Forums

*Machine translation, inaccuracies exist. Please do not reply in this thread.*     Chapter 3: Pre-Olympic Season – 2016-2017 Season     3.6 The Four Continents Championships to get a feel for the Pyeongchang Olympics venue       3.7 Focusing on "rankings" at the World Championships    

*Machine-translation. Inaccuracies exist*   2014.08.15   Source: https://digital.asahi.com/articles/DA3S11300320.html?ptoken=01KNDWYC0APHVWJJPXQP81MQMA (Paid Article)   (Sports Human) Yuzuru Hanyu: Towards a new me, I want to constantly change and improve myself.   ◇ Yuzuru Hanyu (19) = Figure Skating   He has become the kind of skater admired by people all over the world. After winning the gold medal in men’s figure skating at the Sochi Olympics, he now enters a new season as the reigning champion. Ahead of the season’s opening, he spoke about his thoughts.   “I don’t want to stop changing. I want to keep evolving and constantly push myself higher. Winning the Olympics is a glory of the past. It’s already last season’s story.”   Further growth. With that as his theme, he spends his days working with coach Brian Orser to build new programs at a rink in suburban Toronto, Canada.   “When I skate, I do it with the resolve to give everything, as if my life depends on it. I want the four years leading up to Sochi and the four years from here on to be completely different. This season, I want to compete with the mindset that I’m going in as a new version of myself.”   ■ Three Quad Jumps As a challenge to himself, he's increasing the number of quadruple jumps in his free skate. He's added one more from last season, bringing the total to three. He's aiming for a highly difficult program that includes a combination jump starting with a quadruple toe loop in the latter half, when fatigue tends to set in.   “I was the one who said I wanted to do it. I love the sense of accomplishment I get when I attempt a difficult jump and land it successfully. I love that feeling of total focus, going all out, and succeeding in a single attempt.”   His free skate music is from the musical The Phantom of the Opera. Ever since watching it in a music class during junior high school, he had hoped to skate to it someday.   “I’m not really the type who performs with sheer power, but I hope people can see my version of the Phantom (the main character).”   ■ A Fulfilling Life in Canada He lives in Canada with his mother. Unlike in Japan, where everyone recognizes him, he finds a quiet kind of happiness in being able to live without worrying about others’ attention.   Even when walking down the street, he says with a smile, “I’m hardly ever noticed.”   “Sometimes people from China or other Asian backgrounds recognize me at the supermarket. Canadians? Not really. Ah, but recently, when I was about to get on a bus, an elderly Canadian man asked, ‘You’re a figure skater, right?’ I think it’s a good environment to fully devote myself to training.”   Although Niagara Falls and other tourist spots are nearby, he hasn’t visited any of them.   “It’s just back and forth between home and the rink. I haven’t even gone to downtown Toronto. I do think I’d like to see a game by Masahiro Tanaka (MLB pitcher) at least once.”   Still, he says he doesn't feel stressed by that lifestyle.   “I think I’m like those hot-blooded athletes you see in manga or anime. I’m not particularly into shopping, and I don’t care much about fashion. I came to Canada to skate, so rather than spending energy on other things, I’m fine living like this.”   ■ It’s All About Being Seen Last season, he achieved a “triple crown”: Olympic gold, Grand Prix Final victory, and World Championship title. This season, he will be performing with the weight of expectations that he will win. Yet he says he doesn’t feel that pressure.   “Maybe I don’t feel it yet because I haven’t competed. But during ice shows after the Olympics, I did feel that atmosphere that I was expected to deliver good performances. If you feel pressure, then just train—that’s how I see it. I’m so absorbed in practice that I don’t even have the space to feel it.”   “With practice and such, I can’t stay motivated unless someone is watching me. I think that’s how it is for people who do figure skating. In the end, it’s a sport where being seen is everything, so I like being in the spotlight.”   Just as he himself admires Plushenko (Russia), who is known as the "Emperor," this season he has become a role model for skaters all over the world. What is his ideal image of a skater?   “I don’t have a fixed ideal. It’s not something set in stone. I’m still an active competitor, after all. Every day in practice, it’s just about what I could or couldn’t do, and focusing again to improve. If I had quit by now, maybe I’d have gotten a bit arrogant, saying, ‘I’m an Olympic champion!’”   “That’s why, over these next four years, I want to be a completely different Yuzuru Hanyu from the skater I was before. I don’t want to stay the same. Regardless of results, I want to create something new.”       Yuzuru Hanyu Born in Sendai. Graduated from Tohoku High School in Miyagi Prefecture; currently a student at Waseda University. Affiliated with ANA. At the Sochi Olympics, he became the first in figure skating history to surpass 100 points in the short program, scoring a world-record 101.45. His personal best total score (combined short and free) is 293.25, the second highest in history at the time, behind Patrick Chan of Canada. Height: 171 cm.      

*Machine translation. Inaccuracies exist*     2023.07.19   Source: https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/articles/-/270082 Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20230718222704/https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/articles/-/270082   Yuzuru Hanyu's economic impact during his first year as a professional skater was approximately 17.6 billion yen! Data analysis reveals his extraordinary presence.   What is this "extraordinary" presence? Yuzuru Hanyu (28), who achieved two consecutive Olympic gold medals in men's figure skating, marked one year since turning professional on the 19th. In February, he held "GIFT," the first solo concert by a skater in history at the Tokyo Dome, captivating many fans. To coincide with this milestone, this newspaper asked Associate Professor Shinya Kato of the Faculty of Economics at Yamaguchi University to calculate the economic impact. When we analyzed the data from his first year as a professional in collaboration with students from Professor Kato's seminar, we came across some astonishing figures.   Associate Professor Kato and eight of his seminar students spent 10 days analyzing the economic impact of Yuzuru Hanyu's professional debut year on Japan as a whole, from three perspectives: ice shows, commercials and advertisements, and books, magazines, and photo collections.   First, regarding ice shows. Ticket revenue, utilities, venue costs, personnel expenses, merchandise costs, sponsorship income, and other factors from the five productions (including solo shows) he participated in over the course of one year were carefully categorized under different conditions. For areas where precise figures were unavailable, estimates were made by comparing similar data. As a result, the total came to approximately 12.622 billion yen.   In commercials and advertising, the figures were also substantial, as expected. He was featured in 10 campaigns (including both short-term and long-term contracts) for companies such as major cosmetics brand KOSÉ. Assuming an annual contract fee of 100 million yen per commercial and a short-term (quarter-based) contract fee of 65 million yen per commercial, and adding sponsorship support, the estimate reached approximately 2.138 billion yen.   For books, magazines, and photo books, calculations were based on total sales over the two months following release. Adjustments were made to avoid overestimation, such as accounting for differences in the amount of content featured, but the total sales alone amounted to approximately 1.5 billion yen. Including personnel costs and related factors, the economic impact was estimated at approximately 2.863 billion yen.   Combining these three categories, the total economic impact that Hanyu brought to Japan in just one year was approximately 17.623 billion yen. Of this, it was estimated that Japan’s GDP was increased by about 9.405 billion yen, and employee income within Japan increased by about 4.449 billion yen.   One of the seminar students had predicted before the analysis that the figure would be somewhere around 10 billion yen or just under, but once the calculations were completed, it easily exceeded 10 billion yen. “Since the number of people who participate in figure skating is not very large, we initially had a rather pessimistic view. But once we conducted the analysis, the numbers didn’t come close to staying within 10 billion yen,” they said, expressing surprise.   This figure is truly exceptional for an individual. Considering that the economic impact information website "Economic Impact.NET" estimated the economic impact of J2 soccer team Vegalta Sendai, based in Hanyu's hometown of Miyagi, to be approximately 14.882 billion yen last season, Hanyu's figure is on a completely different level.   In response to these results, Associate Professor Kato commented, "While collecting the data, I was reminded that he is active in a wide range of fields, not just ice shows. Through this analysis, I realized that Hanyu's influence is still very strong." He then expressed his anticipation for his activities in his second year and beyond, saying, "There are ways to utilize social media and other platforms, but I would like to pay attention to how Hanyu's appeal will be conveyed in the future."   Having always shone in uncharted territory, what kind of world will Hanyu show us next?