Kazuki Tomono | Page 107 | Golden Skate

Kazuki Tomono

I see from the photos on Kazuki's twitter that he's already graduated. Congratulations! 卒業をおめでとうございます！👨‍🎓🍾
That yellow hair though 🙈
 
Pictures of Kazuki's graduation!
Group pic: https://twitter.com/DoshishaUniv_PR/status/1373893195667439616
His IG post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMuf5Twj-eL/

He looked super nice with that suit and polished shoes! His hair, though... Seems he graduated from blonde to ginger 😂

I know it might sound weird, but I'm actually happy he didn't qualify for Worlds this season. First of all, that event in Stockholm is not safe! :mad: But also, he was able to enjoy his last few months as a student, attend his last training camp with the figure skating club, and now attend his graduation which is a pretty special moment! We all know how much he treasured his university life, and I'm sure he will miss it, so I'm glad he had the time to say goodbye to it properly😭🥰
 
Kazuki won the Kyoto Prefecture Championships yesterday (FS-only), his last competition representing Doshisha University 🥺
He posted a picture of the podium on IG: https://twitter.com/KiraraChin/status/1376439313668378625
Scores and protocol: https://twitter.com/Tomono_Infonet/status/1376172921337511937

Bit of a weird layout with two lutzes (!). He started off well, but visibly ran out of gas in the second half. To be fair, he's probably not in peak competitive condition as he was only the second alt for Worlds (and knew no-one was WD), and also he's been busy with graduation and stuff. With that in mind, it's actually amazing he landed two clean quads!
 
Congrats to Kazuki! It's off-season for him now for real.
The blonde dye is not as prominent by now, fortunately...
 
^ Looks like Kazuki got a present for Easter ^ ^ I'm happy for him. Which city is Naniwa in - Osaka?
 
surimi said:
Which city is Naniwa in - Osaka?
Click to expand...
Yes, Naniwa is a neighbourhood located right in the centre of Osaka City! The sports centre seems to be massive, there is a picture here.
The website says it has good transport and communication links with a number of nearby areas, including Sakai, that where Kazuki is from and possibly that's where he lives with his family. So, overall, a very convenient location for him, and the rink is looking really nice, too ☺️
 
Quadruple Axel 2021 (3/13/21) features an interview with Kazuki & Taichi which was done in January, 2021. The magazine is sold by Amazon USA (Kindle), Amazon Japan, etc.
Translation of an excerpt from the interview:

--This is our second time interviewing two of you. Do you remember the last time (Quadruple 2015 +Plus)?
K: Yes! It was right after Kokutai (2015) wasn’t it?
T: We were in the junior men category. Was it in Gunma?
K: Yes. We (Osaka prefecture) took 3rd? Sota (Yamamoto) and Kotaro Takeuchi (Aichi prefecture) won, and Kajiken (Kento Kajita) and (Hidetsugu) Kamata-kun took 2nd.
T: I remember. I remember.
--In that interview both of you said “We are not good friends.”
T: Yes, indeed [laughter].
K: We said it. We said it [laughter].
--You two started off by saying that since you were in around the 2nd grade of elementary school, you had been rival-conscious of each other. You called each other rival and said to each other “I don’t want to lose to him!” and that’s how the talk went.
T: What a feisty attitude [laughter]!
K: We were feisty [laughter]! We both were going through a tense time back then. Now we are no longer edgy.
T: Because we’ve grown up [laughter]. (looking at the photo in the previous interview)
K: That's a blast from the past. Taichi’s hair! [laughter] Your young face!
T: We were around the 3rd year of middle school?
--It was the season in which Tomono senshu’s short was “Japanese Doll” and Honda senshu, “The Artist.”
K: Wow, this really brings back memories.
T: Indeed, it says here “We aren't that good of friends yet [laughter].
K: Too aggressive [laughter]. Wasn’t it Taichi who said that?
T: Well, Kazuki said “We don’t get along well,” as well. We said to each other “I don’t want to lose to him!”
K: The interview didn’t go well [laughter].
T: Ahahaha [laughter]
--I want to ask you about your friendship afterwards. Now that you two are adults, how has your relationship with each other changed?
K: Since Kazuki is the skater who took 5th at the Worlds, I am no match for him.
K: No no [laughter].
T: Now we sometimes go out for a drink. Although lately we avoid going out drinking because of the coronavirus, we hang out outside the rink a little bit more, don’t we?
K: A lot more than a little bit [laughter]. When I meet someone, most of the time it’s Taichi.
T: You are 5th in the world, so people around you kept their respectful distance and you lost some friends [laughter].
K: No. No. [laughter]. That’s because Taichi is the only skater my age in Kansai.
T: You have no choice. That’s why?
K: Yes, I feel like, “Who else can I hang out with?” That reminds me that we practiced together yesterday again.
T: Yesterday we practiced together, and today we are interviewed together remotely [laughter].
K: Don’t you think the talk show can be done in person? [laughter]
--So you practiced together yesterday.
K: We practiced for Kokutai (Osaka team). Taichi was in top form. He jumped an incredibly beautiful 3F-3T combo.
T: But I did terrible today.

-to be cont'd -
 
Thank you so much, rRainbow! 😭 💜
Their relationship is so cute and funny. They keep saying they are not good friends, when in fact they seem to be such good friends!

In fact, Paoz the fanartist send Kazuki a printed and framed version of her illustration of them: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNi4jZlJDH7/
Kazuki posted on IG that it would be a 'prized possession'.
 
Part 2

--Tomono senshu, has Honda senshu’s graduation been on your mind this season?
K: To tell you the truth, it hasn't sunk in yet. Even though I know I have only a few times left to watch Taichi skate, I still cannot believe he is really retiring.
--In an interview at the Nationals, Honda senshu said, “Recently Kazuki ‘contacts me more often than before, probably because he knows I am retiring.”
K: That’s true. Actually, this season Taichi’s performance has changed in that he is all fired up to end his career well. Also, my mother loves Taichi so much that she only talks about Taichi after competition.
T: You talk about your mommy [laughter]!
K: She says in the car, “Taichi-kun was amazing!” and “Did you get to see him skate?” So, like it or not, I’m reminded that it is his last season, but it hasn’t hit me yet. But his short at the National blew me away! I was looking at the result update, and it said Taichi landed the 3A, so I thought “You've got to be kidding?”
T: It would have been great if I had skated clean in both the short and free at the Nationals in my last season, but I knew it was not possible. For the past three years or so I bombed in the short, so I’m glad I was able to clear the hurdle at the very end.
K: I watched the video later, and you were so cool.
T: Looking back, I might have lost focus after the short.
K: You said after the short, “I’m ready to retire now.” [laughter]
T: In my case, right after competition, I get into such poor shape rapidly that I cannot land triples at all. But that tendency happened in the official practice for FS. My body got it all wrong and thought “the competition was over.” [laughter]
K: You struggled so much in practice [laughter]. You were next to me and kept failing in the 3T so many times that it made me less tense.
T: Takeshi (Honda) sensei asked me, “Are you okay….?” with a worried voice. Rather than performing okay in both short and free, I skated without mistakes in the short and bombed in the free. In a way, I feel good.
K: But it was not that terrible. Your mistakes were somewhat minor.
T: Well, better than Kazuki’s free.
K: That …. Is true [bitter smile].

- to be cont'd -
 
Last edited:
Thanks for sharing!
hehe, with all due respect to Taichi, it's Kazuki's FS I remember. He sells the tango so well, even when the jump passes aren't working as they should :) Kazuki's mom is a true FS fan ^ ^
And this is probably the first time I hear of Japanese skaters admitting they're not really chummy (the old interview).
 
Ohhh, thanks for sharing the second part, rRainbow! 🥰
Interesting to know that Mama Tomono is a fan of Taichi! I think because she knows he is a really good friend of Kazuki.

surimi said:
Thanks for sharing!
hehe, with all due respect to Taichi, it's Kazuki's FS I remember. He sells the tango so well, even when the jump passes aren't working as they should :) Kazuki's mom is a true FS fan ^ ^
And this is probably the first time I hear of Japanese skaters admitting they're not really chummy (the old interview).
Click to expand...
Kazuki definitely had the last laugh, by delivering a great free at Kokutai!

As for not being chummy, they STILL say this, but we know it's not true 😂
 
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Part 3

--Honda senshu, your thoughts about Tomono senshu’s performance?
T: In the short, he popped a 4S, but his scores were not bad. But his FS was not what I expected. I never thought it would end like that [laughter].
K: After I finished, he said to me, “I didn’t expect you to make so many mistakes [laughter].
T: He overturned the opening 4T and I thought it would loosen him up and he would deliver a perfect performance, but he kept messing up. So I was watching him wondering. "What the heck!"
--Still, your choreo sequence was beautiful to watch.
T: Even though he botched his performance, as expected, he was able to do the choreo sequence as passionately as when he skates flawlessly.
K: I thought “I cannot go home until after I nail the choreo sequence” [laughter]. Besides, I never give up in competition. It has always been important to me that I stay committed to perform till the very end, and that’s what (Hiraike) sensei has been telling me all the time.
T: I seriously thought Kazuki might reach the podium.
K: Unusually for him, he cheered for me like crazy. So I felt like Taichi was feeling down more than I was.
T: That’s for sure. I must have felt the same way as Hiraike sensei.
K: Sensei kept saying to me something like, “Why couldn’t you...?” [laughter]
T: Kazuki practiced super hard, and he looked to be in top form. That’s why I hoped he would be a bit more rewarded. But it never gets easier.
K: This time the competition ended with the feeling that it was in the top 2 on my list of frustrating events. I think my strength is the high-spirited, lively vibe in competition, but I had a talk with my coach that too much emotion might lead to failure instead. That might explain my struggle for the past few years. This season I haven’t enjoyed competitions …… But looking hard on the bright side, if I had performed well at that time, I might have gone in the wrong direction. Instead, now I am glad that I put my all into it, but it was not good after all, and that gave me the motivation to work hard in a different direction. Next time, I want to stay determined and mentally strong in such a way that I feel like “Competition is a reward for my hard work.”
T: In the free he made four mistakes and if you look at it objectively, it was not a good skate. But Kazuki never said that his practice hadn’t gone well. That’s great. Usually a skater would say, “I haven’t done well in practice.” Even though he had messed up so much, he never said that his practice had not worked well. So he must have been doing really well in practice. Therefore, he only needs to bring his top form to competition.

- to be cont'd -
 
Thank you so much, rRainbow!
It's bittersweet to remember what happens at Nats, I'm glad he managed to finish the season on a better note at Kokutai.
 
Part 4

--After Tomono senshu’s free, you two held each other around the shoulders.
K: (Looking at the photo taken at that moment) that made me 150 percent happy. I was overjoyed that Taichi was watching my FS.
T: I honestly believed Kazuki would skate clean, but he made a mess of his performance, and actually, it made me laugh. In this photo I was saying to him something like, “That was no good.” “You could have done better.” Hiraike sensei usually says to Kazuki after his performance, “That was not good,” or something to that effect, but this time he said, “You practiced so hard, but didn’t do well. Oh well, at least you tried,” and he looked satisfied. I had seen him satisfied for the first time since the Worlds. That is also one of the reasons why he made it sound like it’s no big deal and don’t worry.
K: To be honest, I was really feeling down, and he was there for me and I felt quite relieved. By the time I walked to Kiss & Cry, I somewhat got back to myself mentally. His presence must have made a big difference.
T: Still, he felt deflated again when he saw his score [laughter].
K: I was down again [laughter], but I was glad he saw me skate. That reminds me that at the qualifying round for Kokutai (January) I skated my best. At that time Taichi gave me a good word for the first time saying, “You killed it!” and it made me so happy.
T: That was your best performance this season.
K: His eyes were shining brilliantly, and he said, “For the first time, I found “Moulin Rouge” nice [laughter].
T: Ahahaha [laughter].
K: Also, before the Nationals, he said, “You can reach the podium!” so I felt up to it as well, and I was like, “Alrighty, I can do it!” But after the competition, he came up to me and said, “After all, the top 3 were awesome. I had misjudged the situation [laughter].
T: Ahaha [laughter]. You said, “I want to beat Yuma (Kagiyama) kun.”
K: To some extent, my goal this season was to beat him.
T: When Shoma (Uno) got 190(.59) points, I saw Yuma-kun who was the next skater covering his ears with his hands so that he could not hear the sound. That was because he really wanted to win. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done that.
K: That makes sense.
T: If Kazuki had been the next to skate after Shoma, and heard “190 points,” he would probably have been impressed. If you think about it, Yuma-kun is great. Covering his ears means he is beyond that stage.
K: You’re right, indeed.

- to be cont'd -
 
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