colonies.)

Later the common designation was chosen as the name of the country, with the The left in, perhaps for convenience in not having to change documentation all that much as anything.

In any case, it's as good a guess as any.
 
And after the Revolution, before the Constitution was developed, the states lived under a document called the Articles of Confederation. Everyone moved in a separate orbit. There was no U.S. monetary system, so, for instance, some states used British money and some used gold doubloons. Vermont I think entered into a treaty with Spain. Finally people came over to the idea of a strong central government, but with certain rights belonging to the states.

Ethan Allen...one of my favorite quotes (I hope it wasn't apocryphal) was what he hollered out when he took Fort Ticonderoga: "Surrender in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" I've always wanted an opportunity to say that.

As for when we put the definite article (the) in front of nouns, it can be confusing. In French, it's easier: you nearly always have an article in front of a noun. There doesn't seem to be a rule in English, unfortunately. For instance, you would say "Night comes early in December" but "The night has a thousand eyes."

But don't worry: when Daisuke comes here and learns some English, we'll be delighted at whatever he says!
 
Last edited:
dorispulaski said:
I'll take a guess:

At the time just prior to the Revolution, the states were actually occasionally in shooting wars and often in legal confrontations with each other. They were separate colonies of England, as separate as say, Australia & Canada or India & South Africa in the day of the British Empire. They were separated by religion, and even by ethnicity.

NY had many Dutch folk.
Pennsylvania was Quaker.
Maryland was Catholic.
Vermont was Deist/Unitarian.

And lest you doubt the military stuff, for example, Vermont's Green Mountain boys were an already existing military force who spent their time keeping away invading folks from New York, which is why they were organized enough to seize Fort Ticonderoga immediately after the Battle of Bunker Hill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mountain_Boys

Consequently, the origin of "the United States" is similar to "the European Union". The states were separate entities organized together because:

"If we do not hang together, we will most certainly hang separately."


Consequently the definite article "the" is used with the adjective "united" to describe the States. At first the united states was normal English syntax, and not a name at all. ( Previously, they would have been "the" colonies.)

Later the common designation was chosen as the name of the country, with the The left in, perhaps for convenience in not having to change documentation all that much as anything.

In any case, it's as good a guess as any.
Click to expand...
:) That was entertaining. But I am afraid that if someone needed to learn the history of each country in details in order to know to use "the" or not, the result would be just :think: every time. I take it simpler: if the name of the country has a common noun, then the article "the" is used. At least that was what they told us at school: "Russia" but "the Russian Federation". As well as "the United States of America", "the United Kingdom", "the Dominion of Canada", "the Soviet Union", etc. There are some exceptions but they all have their reasons, either geographical (the Bahamas and the Philippines refer to the groups of islands) or historical (the Netherlands, original meaning "low countries"). Luckily for Daisuke and for all not native English speakers the wrong usage of the article with proper names is not crucial.
 
That's an excellent explanation, Let's Talk. It seems to suit all the examples, and it even mentions the exceptions. (I have a vague recollection that Gambians call their country "The Gambia," for example.) As you say, it's not crucial to figure out where to use the article, and we'll get Daisuke where he needs to go whether he masters that part or not. All he has to do is smile and wave.
 
There will be a charity show on Thursday July 12th at Rinkai Sport Center in Osaka. :)
The porpose of this show is fundraising on renovation costs of Rinkai Sport Center.

Skaters to perform:
-Daisuke Takahashi
-Akiko Suzuki
-Kanako Murakami
-Fumie Suguri :clap:
-Other younger skaters who train there

Rinkai Sport Center has an ice rink which is open for public, and at the same time, one of the FEW rinks available for competitive skaters based in Osaka area. Daisuke Takahashi and Nobunari Oda used to train there until they went onto college (=Kansai University DOES have its own ice rink for their students). Many other younger skaters still train there, such as Keiji Tanaka (2011 Worlds Jr. silver medalist) and Yukihiro Yoshida.

The center is very old so that needs an immediate earthquake-resistant renovation in accordance with the architectual standards law. Osaka prefecture, however, has been facing the huge financial deficit for years and no budget applicable they were mercilessly saying. Thus this center has been threatened to close down since spring 2008.

Back in spring 2008, all those concerned and its skaters including Dai conducted a campaign to collect signatures up to 138,000 and hosted a charity show in order to make a petition to temporarily postpone Osaka's decision to close down the center and it worked so far.

The cost for renovation is estimated 300 million yen (=approx. US$ 3.75 millions). The Governor of Osaka Mr. Matsui recently suggested "One coin (500 yen=approx. $6) fundraising campaign", and promised that Osaka may reconsider the decision and be ready to bear the half of the renovation costs (150 million) if the center can get supports from many people through this campaign to prove that the continuance of the center IS everyone's interests and desires.

As of today, the center has collected 4,723,204 yen (=a little over US$59 thousands) from 3,891 people, thanks to their goodwill! :yes:
It seems still a long way to reach the goal, but as Laozi the great philosopher of ancient China says "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!" :agree:

Here is the link for this campaign:

http://rinkai.rocket3.net/
http://rinkai.rocket3.net/details1.html ->you will find Fumie and Dai if you scroll down the page.

Though I can't bear train tickets nor time for a round-trip to Osaka myself, (besides, charity show tickets are already sold out ;)) I will go to the nearest bank to remit my small donation on Thursday again, instead.

Hope someone who's going to the charity show will report for us later!
 
Last edited:
Dai was added to the Prince Ice World shows that take place the nearest weekend: www.princehotels.co.jp/iceshow . I saw the site just a few days ago and he wasn't there. Now I was researching the access to the arena and saw him :eek: ! What a wonderful surprise. Lucky me. I am especially interested to see top three candidates for OM in one show, and each of them is so different. :yay:
 
let`s talk said:
Dai was added to the Prince Ice World shows that take place the nearest weekend: www.princehotels.co.jp/iceshow . I saw the site just a few days ago and he wasn't there. Now I was researching the access to the arena and saw him :eek: ! What a wonderful surprise. Lucky me. I am especially interested to see top three candidates for OM in one show, and each of them is so different. :yay:
Click to expand...

Does Prince Hotel still sponsor skaters? I know they had once sponsored Yukari Nakano.
 
let`s talk said:
Dai was added to the Prince Ice World shows that take place the nearest weekend: www.princehotels.co.jp/iceshow . I saw the site just a few days ago and he wasn't there. Now I was researching the access to the arena and saw him :eek: ! What a wonderful surprise. Lucky me. I am especially interested to see top three candidates for OM in one show, and each of them is so different. :yay:
Click to expand...

Good for you! Have a great time, let's talk! :)
And would appreciate so much if yo could report some for us later. ;)

PIW shows, DOI shows, all charity activities, TV/radio/magazine appearances and other promotions...Dai shows up everywhere this off season. like a workaholic.

Part of me understands he knows there is only a year and half left for him as an eligible/top skater, which of course means he is very influential in many ways socially, so that he wants to do whatever he is expected to do and as much as possible (such as to promote this soprt, bring $$ of his show apprearance fees to JSF, and/or help financially to save ice rinks in danger of closedown. But he needs to slow down a bit. :no:
When is he scheduled to go to his choreographers for new programs???
 
^Thanks deedee. Dai is so intense in this Tango and he stays in character until the last beat of the music, love it.

Dai has been working incredibly hard on improving his spins the past 2 seasons and his hard work shows.
 
deedee1 said:
There will be a charity show on Thursday July 12th at Rinkai Sport Center in Osaka. :)
The porpose of this show is fundraising on renovation costs of Rinkai Sport Center.
Click to expand...

Here is a short vid clip on the charity show Thursday night :):
(Daisuke performed to his EX version of Roxanne)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ChNVGrveTE

Fyi, the Rinkai Sport Center is one of the few ice rinks available for competitive skaters, not only figure skating but also ice hockey and short track, based in Osaka area for their day-to-day training. But the cneter is 40 years old and needs an earthquake-resistant renovation by 2015. And if it falis to do so, the center is in danger of close down...

This is the second charity show for fundraising prepared by its skaters along with several top skaters who actively support this project such as Daisuke Takahashi (he used to train there until 2005) and Fumie Suguri. (The first one was held in summer 2008.)

---------------------------------------------

According to a couple of articles from newspaper and TV news this morning, there came about 450 people including about 50 honored guests; who mostly are members of city of Osaka's council and of other cities' council within Osaka prefecture, for this charity show.

And skaters to have taken part in this time were about 200(!), who use this rink on a daily basis for training; including Keiji Tanaka and other local figure skaters who compete at Regionals/Nationals level, skaters of short track and ice hockey, plus lots of kid skaters. Daisuke Takahashi, Akiko Suzuki, Kanako Murakami and Fumie Suguri also got to perform last night.

After the charity show, skaters stood in line holding the collection boxes at the exit, saw all the guests off with smiles and thanked them for coming. The amount for fundraising from last night summed up around 3.5 million yen (= US$43.7 thousands), and they collected about 8.5 million yen (= US$106 thousands) in total so far. :)

The renovation cost is estimated approx. 300 million yen (about US$3.75 millions). When Daisuke and several others visited Mr. Matsui, the Governer of Osaka for a petition in mid May, the governer mentioned about the possibility that Osaka prefecture and the Rinkai Sport Center can bear the half of each regarding the renovation cost. If that is the case, they still NEED to raise 150 million yen at least by 2015 in order to prevent the ice rink from its close down. And they are hoping to meet their fundraising target for 2012 which is 50 million yen (= US$62.5 thousands) by the end of December, they say.

Comments by skaters after the show:

-Akiko Suzuki
"Skaters need an ice rink to begin with...Without any ice rinks, we can not do anything for our training. I decided to join this project in order to help to bring up new generations of this sport."

-Kanako Nurakami
"I have a personal connection to this rink, too, because I skated here at the junior regional competiton a couple of years ago. When I joined this kind of charity show before, I learned that it's important to show my support with my own action."

-Daisuke Takahashi
"(Now I can train at my college rink since 2005, but) I used to train at this rink for two years when my previous rink (=before Rinkai) had to close down due to financial problem. I was so grateful back then when Rinkai accepted me and other skaters and allowed us to skate here.
It was the first and second of my college years which was when I struggled badly both mentally and technically. This rink is filled with my, say, a couple of sweet memories and lots of bitter memories. And without those bitter days, I am probably not the same as I am now."

"Rinkai is one of the very few ice rinks available for copmetitive skaters. We need Rinkai for the sake of those skaters who have no other place but this one to train. If this rink is to close down, skaters are to lose their training base, have to be scattered somewhere else and may end up giving up this sport.
Our sincere wish is the continuance of the rink. I would like to do whatever I can do to help, but I would appreciate you a lot if you could also support this project. We need each and every goodwill, however small it may be, from you."

"The rink in Kyoto has closed down a couple years ago. There are three rinks available in Osaka area now; Moriguchi, Rinkai and Kansei University's. But my college rink sets its own regulations; such as fixed number of skaters to train at a time. Thus practically there are only two rinks available, I would say. We can not let this rink close down for the sake of these skaters. Some of the coaches here helped me a great deal when I was a teenager. Two younger skaters from my home town Okayama now train here, too. But all of them train here everyday with, say, literally fear of losing their traning base. I would like them to train without such concerns and to concenrate on their skating, only."
 
Last edited:
I didn't notice that, Deedee. Thanks for pointing it out. How lovely to realize that he's been working so hard, and that he's still improving. Go, Daisuke! I'm telling you, when he comes to America, we're not giving him back. :)
 
Hooray!

Seriously...I hope that whatever Dai finds over here will help him continue to grow and thrive, so that he's at his absolute best this season and the next. It will be our honor to play any part in his career.
 
Daisuke is all yours! ;)

Here is the latest vid clip of the talk Shizuka x Daisuke:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqDoe48deuM

Do not have time to translate it now, but I love how Shizuka described about Dai going back to Nikolai: :yes:
"I have never, nobody actually, imagined you would have gone back to him. However, what I can say about him is Nikolai is full of ideas and his wardrobe is just huge when it comes to figure skating. You can think this way; you have decided to go to a new coach."

a couple of things about Dai:
-He sounds in this interview that he will be going to US in September after Friends on Ice, not August.
-Changed (again) the model of his skating boots and its edge from the previous season's. Right now, wildcat-like to him and he is having to hard time to adjust to it. But he believes if he can handle it properly, he can be different from the previous season.
-Moved to a new place for a change and to make himself more comfortable when at home.

As usual, they talked to each other throughout as if were a real brother and big sister. ;)
 
On Saturday at PIW I asked him who his choreographer will be. He said he doesn't know yet.

Morozov? Ya-da.
 
Be patient! We will know that by October 6 (@JO), and by November 2 (@CoC) for his SP at the latest. ;) So, let me see, it is only the matter of ...............76 days' wait. Not so long, isn't it? :biggrin:

Rinkai Sport Center has updated their site and summed up fundraising upon the charity show on July 12th. :)
http://rinkai.rocket3.net/index.html

As of today, the center collected almost 8.23 million yen (approx. US$102 thousands) from 4,838 people.
Again, a BIG 'thank you' to all skaters, their parents, coaches, feds people and guest skaters who joined this project! And to those who contributed to this project (including deedee)! :clap:

Still a long way towards this year's target 50 million yen, but remember "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!" :yes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dorispulaski
2025 GP Finlandia Trophy Men's Free Skate
16 17 18
Replies
340
Views
14K
reneerose
reneerose
dorispulaski
2025 GP Finlandia Trophy Men's Short Program
12 13 14
Replies
275
Views
13K
Blades of Passion
Blades of Passion
dorispulaski
2026 Four Continents Championships Men's Free Skate
20 21 22
Replies
422
Views
12K
CoyoteChris
CoyoteChris
dorispulaski
2026 Four Continents Championships Men's Short Program
15 16 17
Replies
327
Views
11K
Janice4th
J
dorispulaski
2026 World Figure Skating Championships | Men's Free Skate
46 47 48
Replies
943
Views
41K
CoyoteChris
CoyoteChris
Back
Top