Hanyu Yuzuru celebrates turning 30 with 'Echoes of Life' opening
On his birthday, the Olympic champion raises the curtain on his latest solo show at Saitama Super Arena to pose the question of what it means to live.
Figure Skating
Yes, he may not look like it, but Hanyu Yuzuru is actually 30.
But he has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I’m 30,’” Hanyu told reporters on Saturday (7 December), his birthday, after performing the opening show of Echoes of Life to a sellout crowd of 14,000 at Saitama Super Arena.
“It hasn’t completely sunk in but the 30 I thought of when I was a kid and actually being 30 now is completely different - physically, mentally.
“I feel like I still have a lot to offer, can keep going.”
Hanyu Yuzuru: 'I used to think 30 meant old man'
Echoes of Life is the third chapter in Hanyu’s Ice Story saga which he has acted alone, following Gift in 2022 and Re_Pray last year.
Still appearing not much different to when he quit competitive skating two years ago, the two-time Olympic champion performed for close to three hours as his faithful shrieked in overwhelming bliss on this night, when they sang him Happy Birthday during the encore.
Hanyu said he has a completely different perception of age, now that he has entered the third decade of his life.
“I used to think 30 meant old man. But having lived in the now to the fullest, 30 looks different to me,” he said.
“I always thought there’d be regression at this age as a figure skater. But if you look at baseball or football, 30 is when you start putting it all together - the experience, the technique. This is where you start to hone the craft.
“I want to hold on to hope for my future and seize the opportunities that come along.”
Saturday’s installment was markedly different from the first two shows in that Hanyu increased his time on the main screen, in cinema-like form perhaps cognizant of the global audience.
Hanyu quickly shut the door on a future acting career - he looked impressive, contrary to his self-appraisal - but seemed fulfilled that he was finally able to scratch a lifelong itch on the theme of life itself, one he chased at Waseda University.
“I’ve been in a movie once before and I just thought I wasn’t made for it,” he said. “I don’t have much desire to be in the movies but portraying Nova, the main character, felt seamless. It’s my story and I felt compelled to act the character myself.
“I’ve thought about bioethics since I was little and it’s something I pursued at university. I always found the philosophy behind life fascinating.
"There was a lot swirling in my head and I studied the thought process, the theory of it all. In times like these, I wanted to produce a performance that might help people find their meaning of life which led to Echoes of Life.
“In Echoes, we ask about the future, the past. I think the future is much, much brighter than I expect.”
Echoes of Life runs through February. The show moves to Hiroshima next month before wrapping in Chiba.
Hanyu Yuzuru Echoes of Life tour