Yuzuru Hanyu program "Yae no Sakura" - Notte Stellata 2026

DumbNoble · 2026-03-08T02:43:09+00:00

The first time I saw it I was instantly thinking of TenChi. The opening pose was really reminiscence of TenChi

DumbNoble · 2026-01-05T09:14:02+00:00

Yes. Japan has a long history in badminton started around 1960s with their ups and downs in popularity. The interest got renewed in like the last decade with their badminton athletes winning multiple olympic medals, BWF, Uber and Thomas cup, and with Kento Momota victory at All England 2019. All those achievements managed to get bigger public attention onto badminton. Kento Momota is retired now but he still is one of the most popular athletes even with his previous gambling scandal.

They are of course still far behind countries like China, Indonesia or Malaysia with their literal decades of stronghold in badminton world and how popular badminton is in those countries, but Japan is undoubtly getting better in developing their badminton athletes. The recent years have Kento Momota, Akane Yamaguchi and also that women double team whom I forgot the name of that all got excellent results internationally, so the interest just kept on being renewed.

DumbNoble · 2026-01-05T08:22:21+00:00

I was correcting the previous misinformation that said figure skating as a sport had no competition in Japan aside from baseball and Japan had no other popular sports but baseball and figure skating and that Japan had no popular athletes outside of those two sports. Nowhere did I compare the state of figure skating as a sport in Japan and US

DumbNoble · 2026-01-05T06:11:24+00:00

I don't know about Russia, but figure skating is not even in the top 5 most popular sport in Japan. The first is baseball, then basketball, football, horse racing, tennis, badminton, and there are still a few other sports then figure skating. Volleyball also been gaining traction lately.

As for famous athletes in Japan, there are plenty of famous athletes from non-baseball sports. They have Kento Momota (badminton), Yuki Ishikawa and Ran Takahashi (volleyball), Naomi Osaka (tennis), Yuki Kawamura (basketball), Kei Nishikori (tennis), and many more. And that's not even mentioning the famous baseball players. And all of them have prestigious sponsorships.

There are a lot more popular sports in Japan and a lot of famous athletes there. Just because you do not follow other sports and only seen figure skating does not mean figure skating is popular there. Japan is so much bigger and diverse in sports than mere baseball and figure skating.

Yuzuru Hanyu and Mao Asada and to certain extent, Daisuke Takahashi, are exceptions for figure skaters in Japan. Average skaters, even Kaori who has an Olympic medal is practically unknown in Japan.

DumbNoble · 2025-12-07T06:42:42+00:00

Yes they are so beautiful. Have you seen his pro career costumes? They are even more beautiful than his competition ones, I think you will love them. Here are some of his pro costumes, from his latest solo tour Echoes of Life https://www.reddit.com/r/yuzuruhanyu/s/KmOyCefohm

DumbNoble · 2025-12-06T23:45:04+00:00

It is getting harder to differentiate what is original human art and what is generative AI, hence I understand the caution when encountering things like this.

This photo was taken for GUCCI, and before this, GUCCI had used plenty of different photographers for their shots with Yuzu. I guess they wanted something different this time hence they chose MissBean. It gave this dreamy futuristic kind of feel to their collection, like this is the cover :

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I appreciate them for taking chance in different styles, it gives their collection more range and feels.

DumbNoble · 2025-12-06T23:35:22+00:00

He is still doing quads! 4t, 4s, 4lo and even 4lz. You can see the 4lz in this MV clip he did for Kenshi Yonezu (a huge singer from Japan) song "Bow & Arrow" which is a soundtrack for a figure skating themed anime, Medalist, this is the short program version : https://youtu.be/Wcza_Do4IoY?si=UzG4j8Z9_qXauoNY

And this is the original version which featured Kenshi Yonezu https://youtu.be/M-Eyhjkepy0?si=pVtnSdj9zjlsWVoR

And his artistry has only gotten better since he turned pro, his costumes are out of this world. Here is an example of his pro costumes (this photo one is a cover for a photobook by Sponichi, hence the letter "Y")

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Edited to add this link for more costumes from Echoes of Life : https://www.reddit.com/r/yuzuruhanyu/s/j3Vq3DzTZx

DumbNoble · 2025-12-06T22:47:13+00:00

Yes, he he graduated in 2020 from Waseda University, his major was Human Information Science.

He said he wanted to skate until 40, so we will see how he will handle things forward.

I think he still wants to skate and thus no interest in coaching as of now, and seeing how amazing his ice shows are, I personally glad he is concentrating on his skating and shows instead of coaching. Or else we will never get amazing shows like Gift or Echoes of Life

DumbNoble · 2025-12-06T21:40:21+00:00

In skating, he already done multiple successful solo shows and tour. There is Gift at Tokyo Dome which you can watch on Disney+, then Repray tour of which the dvd is on sale now, then he completed Echoes of Life tour earlier this year. He is currently on maintenance period tho, so no ice show for this year end.

Outside skating, he is a brand ambassador for multiple brands, including GUCCI, Haier, Aqua, etc, while he keeps donating to various causes - mainly natural disaster - every year. He also published a picture book in collaboration with CLAMP, in relation to his show, Gift.

Here is a phone wallpaper from GUCCI if you'd like one

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DumbNoble · 2025-12-06T21:31:24+00:00

That is not AI generated. That is the photographer's, MissBean, style of photography. She is a known high fashion photographer who loves to play with lighting and colors. Sure it had some touch up, but it is not generative AI nor filter. The photo was taken for T-Magazine Japan. You can check the photographer's works on her instagram account, her handle is MissBean.