From one survivor to another: Hanyu Yuzuru lends a hand to the people of Noto Peninsula

It’s as if Hanyu Yuzuru traveled back in time to his roots.

There were no screaming fans. Or other star artists in an lavishly staged show costing millions at an arena housing thousands like the Tokyo Dome.

Sunday’s (15 September) performance titled “Challenge” was without a crowd, nestled in a small venue in the quiet of Ishikawa Prefecture, which was struck by a M7.6 megaquake on New Year’s Day.

It was just the two-time Olympic figure skating champion and three of his peers on the ice - Mura Takahito, Miyahara Satoko and Suzuki Akiko - for slightly over an hour, along with some local high school students providing props.

The charity show was being streamed live nationwide so it could have been held anywhere for that matter. But Hanyu insisted on skating in the prefecture’s only ice rink because as a fellow survivor of a major disaster 13 years ago, he knows what it would mean for the people there.

“Obviously since we were streaming, I didn’t have to hold the event here,” Hanyu told reporters. “But I wanted to be as physically close as possible to those whose who suffered - and to those who are still suffering.

“We wanted to feel the air here during the performance which I hope helped reach more people.”

The Noto Peninsula Earthquake is the deadliest quake in Japan since the M9.1 that crippled the nation on 11 March, 2011 - which hit Hanyu’s hometown of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, hard.

Since the 29-year-old retired from competition two years ago, Hanyu has dedicated a show - “notte stellata” - to the victims and everyone who was impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Hanyu said the experience set him off on a mission to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018 so that he would have the clout and currency to offer support years down the road - which has come to realisation like in the form of Sunday’s skate.

“A huge reason I wanted to win two gold medals is because I wanted to support disasters sites like this one,” he said. “When I was competing I was focused on working hard to win two in a row and now that I’ve turned pro, I’ve been able to gradually find the time to skate for a cause.

“I am a figure skater first and foremost and I like to think I can offer something to those who were affected through my performances - even if it’s just a little.”

Hanyu said he chose a bare-bones venue more suited to his practises not only for regional proximity but also so he could reroute more money for charity by cutting costs.

“The first thing I wanted to do is keep production costs down to the bare minimum so we could donate as much money as possible. I think things looked different from what I usually bring but I hope people were able to enjoy the change.

“The four of us, too, felt different today skating for charity compared to our usual shows. We felt more of a connection to the local people.”

Hanyu saw some of the damage from the quake in person during his brief stay in Ishikawa and also met local junior high students, which naturally flashed his memory back to 13 years ago when he was forced to spend time in an evacuation centre and saw his home rink become unusable.

At times, Hanyu looked to be trembling with emotion as he recalled what he witnessed and heard in trying to give the people of Ishikawa a nudge of hope going forward.

“I had seen the damage in the news or the papers but when I saw the scene firsthand, I was startled by what I saw, the rawness of it all. I’m not qualified to say whether recovery is moving ahead or not but the scars were very much still there.

“The local people said to me that whenever they see the ruins, it feels like time has stopped, that they want to avoid going to such places. The words really pierced my heart.

“When I saw the kids, I told them something like, that even though no matter how difficult things are, sooner or later the time will come when you have to move on. Even if you were stuck up until now, the time will definitely come when you have to act.”

Spoken like a true survivor.