Thirteen years on from devastation, Hanyu Yuzuru tries to turn a page with 'notte stellata 2024'
With more hope and uplift, the two-time Olympic champion and friends pay their respects to those struck by the 11 March 2011 earthquake that levelled eastern Japan.
Figure Skating
Last year, Hanyu Yuzuru’s ‘notte stellata’ was a time to reflect. This year, it was about hope - hope of trying to move on.
“Last time, I performed on the day of 11 March for the first time and being completely honest, it wasn’t easy for me because it brought back difficult memories, seeing all the images,” Hanyu said on Friday (8 March) in his home prefecture Miyagi, where he opened notte stellata for the second straight year.
“But through that show I received hope, courage and encouragement from a lot of people. So this time, I wanted to return the favour, give back more hope than I was given.
“In that regard, I think the show had a completely different concept to last year.”
Hanyu Yuzuru in notte stellata 2024
Notte stellata is the two-time Olympic champion’s self-produced homage to those affected by the 11 March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, a M9.1 devastation which triggered a tsunami and a nuclear power plant crisis that descended the country into chaos.
Hanyu’s hometown Sendai was hit hard, forcing the then 16-year-old skater and his family to spend time in an evacuation shelter.
Notte stellata is Italian for starry night - in reference to the evening sky Hanyu gazed at 13 years ago amid the pitch black with no power in the region.
Hanyu’s friends and former colleagues like choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne Turok, one-time training mate Jason Brown and world silver medallist Miyahara Satoko were back, as well as new recruit Javier Fernandez, the two-time world champion and Olympic medallist.
For the Japanese fans, actress and diva Daichi Mao, a former top star of the famed all-female troupe Takarazuka Revue, graced the two-hour ensemble.
But make no mistake, the sellout crowd of 6,100 at Sekisui Heim Super Arena in the town of Rifu was on hand to see Hanyu, who unleashed a new number on this night, waltzing to the tune of ‘Danny Boy’.
Since retiring from competition in July 2022, Hanyu - who turns 30 in December - has shown no signs of slowing down, producing and performing show after show throughout the year.
He said professional skating is more demanding than competitive skating but thinks he can maintain the work rate for the foreseeable future.
“I’m still skating at a quality I’m satisfied with and while I’m doing that, I’m just completely wrapped up with myself,” Hanyu said.
“I’m not sure if or how much I’ve changed in terms of style but I hope kids in Sendai will look up to me, work hard to become an Olympic champion like me - the way I once used to growing up here and admiring Olympians before me.
“This might be a second career but to me, it feels like the first. Because what I’m doing now feels tougher than when I was competing. So if I think about what a second career is to me, things change every day and for now I want to focus on what I’m doing at the moment.
“I feel like my mission is to project figure skating in a light where when they see me, people will think it’s cool or that a male skater can be beautiful.”
Notte stellata runs through Sunday.