Yuzuru Hanyu BR: NHK Trophy 2015 - Entrevistas (interviews)

Yuzuru with Matsuoka-san, after NHK Trophy 2015 – as usual, a very insightful interview!

Partial translation (with some paraphrasing):

Yuzu said that he was very regretful about his failure at Skate Canada. His SP marks were so bad that it was like a shock. (He was 6th in SP and then 2nd overall.) Before the medal ceremony, Patrick Chan said congratulations to him. Yuzu said congratulations back and also added, “But I will win next time. I will be standing in the middle of the podium.” [he is so honest!]

In 2010 season, he had heard how great Patrick’s skating was and saw Patrick skate up close for the first time (GP Russia). He was so impressed and felt he had so much to learn from him. He was too overwhelmed and got a 7th position in that competition. And from there, it started (the feeling of wanting to skate better than Patrick).

At the recent Skate Canada gala ex rehearsal (after he lost to Patrick), and Patrick was also present there, Yuzu practised eagle-4S-eagle. He said:
“I thought I want to improve, even here right now. Patrick was nearby and it was a really good motivation. It’s like, ‘Watch me.' I will definitely practise all kinds of jumps and I will grow for sure. I will win the next time for sure, I have been practising with that in mind.”

Then 3 weeks later, at NHK Trophy, he had a different lay-out.

Yuzu: This is not related to Patrick anymore. I was really fired up this time. Boyang Jin got 95 points in SP, right? When I saw that score, I thought, wow NO MISTAKES!! He gave the best of his abilities! OH YES!!!!

Matsu: You didn’t think OH NO!!! You thought OH YES????

Yuzu: I thought “It’s here!!!" Since I was a child, I have never liked winning a competition when others made mistakes. Everyone skates to their best, but I still come first, above all. That is what I like. I like pushing myself to the edge—.

[I am so awed by this guy all over again…….
Matsuoka-san said at the end that Yuzu is a true challenger, a true competitor.]

151130 YUZURU×修造対談 por YzRIKO

-translated by Angelic Yuzuru (thanks to Yvette Hsieh and Shuko Doyle for some parts from Fb YH Int’l fan group)
-much thanks to YzRIKO for the video.

Dance of a different dimension (30/11/15)

Partial translation (most of Yuzu’s words are in written form and placed on the display boards that the host was showing):

Yuzuru (0.02): It was a day when I was able to feel the significance of being able to accomplish my own performance.

Yuzuru (02:04): Honestly I was really frustrated [with the result] at the Skate Canada. [This time], I was able to make a clean performance including the quad in the second half. This is in line with my own [earlier] comment “I want to shed my skin”, through lots of practice and training. … From now on, my own score [322.40] will surely be a new source of pressure.   In order to overcome it, I would like to make efforts everyday.

Host shows some newspaper headlines:
1) A new record from another world
2) Victory of a different dimension
3) Domain of the gods

Minoru Sano-san (former skater, 1977 World bronze medalist and five-time Japanese national champion) said it is really the domain of the gods because to hit 300 points is already very amazing, and if exceeded, normal expectations would be just 3 or 5 points above 300.   But to exceed it by 22 points, it’s like “WHAT ARE WE TO DO?????”

Comments from other skaters (written):
Plushenko: Dearest Yuzu, congratulations! I am so proud of you.
Miki Ando: I got goosebumps. So incredibly amazing.
Nobunari Oda: A god is born.

[scenes of FP and kiss n cry]

Sano: He knew the marks would come if he did that (good performance) but I think he could not imagine 322.
- What surprised me was that although he had many jumps, 8 jumps in the free and 3 jumps in the short, total of 11 jumps, not one of them was shaky. Not one. So that is amazing. That is why (Oda said) a god is born. It is really that feeling.
- In skating, you land only on one foot, and on a blade that is this thin. (shows with fingers) (meaning how unstable it is)

Another man on the panel: Exceeding the limits of a human, now I know what it means.

Lady on panel: Other skaters are like, I’m going to jump a quad, I’m going to jump, I’m going to jump, ok I jumped the quad. But this person does it so naturally as if he’s just doing a double.

Sano:   Yes, you said it!!! He doesn’t make quads look like something incredible because he does them so easily!   That is the amazing part.

Yuzu (written)(08:39): I still cannot believe it myself. I had an intention to do this, though. I was putting pressure on myself, telling myself that I am the absolute champion.

Host: Looking at 5 highest points in men’s figure skating history,
Daisuke Takahashi 276.72 (2012 WTT)
Tatsuki Machida 282.26 (2014 Worlds)
Denis Ten 289.46   (2015 4CC)
Patrick Chan 295.27 (2013 GP TEB)
Yuzuru Hanyu 322.40 (2015 GP NHK)

Yuzuru (written)(09:51): I couldn’t sleep well due to too much excitement. This competition has such a huge significance for me.

Host: Was the turning point the humiliation at Skate Canada 28 days ago?
At SC, for the short programme, he made mistakes which resulted in zero points for 2 jumps, and he was in 6th place. After the free, he was 2nd.

(Written)
Yuzu: I am extremely regretful about the 2nd place.
Brian: After Skate Canada, his fighting spirit overflowed and he was like a different person.

Host: At the Skate Canada gala exhibition, he planned to change the layout and increase the level of difficulty of the short programme.
Sano: It is very unusual to do this in the middle of the season.

Yuzuru (written) (15:16):
- I have been doing very hard practice which felt almost like “bleeding” [Japanese expression].
- I cannot give the concrete details of the training, but it was devised so that I could have more confidence, out of the box of all the “common sense” I used to have.

Host: Another factor is the presence of a new rival, Jin Boyang (18) from China who is very good at quad jumps. This is his senior debut season.   He is the first to succeed in a quad lutz in competition.

Host shows a diagram with the kind of quads in order of increasing difficulty: - toeloop, salchow, loop, flip, lutz, axel.

Jin succeeded in a 4lutz-3toeloop combination in 2015 Cup of China, first person in history to do that.
About Jin’s skating, Yuzu said it feels like he’s looking at the future of the skating world.

Sano: Actually last year, at the Junior Grand Prix Final, Japan’s Shoma Uno defeated Jin. (Uno-1st, Jin-2nd) Then this season, Jin joined the senior level and suddenly jumped a quad lutz. It’s amazing.
Base value of Jin’s jumps in SP have a higher total value than Hanyu’s. But there are also GOEs and points for steps and spins and also the PCS.

GOEs and PCS are briefly compared between the 2 skaters [and it is obvious that Yuzu is a much better skater].

Replay of Yuzu’s SP.
Sano: His jumps are beautiful. His counter entry to the triple axel is very difficult.
Host: At the ending pose, his face is really like his thought when he heard Jin’s score. 'I will definitely beat that score. Wait and see.’

SEIMEI:
Mansai Nomura told Hanyu (written): As an artist, it is important to have meaning in each of your jumps, spins and steps.

The starting pose was arranged based on Nomura’s advice and the starting movements are similar to the dance by Nomura’s Seimei.

His free programme was also a “dance from a different dimension”.

151130 異次元の舞ｰ強さの秘密 por YzRIKO

Translated by Angelic Yuzuru and Sophie Moroi (in Fb YH Int’l Fan Group); video thanks to YzRIKO

“Becoming stronger”

Another news video on NHK Trophy 2015. This one struck me because I could feel his frustration as well as determination at that interview after Skate Canada, especially the way he said, “いやだ。こんなんで負けたくない。= I hate it. I don’t want to lose like this.”
There are also a few words from his senpai, Daisuke Takahashi.

Day after NHK FP, Yuzu: I was so excited, I couldn’t sleep well. It was a day where I really felt the significance of being able to accomplish my own performances.

@2:06 Yuzu: I cannot actually feel it. The emotions can’t be described in words. I feel as if I am floating.

Narrator: It was an achievement that overcame the frustration and regret of the earlier part of the season.

@3:14 Interview after Skate Canada (where he got 2nd place)
Yuzu: -Everything. I want to level up everything.
- (I want to practise until it’s) like Yuzuru Hanyu is shedding his skin.
- I simply just want to become stronger. Just want to be stronger. Just that.
- I will definitely do it.
- I hate it. I don’t want to lose like this.

Press conference the day before NHK Trophy, he revealed a new layout.
Y: I have put 2 quads (in my short programme). I felt very strongly about wanting to increase the challenge.
He said he has been practising very very hard, until it’s like he was “bleeding” (Japanese expression).

Day of SP,
the skater before him, Jin Boyang, obtained the season’s highest score of 95.64. Hanyu at the rink side heard it, and his thought was “I will beat that.”

Interview after FP,
Y: I am simply very happy. I will put in more effort and continue to work hard everyday so that I can do performances that will remain in everyone’s hearts.

At the end of video,
his senpai Daisuke Takahashi said: I was like “EHH?!! I was so surprised. But he got these scores due to working really hard at practice daily and working towards big goals. In short, we can rely on him (to deliver).

Yuzu: Now I will have the pressure of my own scores. That is again another wall. To overcome that wall, I will continue to work hard every day.

151130 強くなるために por YzRIKO

(Translated by Angelic Yuzuru; thank you to YzRIKO for the video)