17/03/2024, 18:11 Part 7 Within a limited time | No matter when the world might end – Hobo Nikkan Itoi

n Itoi Shinbun | Yuzuru Hanyu | ほぼ日刊イト…

It all started when Yuzuru Hanyu said he was a MOTHER 2 fan on a TV

program. This brought about the kind of discussion you only dream about.
Not in a cliche way, but really and truly an amazing thing. Last
December, Yuzuru Hanyu and Shigesato Itoi met in a studio in Sendai and
talked about all kinds of things for two hours. We’re pleased to be able to
bring you that discussion.

＞Yuzuru Hanyu’s Profile

This article is available in Japanese, English and Chinese.

＞ Japanese（日本語）

＞ Chinese（中文版） weibo／REDBOOK

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Prev Index Next

Boyhood／Mirror Neuron／Heaven and Earth／Mr. Saturn／

Ballet／Timeline／Homesick／Universe／Johnny Weir／

Reset／Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami／Picasso／Sprain／

Parallel Universe／Heroic Sword and an Evil Sword／Produce／

Astro Boy／Music／Ness／Fifteen-year-old／

Romeo and Juliet／Goldfish／Nap／Athlete／Millennials／

Elder sister／A Beatles song, XXXterday／

Score／Vinyl／Death／Youngest child／

That／Hip hop／Mozart／Dilemma／Ice Show

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Itoi It must be hard to practice figure skating when it requires access

to ice.

H a n yu Yeah. And Japan has a relatively short season where you can go
on the ice, so that makes it hard to improve at skating—or at

least to have the necessary conditions to be able to train on ice.

Itoi If you’ve got such a long stretch of time when you’re unable to

train, that must mean you’ve got all the more time to think.

H a n yu That could be true. I don’t consider it having a long time to

think, but rather that I’ve got a very limited amount of time to

practice. I probably think exponentially more than other people,

though.

Itoi That’s the impression I get.

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H a n yu I feel like kids who do figure skating nowadays see it as more of

a sport. Like they’d see how many variations they can jump.

When it comes to jumps, you can’t necessarily just think about it

forever—at some point you’ll face the answer to what you can
do. Expression is a whole different story. It’s more philosophical,

so you can think about it forever and ever and never reach a true

answer. Jumps, however, have a set definition of success and

there’s an actual correct answer for it. So to some extent, there’s

only so much you can think about it.

Itoi In other words, it’s easy to assume if you practice jumping a lot

you’ll be able to do it. People tend to see that as a matter of hard

work, but that might be something that actually makes it easy in

the end—all you have to do is try it over and over again.

H a n yu Ah, that’s true.

Itoi There’s a sense of accomplishment behind doing something a ton

of times. It seems like that approach stands in the way of people

nowadays, though. But listening to you, because you’re not able

to do it very often, each and every practice you hold atop the ice
seems like a very precious moment you have to take seriously.

H a n yu That’s exactly it. It’s a precious opportunity, and I don’t think it’s

limited to figure skating. No one’s going to teach you how to

make the best of each of those opportunities. It’s not like school,

for example, where you’re told to write a kanji ten times to

memorize it.

Itoi Right.

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H a n yu I’m sure that kind of teaching style is gradually changing over

time, but I think what’s important is someone’s ability to fit

quality learning into a short period of time. That one’s crucial for

figure skating.

Itoi I see figure skating practice is hard enough to get you thinking

that deeply about it.

H a n yu It is. (Laughs)

Itoi There are less places to skate on the ice than when compared to

pools and such.

H a n yu Yeah. There’s really very little ice in Japan, so it can be a

scramble to get a spot to practice. When I was in junior high

school, I couldn’t skate any more than 45 minutes a day. And it’s
extremely important to practice figure skating while playing

music, but when I was finally able to get some time on the ice, I

was rarely able to play the song that was for my own program.

That’s when I started to wonder what I could do in order to

improve.

Itoi Has that changed now that you’re done competing and are

performing in ice shows?

H a n yu It’s basically the same situation. I’ve always loved the sports

aspect of figure skating, so when I’ve got time to practice, I work

on jumps and spins and really pour my physical energy into it.
But lately, I’ve been making sure to set aside time to reset

because I’ve used up so much energy. I’ll play games and read

manga and stuff when I’m not skating. Now that I’m producing

my own ice show, though, I’ve always got on the back of my

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mind questions about what kind of story I want to tell. So even

when I’m relaxing with a manga or game, I’m thinking about

what I can incorporate into my ice shows, and it gets tiring.

(Laughs)

Itoi Ah. (Laughs) So you’re a producer now, through and through.

H a n yu Yeah. It’s not just about coming up with ideas for how to portray

the world I want to express, it’s also about taking actual steps to
do so. I’ve got a lot to learn, and I feel like I need to absorb a lot
of things and increase my skills and vocabulary to properly

convey the image I want to express. It’s tough.

Itoi There’s never an end to things like that, and that’s what’s so fun.

However, if you get too caught up in your own world or imagery,

you’ll push away the audience.

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H a n yu No matter how cool or pretty of imagery you’ve come up with,

you need to have a desire to express its essence to the audience.

If you don’t get that image across to the audience, you’re losing
sight of what you need to prioritize. So you need to make things
easy to understand. But at the same time, if you don’t focus on

things that you personally want to focus on, you’ll lose your
motivation to do it in the first place. I make sure to maintain that

balance.

Itoi Do you have anyone to talk to who feels the same way about

that? It seems like you’d be stuck going in circles if you had to

do that by yourself.

H a n yu There’s someone I call Mikiko-sensei who handles direction for

the show, and I talk to her a lot. But in the end, I do have the

responsibility to create it myself.

Itoi Yeah.

H a n yu Sure, there are times I kind of get stuck in the mud, but

fortunately, it’s easy nowadays to access all kinds of information

and get hints on what to do. But on the other hand, with all that
information, the things we make are all the easier to discard and

consume. Even if we make something good, people will take it,

say “Hey, that’s nice,” and then tuck it away in some corner
somewhere. So I think about how we should portray things in

such a disposable age we’re in now. If something disappears, we

still need to make something new. It’s a bit tough, but I think

there are a lot of clues for us to work from.

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Boyhood／Mirror Neuron／Heaven and Earth／Mr. Saturn／

Ballet／Timeline／Homesick／Universe／Johnny Weir／

Reset／Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami／Picasso／Sprain／

Parallel Universe／Heroic Sword and an Evil Sword／Produce／

Astro Boy／Music／Ness／Fifteen-year-old／

Romeo and Juliet／Goldfish／Nap／Athlete／Millennials／

Elder sister／A Beatles song, XXXterday／

Score／Vinyl／Death／Youngest child／

That／Hip hop／Mozart／Dilemma／Ice Show

（To be continued）

2024-03-07-THU

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Photography: Toru Yaguchi

Clothing: tk.TAKEO KIKUCHI

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