Shoma Uno

Lots of lovely photos of This Town from Rostelecom on yoshiko-san’s instagram (I don’t think I’ll link all of them here, but please take a look on their page!)

Shoma and his ongoing battle with the gold streamers (also from yoshiko-san)

(Sorry if these have already been posted!)

dramasocks said:

Lots of lovely photos of This Town from Rostelecom on yoshiko-san’s instagram (I don’t think I’ll link all of them here, but please take a look on their page!)

Shoma and his ongoing battle with the gold streamers [emoji23] (also from yoshiko-san)

(Sorry if these have already been posted!)

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Lol these are great, what does he have against streamers?! [emoji28]

Arriba627 said:

Oh come on guys! Don't keep us in suspense! Give it a try!

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sallyhatchet said:

Yes I am now dying to know!

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Ok ok ok, I will give it a try, but seriously, if it has to be explained, it loses 99% of its punch... Anyway here it is... He was talking about the aborted second jump. Essentially he said "It just went.. poof." But he said it in a manner that is typically used by an angry, frustrated macho man. The contrast of that particular expression and the wee little cuddly Sho was something like a Teletubby playing out the thug life. :cool14:

My third report (17th)
I attended medal ceremonies and the gala.
My seat was center of the short side and skaters exit was just below my eyes.
A Russian lady next seat to mine said “Shoma, Shoma!”, to me and talked something in Russian.
(Just because I am Japanese?)
I didn’t understand what she said.
Suddenly she showed me a lot of Shoma photos and videos kept in her phone and she looked very happy.
I thought she was shoomed like us.
No need for words.

It was first time to see This Town so I was very happy.
Did this man skate Great Spirit?
It was very soft, smooth, and light like a butterfly.
I felt like I was in a dream.
We shouted “Shoma”, after finale, and he looked at us. (I just believe!?)
Thank you Russian ladies.:luv17:

^^^

Nicely done MG! Thank you!

sallyhatchet said:

Lol these are great, what does he have against streamers?! [emoji28]

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To me, these streamers are dangerous and are a practice that should be stopped. I have a feeling Shoma agrees with me.( I first saw this at Milan Worlds and my first thought was "what were they thinking?!).

rabidline said:

I'm glad Shoma and Kazuki seems to be in good spirits Wishing the best for them, IDF was a lonely event for Shoma so it's great to have him goofing off with Kazuki on Olympics Channel's IG story:

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Arriba627 said:

I know you are a big fan of Kazuki, and I remember mentioning in his FF that I talked to him while in the food court at the Sk Amer hotel. He is such a cutie and so nice! Let's hope they both do really well this weekend!

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Thank you both! Yes, I'm a big fan of Tomono-kun, but I'm rooting for many, whoever show me their connection to the music they're skating to in the way I enjoy, and my most fav is Koshiro (and he's from my town). I'll have to pay bigger attention to this FF more often now, as Shoma will be delivering more news from Team Champery I can't miss! (Btw, I've been watching Shoma since he was little and ofc I love him too, in case you don't know I just can't afford enough time to read everything, too many coverages and too many fan posts to read them all so I basically just end up skimming :gaah: I don't do top skaters' translations because there are always someone better and devoted who can do it faster and in time.)

taro said:

I agree that Stephane could be a good mental support for him and that's exactly what he wants in his coach,
because he was saying this about having Stephane by his side at Rostelecom.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shoma: I wouldn't officially call him my coach yet, but it's partially due to his kindness and also me having struggled to give good performances at competitions lately and everything,
I thought it could be a good idea. So I asked him.
While training in Switzerland, I would have some bad days and basically had to figure it out by myself if I'm doing it alone. But he was there for me and really nice to me.
What I've hoped for my coach is not necessarily to give me some good technical advices but how he/she would motivate me,
like I'd want to give good performances because of him/her. That's who I would want to learn from and he has been a close match.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope it would work out great in the 2nd part of the season.

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Hi, your version sounds a lot nicer and more English-friendly than mine! I always love and enjoy reading different translations, so thank you! Allow me to correct one thing there.
"ステファンのご厚意" implies that it's Stephane's offer, so if you want to avoid using "decide" then maybe it'd be more accurate to say "I accepted" instead of "I asked him", although he did say "お願いする/I asked him". "せっかくだから" basically means he didn't want to blow the opportunity he got = his offer. (In one of Asahi Digital articles, Shoma said that Stephane had been offering him help since Japan Open in October. It specifically said his offer was (or included) to stand at rinkside and stay with him at official practices, and it may not be an official coaching offer, but we don't know until January.)

Arriba627 said:

Oh come on guys! Don't keep us in suspense! Give it a try!

Click to expand...

sallyhatchet said:

Yes I am now dying to know!

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MGstyle said:

Ok ok ok, I will give it a try, but seriously, if it has to be explained, it loses 99% of its punch... Anyway here it is... He was talking about the aborted second jump. Essentially he said "It just went.. poof." But he said it in a manner that is typically used by an angry, frustrated macho man. The contrast of that particular expression and the wee little cuddly Sho was something like a Teletubby playing out the thug life. :cool14:

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I really love the way MGstyle put it
To be precise, "しやがる/shiyagaru" is an expression to describe someone else's action with disgust. "スルーする/through-suru" means like, ignore, or pretend it didn't happen, just pass through like no big deal. So, Shoma is talking as if he's looking at his own action from the third-person view in a bit of swearing kinda way. Like, this fellow just ignored (the jumping pass) and passed through like nothing happened!?

Arriba627 said:

To me, these streamers are dangerous and are a practice that should be stopped. I have a feeling Shoma agrees with me.( I first saw this at Milan Worlds and my first thought was "what were they thinking?!).

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I totally agree!!! It makes me cringe every time it happens and IMO it's a miracle no one has tripped over them yet. I can't believe none of the skaters protested against it! :eekn:

MGstyle said:

Ok ok ok, I will give it a try, but seriously, if it has to be explained, it loses 99% of its punch... Anyway here it is... He was talking about the aborted second jump. Essentially he said "It just went.. poof." But he said it in a manner that is typically used by an angry, frustrated macho man. The contrast of that particular expression and the wee little cuddly Sho was something like a Teletubby playing out the thug life. :cool14:

Click to expand...

Tsurara said:

I really love the way MGstyle put it
To be precise, "しやがる/shiyagaru" is an expression to describe someone else's action with disgust. "スルーする/through-suru" means like, ignore, or pretend it didn't happen, just pass through like no big deal. So, Shoma is talking as if he's looking at his own action from the third-person view in a bit of swearing kinda way. Like, this f----er just ignored (the jumping pass) and passed through like nothing happened!?

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LOL thank you both MG and Tsurara for translating! It was funny reading the translation in English, but knowing the context in Japanese is even funnier now I get why the Japanese fans mentioned that it trended a little on Twitter after Shoma said that

jerrymouse333 said:

My third report (17th)
I attended medal ceremonies and the gala.
My seat was center of the short side and skaters exit was just below my eyes.
A Russian lady next seat to mine said “Shoma, Shoma!”, to me and talked something in Russian.
(Just because I am Japanese?)
I didn’t understand what she said.
Suddenly she showed me a lot of Shoma photos and videos kept in her phone and she looked very happy.
I thought she was shoomed like us.
No need for words.

It was first time to see This Town so I was very happy.
Did this man skate Great Spirit?
It was very soft, smooth, and light like a butterfly.��
I felt like I was in a dream.
We shouted “Shoma”, after finale, and he looked at us. (I just believe!?)
Thank you Russian ladies.:luv17:

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Thank you so much jerrymouse for sharing your detailed reports with us! I'm happy to know you (and gacchan) enjoyed every day of your time in Russia. And also yay for your first This Town, finally! You and the Russian ladies are so lucky as well that Shoma looked at you after the finale :luv17: seems like you made so many great memories.

A bit late but seeing shoma and stephane at the kiss and cry is dream come true for me.
Thank you universe.

Koshiro Shimada in an interview with AREA shared about what it was like training with Shoma. They would do “runthrough races” everyday to see who could complete more clean ones. He expresses amazement at Shoma’s concentration for each of his jumps, and notes that Shoma did many jumps repeatedly in practices.

(Translation by @feimeicheng on Instagram)

It sounds like they had a great time training together, and motivated one another

It has taken me a long time to process the happenings of the last few weeks, and between the sadness of IdF and the excitement of Rostelecom, it has been an incredible roller coaster ride. I was so happy to see that there was a definite improvement in Sho's programs just within 2 weeks time. He has been fighting since the day he was born, and I knew he would continue fighting, with or without a coach.

That being said, it certainly was a welcome sight to have Stephane in the Kiss and Cry with him. I think even Shoma underestimated (or maybe wasn't fully aware) of all his coaches were doing for him. In all the speculation about "What's wrong with Shoma?" (even worthy of a thread here on GS?!), front and center in my mind is the fact that he needs at least a little time to grieve the loss of the only coaches he has ever known since he was five years old. They weren't just coaches, they were like family.

Although it may feel like a done deal that Stephane is his new coach, I'm not so sure about that and am not even sure if he's the best choice. No sense in speculating too much though, because Shoma will tell us when he is good and ready. Didn't sound like he would make his decision public until after Nats. He has a great comfort level with Stephane and they have known each for such a long time -- from ice shows, summer training camps, and the fine tuning Stephane has done in the past with him on his programs. The environment at the rink in Champery seems to be a good one, as shown by the previous post by dramasocks. He would have great training mates in Koshiro and Deniss.

I would be remiss if I didn't express my heartfelt appreciation to all his fans who attended Rostelecom. The Russian fans seemed extremely organized with their efforts to make him feel welcome and loved -- cheers, t-shirts, banners, gifts, WOW! I know there were people from many other countries too. Believe me, the rest of us were very jealous that we could not be there. Even though he wasn't on the podium (oh, but he was SOOOOO close), I'm sure the affection and love that were shown was great medicine for his soul.

Sho's programs this year are both winners for me. I don't like the music for the SP, but I do love his skating, the costume, and the choreography. I love the soulful quality of the FS and can't wait to see both programs in all their glory. It was pretty tough to not get the new programs until August / September, so he has done a lot of work on them in a short time...I'm in it for the long haul, and whether he is on or off the podium, he is still my favorite skater. I'm really excited to see how Nats and the second half of the season go! Ganbatte Shoma!

Ahhhh. Shoma's best SP? For me, yes. Mao's version is beautiful too.

https://twitter.com/Panoramiia/status/1012779518921043970?s=20

Arriba627 said:

It has taken me a long to process the happenings of the last few weeks, and between the sadness of IdF and the excitement of Rostelecom, it has been an incredible roller coaster ride. I was so happy to see that there was a definite improvement in Sho's programs just within 2 weeks time. He has been fighting since the day he was born, and I knew he would continue fighting, with or without a coach.

That being said, it certainly was a welcome sight to have Stephane in the Kiss and Cry with him. I think even Shoma underestimated (or maybe wasn't fully aware) of all his coaches were doing for him. In all the speculation about "What's wrong with Shoma?" (even worthy of a thread here on GS?!), front and center in my mind is the fact that he needs at least a little time to grieve the loss of the only coaches he has ever known since he is five years old. They weren't just coaches, they were like family.

Although it may feel like a done deal that Stephane is his new coach, I'm not so sure about that and am not even sure if he's the best choice. No sense in speculating too much though, because Shoma will tell us when he is good and ready. Didn't sound like he would make his decision public until after Nats. He has a great comfort level with Stephane and they have known each for such a long time -- from ice shows, summer training camps, and the fine tuning Stephane has done in the past with him on his programs. The environment at the rink in Champery seems to be a good one, as shown by the post dramasocks did in the previous post. He would have great training mates in Koshiro and Deniss.

I would be remiss if I didn't express my heartfelt appreciation to all his fans who attended Rostelecom. The Russian fans seemed extremely organized with their efforts to make him feel welcome and loved -- cheers, t-shirts, banners, gifts, WOW! I know there were people from many other countries too. Believe me, the rest of us were very jealous that we could not be there. Even though he wasn't on the podium (oh, but he was SOOOOO close), I'm sure the affection and love that was shown was great medicine for his soul.

Sho's programs this year are both winners for me. I don't like the music for the SP, but I do love his skating and the choreography. I love the soulful quality of the FS and can't wait to see both programs in all their glory. It was pretty tough to not get the new programs until August / September, so he has done a lot of work on them in a short time...I'm in it for the long haul, and whether he is on or off the podium, he is still my favorite skater. I'm really excited to see how Nats and the second half of the season go! Ganbatte Shoma!

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Great post Arriba!

I’m hoping he retains these programs for next year. I know people don’t like when the skaters keep the same ones, but so much is changing for him this year, that I would love to see a slow period.

lariko said:

I’m hoping he retains these programs for next year. I know people don’t like when the skaters keep the same ones, but so much is changing for him this year, that I would love to see a slow period.

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These programs are very good and I look forward to seeing them at J-Nats, and (hopefully?) 4CC and Worlds. However, I'm never a fan of repeating programs. Only speculation on my part, but I wonder if new programs would be the best thing for him, just to help him move on from the difficult start to this season. Maybe even different choreographers?

Most importantly, he needs to get the programs in a timely manner. I think he thrives on hard work -- so get the programs early and break them in during the summer during the ice shows.

Arriba627 said:

These programs are very good and I look forward to seeing them at J-Nats, and (hopefully?) 4CC and Worlds. However, I'm never a fan of repeating programs. Only speculation on my part, but I wonder if new programs would be the best thing for him, just to help him move on from the difficult start to this season. Maybe even different choreographers?

Most importantly, he needs to get the programs in a timely manner. I think he thrives on hard work -- so get the programs early and break them in during the summer during the ice shows.

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Either or, as long as he can stabilize them before the competitions with a new coach, whoever it may be. I keep my fingers crossed for him making 4CC and worlds, though with three positions, and Japanese gentlemen not being quite yet at the level of the embarrassment of the riches the Russian ladies field is, I think he would still be seen as someone who would bring in a high result overall.

For now, I am hoping for the best possible outcome for him at the Nationals.

https://mobile.twitter.com/uno1727/status/1198236630999392258?s=12


I was moved to see Alina’s FS.
Good job Alina.
I’m proud of her.:luv17:

https://twitter.com/azayakanablue/status/1198259859050749957?s=21

Hi! I'm new to this figure skating thing and been a fan of Shoma for a bit over a month now. I thought I would share my story of "finding" Shoma in my first post, because I think it tells a lot about Shoma and his skating

I was never really into figure skating before, it was just another sport among others, but I would sometimes watch it if it happened to be on television. Worlds 2017 were held in Finland and since I live there, I saw a part of the broadcast. I don't remember anything else about it really but for some reason the performance of a male skater in a very pretty blue top stayed in my mind ever after that - just the image of him being on the ice, really.
Two years after that, I happened to see the Finlandia trophy 2019 broadcast on television, and the moment Shoma started his FS I was like, hey that's the guy I remember! I watched his whole performance and was sooo impressed that I googled his name and well, here I am now.

The thing is that I understand absolutely nothing about figure skating (well, now a bit more that a month ago but still basically nothing) and had no emotional connection to the sport before, but for some reason Shoma's performance had that something that made me recognise him immediately just by his skating TWO YEARS after seeing him the first time. And if that doesn't tell something about the skating skills and uniqueness he possesses then I don't know what does.

I thought that this story would be nice to share now that he has been struggling a lot this season I will continue to support him from now on!

lariko said:

I’m hoping he retains these programs for next year. I know people don’t like when the skaters keep the same ones, but so much is changing for him this year, that I would love to see a slow period.

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I hope he keeps Great Spirit because I would love to see a perfect version of it, it is so wild! But . . . don't hate me but his FP this season is like one of my least favorite programs he has ever done so I'm realllllllly hoping he changes it I'd rather he repeated any from a previous season, lol.

Vilya said:

The thing is that I understand absolutely nothing about figure skating (well, now a bit more that a month ago but still basically nothing) and had no emotional connection to the sport before, but for some reason Shoma's performance had that something that made me recognise him immediately just by his skating TWO YEARS after seeing him the first time. And if that doesn't tell something about the skating skills and uniqueness he possesses then I don't know what does.

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Welcome Vilya! Thanks so much for sharing and supporting Shoma during this season! These are the qualities that pulled me in to being a Shoma fan when I started watching as well and contributed largely to my following the sport overall. There's no one who makes me feel so much through their skating as Shoma even when he is struggling.