Fantasy On Ice, Sendai, May 31 (Fri) to June 2 (Sun) 2019 ~my account~
[wrote it for myself, to remember all the little details]
When I heard that Sendai was one of the places for Fantasy On Ice 2019, I immediately knew I had to get tickets. I made my first trip to Sendai in April 2018 for Yuzuru Hanyu’s Olympic victory parade and I fell in love with Yuzu’s hometown. FaOI Sendai would be the perfect occasion to visit again! I quickly asked some friends for help and, miraculously, they managed to get tickets for all 3 shows from the official ticket draws. I’m eternally grateful! At that time, Yuzu’s participation was not yet announced but we knew he would be there. Even if he couldn’t do jumps yet, he would definitely make an appearance in his hometown. Weeks later, it was announced that he would be in the shows in all 4 locations. Fans were delirious with joy! Besides the thought of seeing him, it also meant he was recovering well!
This would be my 4th Yuzu-ice show. 2015 I went to FaOI Kobe; 2017 Niigata; 2018 Shizuoka. So glad Sendai is an FaOI location this year; it’s the first time!
I flew into Tokyo Haneda Airport and took the shinkansen to Sendai. My hotel is very near the main station. The show venue is Sekisui Heim Super Arena, in a small town called Rifu, north of Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture. It is not easily accessible, so there were special shuttle buses to take us there from Sendai Station. We had to buy the bus tickets from a vending machine in 7-11 in advance. Cost for a 2-way ticket was 2500 yen, half-price for one-way.
Day 1, Friday (show time: 5pm)
At about 3pm, I followed signs that pointed to ‘FaOI shuttle bus’, which basically meant following the crowd. (The long queue was to the right of this photo.)
Boarding the bus in an orderly manner. Each bus moved off once it was full.
On the bus, I looked around me and wanted to laugh.... everyone’s phone screen or wallpaper was Yuzu’s face! hahaha...... it was surreal. xD
It was a long bus ride, about 45 minutes. We finally reached and I saw many stalls selling food outside the arena. But the sky was grey and rainy, and suddenly the drizzle became very heavy rain. I quickly lined up to go into the arena. Thank goodness I had my waterproof parka. Much better than an umbrella!
When I got to my seat, I had a nice surprise. The people sitting next to me were Taiwanese fans that I had met during Yuzu’s parade last year! So happy to see them again!
Besides the great company, my seat position was really good too. Right in the centre of one long side (East) and not far from the rink for an ‘A’ seat! (First row is Premium, then Arena, SS, S, A, B.)
While waiting for the show to start, we chatted and exchanged gifts. One of them gave me a little drawstring bag with a single feather embroidered on it. A simple design that is so beautiful, especially for us Yuzu-fans. I was so touched. I only had snacks from my country to offer. :P
Then the show started. When Yuzu came out for the opening, we all screamed!!!! He danced with so much energy and happiness pouring out of him and his jump was awesome! It was a 4T with a high kick, and then, as he danced in front of the whole group of skaters, he did a “I can’t hear you, c'mon” kind of gesture to the audience. (You can see it HERE.) OMG he was so cool!!! I don’t know how the people sitting on the short side, right in front of him, survived.
2nd part of the opening: Yuzu skated in with Jeff, Javi and Luca, and they were joined by 4 ladies. His pair dance with ice dancer Anna Cappellini was so cute! And he was so smooth and confident!
Individual performances: so many wonderful performances…. I will mention some of them at the end.
When singer ToshI came onto the stage, he said, “Sendai is figure skating and we have 2 Olympic gold medalists here… Arakawa Shizuka (loud cheers) and Hanyu Yuzuru!!!!!!” (loud screams) Then he did the Yuzu-call......
ToshI: YUZU!! (points mike to audience) Audience: YUZU!!! ToshI: YUZU!! Audience: YUZU!!! ToshI: YUZU!! Audience: YUZU!!! ToshI: But he’s not coming out yet. (hahaha…..) (Next was Stephane Lambiel.)
Yuzu’s performance was last, as usual. 'Masquerade’ was so passionate and intense that my heart was thumping like crazy and I had to scream at many parts (and I heard others’ screaming as well). The music plus ToshI’s singing was very loud and drowned out our screams, thank goodness. When Yuzu threw down his glove at the end, we all jumped to our feet and screamed and clapped. MASQUERADE WAS ELECTRIFYING!!! Video here.
Finale: Yuzu came out in the finale costume (black and white with frilly sleeves). So handsome! After the group number, he disappeared backstage while the others did their jump or spin battles. He appeared again wearing the FaOI tee, wiping his face with a towel and sipping from a water bottle. Then he went to stand next to Plushenko. He tried the quad lutz, popped first time, then 2nd time he stepped out a bit. When all the skaters started to go back in, one by one in a line, he did the 'high ten’ with each of them, some hugged him, he twirled Anna, and then Luca twirled him! haha…. that was so cute! Then as always, he stepped out of the rink, and from the side of the stage, he shouted “arigato gozaimashita!!!” He bowed, walked backwards while waving, and before he disappeared through the curtains, he blew us a kiss!! I think I died……
The show ended at about 8.30pm. Rainy, dark, and took forever to get onto one of the shuttle buses that took us back to Sendai Station. But head is totally filled with Yuzu and Masquerade, and heart is totally happy. :)
Day 2, Saturday (show time: 2pm)
On Day 2, I did not take the shuttle bus. My friend Ella came to watch the Saturday and Sunday shows. Her Japanese friend rented a car and drove us there. (5 of us in the car made the shared cost much cheaper than the shuttle bus ticket.)
It was a sunny day and I was very excited about the food (which I did not try on Day One due to rain). From afar, I saw the tentage.....
When I got there, the whole place was like a carnival! As I wandered around, someone suddenly tapped my arm. It was my fan-friend K-chan! How amazing that she spotted me among the crowds! The last time we met was one year ago at FaOI Shizuoka! So happy to see her, even if it’s only for a minute. xD
The stalls were awesome. I have never seen food at previous ice shows! The food sold here were specialties of Sendai and the regions nearby, and there were long queues at every stall. There was nama biru (draft beer), miso ramen, yakisoba, gyu-tan (grilled beef tongue), croquette with bits of gyu-tan inside, skewers of Yonezawa beef (famous beef from Yamagata), and zunda soft serve ice-cream (zunda = sweet edamame bean paste).
Above: my Zunda ice-cream.... so yummy.
Above: Gyutan. Below: Croquette and Yonezawa beef.
I wish I could eat everything! But I only had time to try these 4 things over Sat and Sunday. They tasted SO GOOD. (Thanks to Ella for her recommendations!) There were many benches near the stalls and people were sitting there enjoying the food under the blazing sun.
It felt like a festival to celebrate Yuzu being there. :)) Besides the official merchandise, there were also booths selling Sendai snacks in beautiful FaOI packaging and music boxes of Ballade No.1 and SEIMEI. There was even a photo booth with staff helping fans to take photos! xD
And when you got into the ice arena, every seat had a plastic bag with some promotional material and a pack of FaOI Sendai wet wipes! haha….. so you could wipe your sticky hands and mouth if you brought food in to eat!
Sendai, you really are the best! :D (So, I have 3 of these wet wipes from the 3 days but I can’t even bear to open one of them to use!)
For Day 2, I was on the other long side (West) and a bit off-centre nearer the short side. So I had a totally different angle of the show and my row was nearer the rink than yesterday -- fantastic! The person next to me was also Ella’s friend and she offered me some lovely sweets. Yuzu-fans are really sweet! :)
Opening: Yuzu fell on his opening 4T, so when he came out again with the other 3 guys (Jeff, Luca and Javi), he did a beautiful 4T before doing the usual steps with the others. Hahaha, I was laughing inside, that is so HIM!
In the middle of show: ToshI’s YUZU-call this time was even longer than Day 1! Felt like we were at a rock concert! He made each side of the rink call out “Yuzu!” 3 times, like a battle to see which side was louder. So it was one long side first, then the short side (in the video below, you can hear it’s a bit softer cos short side has less people), then the other long side. Toshl says in his blog that this is the “やりすぎ編😅 ”, meaning the “too much (or overdone) version”. Haha…. I like Toshl. (Didn’t know him before this.) We were all so high shouting “YUZU!!!” with all our lung power! xD Video of Day 2 Yuzu-call (ToshI’s blog)
Something comical: During the flying acrobatic skaters’ performance, I could see 4 or 5 men at one corner outside the rink pulling the rope to raise the skaters into the air. They were running to and fro holding the rope and they were so funny! End of performance, when the 2 skaters bowed, the men also bowed in their corner and waved as they marched off in a line! Haha........ (this could only be seen from seats on the West side.)
Intermission: In previous FaOI’s, during intermission, 2 of the skaters (but never Yuzu) came out in zambonis and shot little presents to the audience, like signed FaOI tees. So I waited a while but there was nothing happening... (same for all 3 days). So I went for a walk to stretch my legs. Went to put my fan letter into the gift box for Yuzu. It’s just a simple postcard from my country. :)
Last performance: Yuzu’s ‘Crystal Memories’ –- so beautiful I think I forgot to breathe. The Y-spiral was near my side of the rink. His right leg raised up high was slowly lowered in a beautiful line with his body and it was just so heavenly to watch from where I was. So many other exquisite moments...... words won’t do justice. Watching live, costumes always sparkle and glitter 100 times more than what we see on screen. Yuzu was so sparkly he looked like an angel of light, sent from heaven to bring beauty and love to our world. Video of 'Crystal Memories’
Finale: As the skaters skated around the rink waving, Yuzu skated slowly, looking up at the audience. I think he was trying to see as many fan-banners as he could. Like yesterday, he went backstage to change out of the finale costume and wore the FaOI tee to do the quad challenge. The 4Lutz today was a step-out/hand-down. The staff were putting some chairs onto the ice near the stage. When Yuzu realised it’s group photo time, he dashed backstage and came out very quickly in the black-and-white finale costume again, and he was grinning away. Haha, it was a really quick change! I wonder who the lucky person was, helping him backstage. xD
At the very end: He shouted 'arigato-gozaimashita!’ and we shouted back 'arigato-gozaimashita!’ Then, just before he disappeared into the curtains, he did the phantom 'take-off-the-mask’ gesture. And we SCREEEEEEEEAMED!!! xD
I floated on cloud nine to the car park..... Soon we were on our way back to Sendai Station area. In the car journeys to and fro, the music was excellent, thanks to a friend who has a Yuzu-playlist in her phone which she connected to the car stereo. All the music that he has skated to, from novice til now.... SP, FP, exhibitions..... ahhhh what great music..... it was really the GREATEST selection!
As we reached Sendai Station area, a funny thing happened. Our friend drove onto the wrong road and we found ourselves on a highway going off to a different area! She frantically looked for an exit but there were none. We just had to keep going on this highway, further and further away from Sendai Station! Then I saw a sign saying we’re heading for「泉中央」...... hey, isn’t that the area of Ice Rink Sendai? We’re heading for Yuzu’s home? Our friend kept apologising for going the wrong way but we told her IT’S OKAY!!!! We’re going to Yuzu’s home!!! Hahaha..... the wrong road suddenly felt so right! xD
The sun was setting..... We became quiet.... gazing at the golden colours of Yuzu’s hometown while his music serenaded our senses.
(Glad these photos I took with my iphone in a moving car turned out well.) After driving for some time, our friend found the way back towards Sendai Station. We were late in joining a group of fans for dinner but what a nice little detour we had! Very grateful to our Japanese friend who did all the hard work while we just soaked in the sights and sounds!
Day 3, Sunday (show time: 1pm)
For Day 3, I bought a one-way shuttle bus ticket as I would return by rental car. Like Day 2, I lined up for food before the show. The lines were very long and there were staff holding signs that said “end of line (food name)” for each stall so that people would know exactly where to queue. Moving slowly in line, I used the time to admire the Yuzu-world around me. Almost everyone was wearing or carrying things that showed their love, like Ciontu tees, Pooh keychains and Irene bags. I myself was wearing the Phiten mirror ball necklace. Some things were so beautiful and unique and I took photos. (edit: separate post made on this; link is below.)
After eating, I walked around and spotted Yuzu’s signature near the arena office! It was from year 2010! At that time, the wing in his signature was very distinct. So cute. :)
Close to 1pm, I went into the arena to look for my seat. I had an ’S’ ticket and I was excited about being much nearer the rink than the previous 2 days with 'A’ tickets. But when I got to my seat, I saw that I was only just in front of my row yesterday! Realised that my 'A’ seat yesterday was the FIRST row of all the 'A’ seats and my S seat today was the LAST row of all the S seats. Hahaha…….. I was a bit disappointed but then I was really lucky for the A seats! (Seat order: Premium, Arena, SS, S, A, B)
The good thing is, I was on the West side again and nearer the stage this time. I would be able to see Yuzu going in and out very clearly! And I had my concert binoculars! I bought it just the night before, from a budget shop near my hotel. Sometimes the shows provide rental of binoculars but this one didn’t. I usually use it for the finale, when the skaters are just having fun, so I can see Yuzu’s cute expressions. :)
I was also extra happy as I would be sitting next to Ella who came into the arena soon after me. 2 Japanese fans behind us heard us talking and knew we were not Japanese. They showed us a huge folder with many Yuzu clear files and pamphlets, and asked us if we already have them. We said no and they took out some to give to us! Omg..... what super nice fans!! They said they would be going for Kobe FaOI and Toyama FaOI as well! They were at Worlds in Saitama too! (Wow, I wish I could say the same!) How lucky we were to sit in front of them!
Opening: Wonderful like the other days and Yuzu did a beautiful 4T. After the group performance, as he walked towards the backstage curtains, he took off his outer mesh top and swung it around, just before he disappeared thru the curtains. Haha.... how cute can he be…… xD
Middle of show: ToshI said he talked too much yesterday so today he would say less. The audience protested a bit with an “Ehhhhhh??” But there was no Yuzu-call today. :(
During Masquerade, Yuzu fell on both his jumps. For us fans, it did not matter at all, but we knew he would feel terrible about it. I wondered if the temperature was affecting him as the venue was very warm. Day 1 was OK but it was warmer on Day 2, and on Day 3 I was actually sweating a bit in the middle of the show. And I wasn’t the only one feeling it cos I saw people fanning themselves. Literally a very hot FaOI.
Finale: After the group number, Yuzu disappeared backstage to change into the FaOI tee while the others did jump/spin battles. Came out with towel and water bottle. Wiped sweat, drank water. Then he did some stretching, and sat on steps at the side of the stage and massaged his legs for quite a long time. (So glad I was seated that side and I saw him so clearly.) I guessed he was getting ready for the quad lutz ….. because he fell on both his jumps during Masquerade, he really wanted to do a good jump for us. He tried 3 times - popped twice and fell on the last one. And decided it was enough. Thank God! I was getting worried because he had only just recovered. My heart was in pain watching him try so hard. Yuzu, we know you always want to give your best. But please take good care of yourself! (One week later, he did a beautiful 4Lz in Kobe Day 3! YES!!!!!!!!)
At the end, instead of the usual deep bow towards all the skaters and artists, he knelt down and bowed with his head on the ice.... orz. He looked so cute and funny doing that and we all laughed, but our hearts were aching cos we knew he was feeling truly apologetic and extremely ‘kuyashii’....
For the final skating around the rink to wave to the audience, he went to Plushenko and pushed him to the start of the line, then Plush and Yuzu 'circled around each other’ trying to make each other first in line, haha….. it was so sweet. Video (from Plushenko’s IG)
At the very end, at the side of the stage, he took the mike and said a few words. I cannot remember what he said except for this: - Actually this is not Sendai…. (it’s actually Rifu, just outside Sendai) - He wishes FaOI will come here again. (what else did he say…….. sigh, my head must have been too overwhelmed by this time.)
After shouting arigato-gozaimashita (without the mike), he walked backwards towards the curtained doorway, and just before he disappeared, he bowed deeply and said 'arigato-gozaimashita’ again (with the mike). My heart deeply and sincerely also says, “Yuzu, arigato-gozaimashita!” Thank you for everything you do!
At past FaOI’s, I always bought one tee and one towel. (I think they only had one design each.) This year, they had 2 designs each and it was so hard to choose and Yuzu wore both tees and I love both colours of the towel..... so I bought everything (goodbye my money). And the FaOI book of course; the cover and photos inside are so beautiful.
I felt this was the best FaOI I’ve ever attended. I will mention briefly some performances that I love a lot.
~Shizuka Arakawa: so beautiful and elegant; love her skating, esp her spiral and layback ina bauer. Love her costumes too. One was white and sparkly, the other had a Japanese style. Both performances were excellent. ~Nobunari Oda: Music from the movie 'Ghost' - his skating was so sad, I almost had tears. Then 'Mission Impossible' was so funny!!! Really love Nobu-kun! ~Stephane Lambiel: Love both numbers, especially the one with ToshI singing the sad and beautiful Japanese song 'I Love You'. ~’Akai Sweet Pea', sung by ToshI, skating by Johnny Weir. I love this song! Originally sung by Seiko Matsuda. ~'Monochrome' by Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte: So amazing!!! Everything looked like a black-and-white movie! The colour on their skin must have taken a lot of time and effort. Their performance was superb! ~Rika Kihira: So energetic and strong! Love the choreo. ~Satoko Miyahara: skated her new SP on Day 1 and her new FP on Day 2 and 3. I like both a lot! ~Javier Fernandez: the flamenco performance was so fun!
Plus all the other performances, I enjoyed them all! Thank you to all skaters and artists and staff!
On Sunday, once the show ended, Ella rushed out of the arena with her huge bag. There was a taxi waiting to take her to Sendai Airport to catch her flight home. I was a bit worried she would miss her flight but she made it, phew! And she saw some skaters at the airport! Jeff, Scott, Rika and Satoko! Wow, they are fast! :D
A big thank you to Ella and all the Yuzu-fans I met. I received so much love and so many gifts..... really grateful to all you wonderful people!
The little pouch with a feather was perfect for my new binoculars. Will be bringing them along for future events. :)
So many beautiful things and memories added to my treasure chest..... Dear Yuzu-kun and Yuzu-fans, til we meet again, take care and God bless!
(Next, I will write about the other places in Sendai that I visited on this trip.)
*All photos are taken by me. (some faces are blurred for people’s privacy.) *If my memory is not so accurate for some details of the show, my apologies. :)
Added later:
Part 2: Yuzu-world
Part 3: home rink and Olympic monuments
Part 4: Nanakita Park and schools
Part 5: An unexpected journey
Part 6: yuzu and zunda
Part 7: other Yuzu sightings
