Worlds Tokyo March 2011 - need advice (esp Japan-based fans)

I have miraculously been able to secure tickets to the World Championships in Tokyo this March, my very first Worlds to see live!

I am wondering if anyone has any advice on how to make the most of the experience, for example, how to watch practice sessions, meet skaters, prepare gifts for skaters, taking photos, getting autographs etc. Of course, I am most interested in Daisuke!

Also, I want to make a special banner to support Daisuke, and wanted to ask advice from Tokyo based fans on the best way to do this.

Thank you so much!!

Good for you! I'm sure it'll be an unforgivable experience... in many ways.

From my experience, Japan is by far the place where it's the hardest to get anywhere near the skaters. Practice sessions are closed to the public and, at least at the 2 competitions I've been at, fans were not allowed to leave their banners hanging in the rink overnight (which is possible in other countries). It was also the only times I saw tight security at the official hotel.

Golden rule: don't bother the skaters before they are finished with their competition, all the more the Japanese skaters in Japan (they have enough pressure as is).

Good luck, and ENJOY!

MissC wrote:

Practice sessions are closed to the public

It's not quite true. Practice sessions are always open for those who bought a ticket to the competition.

Thanks Miss C and panther! Actually, I don't even know where the official hotel is, so no chance of me bothering the skaters there! But I would really like to go to the practice sessions, seeing as I have tickets to the competition.

For hanging your banner, can you just go and hang it anywhere there's a space? I guess you need to get to the arena as soon as it opens to have the best chance of finding a space. I'm all so new to this, I'm not sure what to do

For my banner, I am thinking to do it in the same colours as either Dai's SP or LP costume and I'm thinking of some kind of nice slogan to put on it. If I can find a good banner maker, I would like to put a photo of Dai on it, maybe one of his nice poses in the current season's programs.

Anyone got some good ideas?

Ohhh you're soo lucky to have tickets!!! I wish I could go
Please cheer Dai for me



Maybe you can put a photo of Dai in the mambo pose, I think it will look nice

panther wrote:

MissC wrote:

Practice sessions are closed to the public

It's not quite true. Practice sessions are always open for those who bought a ticket to the competition.

In Japan, really?! I know it's the case in most places, but as far as I'm aware, you need to be accredited to watch practices in Japan...


nipponophile, where you can hang banners mostly depends on the rink and the organizers, and it's usually pretty clear once you get into the rink.

Hazelq, that's a great pic and I just love that moment in his program (as does everyone, I think ) I will definitely give Dai a big cheer for you (I have a VERY loud voice, and can sometimes be heard on broadcasts, even if I can't be seen)

Thanks Miss C for banner info, I will aim to get there at arena opening time to hang my banner.

MissC wrote:

In Japan, really?! I know it's the case in most places, but as far as I'm aware, you need to be accredited to watch practices in Japan...

From 2011 ISU Worlds official website:

-Will practices be open to the public who do not have the All-Event Ticket?
-If you have a one-day event ticket, you can purchase an official practices ticket for the day with 3,000 yen.
i.e.) if you have an event ticket for March 23rd, you can ONLY purchase a practice session ticket for the March 23rd official practice. You cannot purchase a ticket to official practices for other days if you only have a one-day event ticket of March 23rd.
* You cannot purchase any official practice tickets for the practice rink without having an All-Event Ticket.

http://www.worlds2011.jp/questions/

So, if other countries are included practices in the All-event ticket price, in Japan people need to pay extra.

nipponophile wrote:

Anyone got some good ideas?

I like slogan from last worlds
"OH MY, IT`S DAI!"
Do yo remember this banner? They show it at the beginning of SP.

ha-ha.
right words.

I lke also
"Always #1!"

Lil, I don't remember seeing that one! But it's a nice slogan.

I was talking to some 'artistic' friends today and they said that a key point for the kind of banner I want to make is getting an image with a high enough resolution.

If it's online, then a size around 50-100 MB upwards is necessary for a large banner (I'm thinking 2 X 3 metres at least - but I don't really know how big the sort of banners people hang at these competitions really are...)

I'm not sure where I can find a photo of Dai that large. I thought one alternative might be to scan the small poster I got when I ordered Dai's second DVD, but I think the image is too small to be stretched to a larger size, plus it's not the image I was after (I really love the one hazelq posted yesterday).

Really appreciate everyone's help and advice!!!!! Thank you!!!

http://community.livejournal.com/daisha_daily/

You could try asking the person who runs this group - they're really good at finding pictures of Dai, so maybe they'd have some really large, high resolution pictures.

nipponophile wrote:

Lil, I don't remember seeing that one! But it's a nice slogan.

It was on Eurosport`s translation.

I don`t think there is need for photo.
All banners with image looks strange for me.

Thanks again Shatterpoint for your advice!

Lil, I'm not sure if I can get a photo yet, so we'll see...plus, have to check what the rules/arrangements are at the venue for hanging banners. But I think I know what I want to have as my slogan now.....

And what`s your slogan?
What about "King of magic"? (It was montage about Dai, that I watched once).
Or "Sunny" with Dai`s final pose silhouette from FS?

That banner I was talking about.

Guys,

how is everyone?

I've been following news since yesterday morning and am now worrying sick. Is everyone ok? Is everyone safe?

hsuhs wrote:

Guys,

how is everyone?

I've been following news since yesterday morning and am now worrying sick. Is everyone ok? Is everyone safe?

From all the things I've read, the entire Japanese skating team is okay. I'm not sure who all on the forum is from Japan but hopefully they can post on here as soon as they have access to the internet!

Praying for Japan in this horrible, horrible time. That nuclear reactor plant scares the shit outta me!

hsuhs wrote:

I've been following news since yesterday morning and am now worrying sick. Is everyone ok? Is everyone safe?

Hi, hsuhs.
I'm ok, I live in the Kansai region where the earthquake did not affect THIS TIME.

I can't say I'm sure ( I think nobody is sure if someone in Japan is absolutely OK...even your own family ),
but at least Daisuke and his team members seem OK for now.
He had an open practice at the rink in Tsuruga, Fukui prefecture at the day the quake struck.

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/110311/oth11031118000012-n1.htm

He should be ok if he has been staying in Fukui since then, and I hope so.
I can't sleep well thinking about those people who were forced to encounter this horrible disaster.
I myself suffered from a dreadful earthquake 16 years ago , and understand how scared and helpless they are feeling now.
Please, no harm, no lost life to anyone anymore.

Thank you for your concern.

Horrible disaster indeed.

TwisterSister, I saw the news on that nuclear reactor plant (on CNN), too. It did look scary. My understanding is the situation is under control now, which is great.

Yshion, I'm relieved to hear you're not affected, at least not physically. I, too, hope no more lives will be lost. The country has suffered a lot these past two days.

Reg Daisuke and all other Japanese skaters, thank god they are safe.

Hi guys,

I'm sorry, I've been pretty busy since last fall. So I had to quit posting here. (Of course I'm still a huge fan of Dai-chan, the same as before.)

Nice to hear you are ok, Yshion. I'm OK, too. I live in Chiba next to Tokyo and the quake was literally horribly scary. I couldn't stand and had to crouch down on the floor. I found 1/3 of the books fell down to the floor from the shelf in my home when I got home. However everything has already returned to normal here. We have water, electricity and gas (They were supplied as usual even on the day.) and stores are open. So I'm fine. Thank you for your concern. I think Tokyo is the same.

But the horrible news are arriving continuously, like 200 bodies are found here and there. A huge number of people are still calling for help and it is said in the lastest news several tens of thousands of people are missing. This is a major catastrophe.

I hope all the people who need rescued will rescue as soon as possible. I hope Tokyo Electric Power Company and the goverment can safely bring the nuclear plants to end. I express my deepest condolences for the victims.

I think the world championships shoud be postponed, and be held in Japan in future if possible, a month later or something. It's impossible to have the competition in a week even though Tokyo is safe and undamaged. But a month later, to see Dai-chan, Mao-chan and other Japanese skaters fighting for Japan (it's not Olympics though) is really something for cheering up the people affected by this catastrophe. I think.

Again thank you for your concern, guys.

I've been glued to Twitter and it seems that all the japanese skaters are safe
Miki & Team Morozov are in Fukuoka right now. I think Florent tweeted that they were looking for flights to leave Japan but couldn't find any.
Yuzuru and Takeshi, who are from Sendai, are safe. I read somewhere that Yuzuru was in school when the tsunami happened but was evacuated with thei classmates to safe place.
Mao & Team Sato are safe in Nagoya, I read somewhere that Yuka could contact them and confirmed that they are safe.
Akiko Suzuki and Shizuka have been tweeting that they are safe but scared
Fumie Suguri also tweeted that she's safe but unfortunately her grandfather died
Mirai Nagasu tweeted that she could contact one grandparent but not the other ones

And well I was getting very worried because I had no news on Dai but then someone on twitter shared links of recent news on Dai..
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/110312/spm1103120502001-n1.htm
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/winter/news/20110311-OHT1T00276.htm
http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2011/03/12/0003861029.shtml

Like Yshion, Dai is been in a training camp in Fukui Prefecture and thankfully Fukui is reported to be unaffected by the earthquake
He is changing his FS jump layout again for Worlds, apparently 2 3A's in 2nd half and 3-3 & another combo in 1st half.

ISU has said in an official article that they will evaluate the status of Worlds Championships, whether they will continue or postponed or cancel it.

My prayers, best wishes and condolences to everyone in Japan, I watched some videos of the tsunami and the earthquake and I'm shocked of the disaster it has caused

I'm glad to hear that you are safe Miyu and Yshion and I hope the rest of our japanese friends of this forum are safe too!

Hi Everybody:

And Miyu: Long time, no talk. I am very glad that you are back and of course safe.

I found out that my family in shikoku is safe too. I feel very lucky.
My heart goes out for people in Tohoku area. In one city, 10.000 people out of 17000 are missing!! I have been glued to the ustream, and watching disaster unfolding like a nightmare.

My prayer to all Japanese people there. I know that Japan is such a strong country that survived world war 2 and made a miraculous come back from the ashes of total destruction.

We just have to do it again.


World should be postponed. It is very important to keep all skater's safe.
I agree with Miyu that if Japanese skaters skate well, it will surely cheer up people who went through this unthinkable tragedy.

miyu,

I'm relieved you're okay. I'm terribly sorry you had to go through that frightening experience, but I'm glad you're alright and safe now.

My thoughts and heart go out to all who lost or missing their loved ones, is injured, lost their house, whose lives are destroyed.

Those nuclear plant employees who work overtime and do everything in their power to prevent another disaster from happening, they are true heroes.

miyu, I`m glad that you are back & safe.
I pray for japanese people & hope that everything will be OK.

I think that better solution for this championship is to postpone it for a month.

I express my deepest condolences to the Japanese people, suffering so much distress. Lord, stop the earthquake and tsunami, leave alone to Japan. And keep a nuclear reactor.
Japanese, hold on, I'm praying for you and for your country.

Hi, all.
Thank you for your concerning to Japanese people.
It's terrible disaster I've never seen before and really sad to hear about many people died in Northeast Japan.
I would like to express my hearty sympathy with you.

The world figure championships are going to be postponed in April, 2011.
If it is hard to take place in Tokyo on April, it cancels all.
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20110314-00000142-jij-spo
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/transnews/0,10869,4844-128590-19728-18885-312813-3787-4771-layout160-129898-news-item,00.html