Japanese fans wish Worlds not to be Cancelled

[maija]

At the risk of being redundant, please let all the members of your forum know they should not feel guilty regardless of what happens with the competition. Thank you for your post.

Very well said!

[Yazmeen]

What rfisher said! And thank you, Shinku, please know that our hearts are with all of you, too.

[FigureSpins]

There's no reason for anyone in Japan to feel guilty about Worlds. We feel guilty for worrying about Worlds when you have such incredible trouble. Really, it's insignificant on the scale of what Japan faces right now, and we know it, but it's a figure skating discussion board so it should be discussed, especially since Worlds was going to be very exciting this year.

None of the problems, nor the Worlds cancellation,was caused by your country's peoples. It was an Act of God that got past one of the best-prepared country in the world. It's going to set a precedent for better emergency-preparedness in the future since there have been very few missteps. The nuclear crisis will be used to change procedures and equipment/building for other nuclear plants.

We're all hoping and praying that the situation in Japan becomes more manageable and you can begin to rebuild your lives.

[Sylvia]

Domo arigato gozaimasu for sharing your heartfelt feelings here, Shinku! Please know that I am just one of many skating fans around the world who are thinking of Japan and all the people there in this difficult, uncertain time.

cholla has translated the following message from Nathalie Péchalat and Fabian Bourzat to all Japanese fans -- direct link is: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...&postcount=503

[Jenny81]

Thank you for your post, Shinku.
Good luck and god bless you both.

[MikiAndoFan#1]

Thank you for your great post, Shinku!

At the risk of being redundant, please let all the members of your forum know they should not feel guilty regardless of what happens with the competition. Thank you for your post.

Yes, exactly.

[skatesindreams]

Thanks for your beautiful post,
Rest assured, Japanese fans have nothing to feel guilty about.

You are held in my heart and thoughts.

[Gerard]

Success begins in the heart as much as in the mind, something that all great athletes, often achieving what was thought of <<impossible>>, have always demonstrated.

Thanks for this admirable post and show of attitude Shinku, I find it inspiring and I am sure, so will many.

[cholla]

cholla has translated the following message from Nathalie Péchalat and Fabian Bourzat to all Japanese fans --

I'm reposting it there :

This is a message from Nathalie Péchalat and Fabian Bourzat. I translated it in English at Nathalie's request and she gave me authorization to post it here on FSU.

At the beginning, when the earthquake and the tsunami occurred, we received lots of messages from Japanese fans who were scared and panic-stricken. The perspective to see all the skaters come in and the opportunity to live a few moments outside of their sad reality was heartwarming to them. Despite our worries, we did our best to support and reassure them. At this very moment we thought : if we are allowed to go to Japan, we will, Japanese people have always supported us, it is our turn to be there for them. But this was before the situation became more and more tragic : nuclear trouble, escalading number of casualties, risks of a second major earthquake.

Today, the ultra-worrying situation in Japan totally justifies the cancellation of the World championship. It is very confusing for the figure skating world, but the extreme violence of the disaster as well as the grief inflicted to the Japanese people are much more upsetting to us than the cancellation of a competition. The World championship no longer has its place in the midst of such a humanitarian emergency. The I.S.U. did what was right for the skaters, the organization but also to show respect to all Japanese people.

On a strictly sportive level, we would like these championships to be postponed and not cancelled. We have all worked very hard along the season in order to enter this competition which is the most important every year. It is very difficult to remain motivated and to train properly without the possibility to plan things. We our doing what we can. The place doesn’t matter to us, what really counts is the timing… but our thoughts still go to Japan. We feel selfish, thinking that our concern is a sport event when millions of Japanese people are in complete distress. We are directly and constantly in touch with our Japanese fans, and the people we know over there, on Facebook. We have sent a letter of solidarity and compassion to the Japanese skating federation. We keep ourselves permanently informed of the evolution of events in Japan and are doing our best to try to help (even if we feel powerless).

We hope that the June galas in Japan will be maintained, that we will be able to meet our fans again, to express, in person, our gratitude and the courage they inspire us. We wish Japan and its people the prosperity they deserve.

[Shinku]

Thank you all for your warm replys to my post. We just had another earthquake centering somewhere close to the Shizuoka prefecture about half an hour ago. This was the largest after quake we've had since the first major one on Friday in the north. We've had after quakes constantly in many areas since the first hit, but first they were all coming from the same center somewhere in the seas close to the Miyagi prefecture.

But since about 2 days ago, we've been having quakes centering in other areas, and most of it seem to be coming down to the south close to Tokyo. But the last one we had assumingly centered somewhere near the Shizuoka prefecture since the area had the strongest seismic intensity 6+. This is the first time since the major quake in the north that we had a quake centering west from Tokyo. Tokyo only suffered a level 4 shake which we've already gotten used to by now, but 6+ is very large so I hope everyone in Shizuoka is all right. Shizuoka is right next to the Aichi prefecture where the city of Nagoya is in, and many of our skaters reside there including Mao, Miki, Kanako and lots of others. Aichi seems to have suffered only a level 3 quake, so I'm sure everyone is okay though.

It's as if we have an earthquake travelling all throughout Japan now. If it should go on like this, sooner or later even the undamaged western areas might start having some quakes. I suppose JSF and ISU can now clearly see it was correct to postpone Worlds. I'm afraid there may not be any safe rink in Japan to relocate Worlds to, and we might have to give up WTT as well.

As many of you have written, I understand it wouldn't be easy to relocate the competitions to another country at this point. But I still hope they'd be able to find some place to have at least Worlds. Thank you all for telling us to stop feeling guilty about the way things turned out. I'll pass your messages on to the members in my forum. Many fans here still want to see Worlds though. We simply want to watch and enjoy it like all other FS fans around the world once things calm down a bit here.

ISU may still be able to find another safe place to have it held, let's not lose hope just right now. Thank you again for all your support!

[sk8sue]

Nobody in Japan should feel guilty if worlds doesn't happen. I actually feel guilty caring about worlds (even though yeah I do) when so many people in Japan are suffering. My hopes and prayers are with Japan right now.

This.

Thank-you for your lovely, heartfelt post, Shinku. My best to you all as you begin to rebuild your lives and I hope that you will have the chance to host Worlds again as soon as possible. I'm sure that it will be a very special occasion when it happens.

[Judy]

Thank you for your beautiful, heartfelt post Shinku .. nobody at all is to blame least of all Japan. We hope that it doesn't have to be cancelled but I think it will be difficult to relocate to a different country .. although if the ISU pulls this off they will look like masterminds.

Hugs to you and Japan in getting through this tragedy.

[Willowway]

Shinku, your posts are so thoughtful - I appreciate your efforts to help us understand what you are experiencing and the thought process you have gone through. You are very kind to take the time for your fellow skating fans.

I have heard through solid sources that the ISU is discussing relocating Worlds with several countries where travel would be uncomplicated, visas not an issue for most folks coming in and proven facilities. If they can arrange it, we all will probably hear something within the next two days or so.

[itsartemis]

Shinku, thank you so much for your beautifully written post. As the others have said - please convey the message that there is no reason to feel guilty. My heart is aching for you.

Thinking so much of you and praying for you in this very difficult time. I hope the figure skating community can do something collectively for the people of Japan knowing how important figure skating is to the Japanese.

無事を祈ります。

[Nan]

Thank you for your posts, Shinku.

[skatesindreams]

I'd give you more "rep", if I could.

[senorita]

Thank you for the post, all thoughts and positive energy for your country to get through this diffficult time.

[floskate]

Wonderful post Shinku, thank you so much.

[l'etoile]

thank you for your truthful and heartfelt post I can hope that good things would come out of these terrible disasters in the end for the japanese people. my thoughts are with Japan.

and plz, don't feel guilty of anything. Like others said, these disasters are irresistable and unforeseen.

[grandma]

Thank you for posting Shinku