Sota Yamamoto

[surimi]

Nice job in the SP for Sota. Congrats on making the top 6, and on a 'noo-missu' performance. I'm happy. It's all the more admirable since the last time he competed internationally, he was still a junior. His intl senior debut, and after such an injury, and he does this well - he has my respect. I hope he takes a thorough rest now. (that nosebleed did spook me out a bit, I haven't seen it much in skating competitions - I hope he's fine!) Best of luck in the free!

 

[blackey]

3f in second half! He's making his progress coming back and literally every time he does something new I'm about to cry....

 

[Interspectator]

Welcome back again Sota. Keep making progress little by little. We're all cheering for you!

 

[formersk8ter]

Sota's SP at Coupe de Printemps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pufBQ8qYV4

 

[surimi]

Forgot to say I'm glad Sota has such a caring coach. It was heartwarming to watch how she fussed about him in the KnC, wiping his face and all. He deserves a supportive coach. :yes:

 

[WineHerUp]

Sota returning to international competition after two long years is one of my favorite moments of the entire season. I hope he does well in the FS and leaves the competition feeling proud of what he has accomplished. Here's to an even better next season . Hopefully Japan will select him for their NHK host's pick!

 

[Nafetaks]

Here his gala performance with Hiroaki Sato's costume:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq5TtS7PRfo

 

[Plumededragon]

Sota returning to international competition after two long years is one of my favorite moments of the entire season. I hope he does well in the FS and leaves the competition feeling proud of what he has accomplished. Here's to an even better next season . Hopefully Japan will select him for their NHK host's pick!

That would be awesome to see him at NHK, though obviously he’ll have to keep improving.
But how he keeps upgrading his layout is proof that he’s slowly getting there. I only hope he’ll stay healthy (that’s most important!) and keep improving.
... still really miss BFF Shoma and Sota moments when they were together. I hope we’ll have more of that later on too. They were the cutest thing.

 

[surimi]

Reposting a group photo from CdP gala: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYm0dMgXkAE1Oer.jpg
Sota is the only one who isn't smiling there, poor thing. I hope his foot wasn't giving him trouble, and that his health keeps improving! I also hope he gets more international assignments next season, and that he takes things slowly; he's still a convalescent after all. I really want to see him happy again, the way he was at Nationals.

 

[WineHerUp]

That would be awesome to see him at NHK, though obviously he’ll have to keep improving.
But how he keeps upgrading his layout is proof that he’s slowly getting there. I only hope he’ll stay healthy (that’s most important!) and keep improving.
... still really miss BFF Shoma and Sota moments when they were together. I hope we’ll have more of that later on too. They were the cutest thing.

Sota remaining happy and healthy is definitely the most important! Ugh the Shoma and Sota moments were the cutest. Hopefully they'll be able to compete in the same competitions in the upcoming season and bless us with more cute moments! They were my favorite juniors back then and it makes me a bit sad that Sota wasn't able to rise to the top like Shoma because of circumstances that were beyond his control.

Here's a nice little throwback featuring the cutest duo:
http://shoma-uno.tumblr.com/post/105071192307/shoma-and-sota-doing-an-interview-source

 

[surimi]

Sota has been assigned to what's either a show or an event (I don't understand enough Japanese to tell) in Nagano:
http://www.sunrisehokuriku.co.jp/schedule/kdschartist.php?id=7455
Stellar cast, he gets to be there alongside Plushenko, Fernandez, Nathan and others. It's aptly called 'Heroes and Future' apparently - I think he classifies as both. :luv17: <- we really need a 'tears of sentiment' smiley...

 

[blackey]

Sota has been assigned to what's either a show or an event (I don't understand enough Japanese to tell) in Nagano:
http://www.sunrisehokuriku.co.jp/schedule/kdschartist.php?id=7455
Stellar cast, he gets to be there alongside Plushenko, Fernandez, Nathan and others. It's aptly called 'Heroes and Future' apparently - I think he classifies as both. :luv17: <- we really need a 'tears of sentiment' smiley...

I believe it's a show, 20 years anniversary of Nagano Olympics

 

[livetoskate]

I believe it's a show, 20 years anniversary of Nagano Olympics

Nathan's got quite a busy summer of performing! And that's great that the old guys, Phillipe, Elvis, and Takeshi are going to perform! I wonder how their skating abilities have held up after so many years.

 

[surimi]

According to this tweet, Sota has been accepted to Chukyo university:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DZtiEnTX4AAp1pI.jpg
Congratulations, and I do hope it's just a beginning of more good things to come. He deserves an eternal break from bad luck, after all he's been through.
---
Unrelated but I looked up Sota's Coupe de Printemps protocols today out of curiosity, and they're an outrage. The PCS in particluar are a joke, I have no idea what the judges had been imbibing, with a single exception...

 

[surimi]

I'm kind of spamming this thread of late, but anyways, I've decided to update Sota's OP, so here's a table of Sota's recent accomplishments that I'd like a mod to edit into the OP:

2017-18
SP: Anthem
LP: Jekyll and Hyde
Exhibition Gala: Love Theme by Joseph Calleja

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Competition[/TD]
[TD]SP score[/TD]
[TD]SP rank[/TD]
[TD]FS score[/TD]
[TD]FS rank[/TD]
[TD]Total score[/TD]
[TD]Total rank[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Coupe de Printemps 2018[/TD]
[TD] 69.04[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD] 128.77[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]197.81[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Japan Nationals 2017[/TD]
[TD] 72.88[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD] 135.39[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]208.27[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]West Japan Sectionals 2017[/TD]
[TD]62.24[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]132.94[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]195.18[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[surimi]

For those who can read Japanese, this blog entry seems to feature an excerpt of Sota's interview for the new issue of Figure Skating Life magazine that was published last week: https://ameblo.jp/kmn-psn/theme-10088668538.html
Apparently he did a Kenji no Heiya interview? I don't understand a bit of it; with Google translate it was absolutely unintelligible, and I sadly don't have the time to bring such a biggie into my Japanese classes. I have only translated this tiny article in class - https://www.sankei.com/sports/news/180319/spo1803190039-n1.html. It's about Coupe du Printemps, and predictably, he only says he's not happy about his performance, and uses a negative pronoun to describe his current level (not good enough to practice 3A and quads).

Until the entire thing is translated by someone who can speak English, can a kind soul share the gist of the blog interview snippet? I get it's mostly about Chukyou Uni? Also, there's a linked backstage video of Sota doing warmup exercise at Nationals (I think) at the bottom of the blog entry.

I recall I've read somewhere that Sota would be getting new choreo soon, but that might have been another incorrect translation by google translate (terrible thing), not sure if it's related to this interview in any way.
That's all I can contribute at this point. :/

 

[formersk8ter]

It's about Coupe du Printemps, and predictably, he only says he's not happy about his performance, and uses a negative pronoun to describe his current level (not good enough to practice 3A and quads).

Thanks for posting. I'm curious: as a fan of Sota, I was so sorry about his devastating injury but admired that he and his team have not rushed him back into the big jumps too soon. But...

Is he still too injured to do 3A and quads, or is he just not doing them well, at this point?

Hoping he comes back stronger than ever, of course!

 

[surimi]

Thanks for posting. I'm curious: as a fan of Sota, I was so sorry about his devastating injury but admired that he and his team have not rushed him back into the big jumps too soon. But...

Is he still too injured to do 3A and quads, or is he just not doing them well, at this point?

Hoping he comes back stronger than ever, of course!

I think he's wisely making little steps at a time. Why attempt 3A and quads that were problematic even before the injury, when he still has to get back his beautiful combos? It would not be prudent for him to even attempt such jumps before he's fully healed IMO. He said he got his injury from falling on a 3A attempt. To be honest, I'm somewhat mad at Nagakubo for this: his previous coach warned him not to do jumps in the morning saying it might lead to injuries, and what do we get but Sota getting injured in the morning practice (one article literally said so) doing a 3A, all that while he was still growing. >:[ Sorry for OT, but I had to vent my frustration.

Anyway, back on topic - the pertinent part of the article says "katsute tobete ita yonkaite ya sankaite han no fukkatsu wa mada saki de '(jibun wa) konna reberu janai' to no omoi mo aru". I think it says that jumps such as 4 and 3,5 turn jumps that he could do before his injury, are still in the future for him, and he believes he's not at that level at the moment. Sounds to me like a confirmation that he's not practicing 3A and such yet.

Hoping we get a translation of that FS Life magazine article somewhere, and also, there's supposed to be a joint interview of Sota and Ryuju in the upcoming Quadruple magazine (scheduled for July) if I can trust the Japanese lady's blog and Google translate. I've been relying on it for any Sota updates recently

 

[surimi]

According to his Twitter fanpage, Sota performed his new SP at Heroes and Future in Nagano today. The page says he's skating to Air on the G String by August Wilhelmj, and his new costume is black and white with frills around the shoulders (not sure about that part, just going by a very rough jisho translation). It also mentions Akiko Suzuki as the possible choerographer. I'm a bit surprised at that - I loved the choreo Kenji Miyamoto has done for Sota so far, and I'd have liked if the collab continued. I just hope it's not a money issue for Sota.

If anyone has the Figure Skating Life vol. 14 magazine, can you please share what Kenji and Sota say about his height? I've seen a photo online of a part of the long interview, and Kenji mentions 173-4 cm, is it possible that young Sota is so tall already? wow.
Anyhow, fingers crossed for Sota's new season. I hope he continues to draw near his goal little by little.

 

[formersk8ter]

I'll bet Akiko will be a really good choreographer for Sota. Looking forward to it!