A long time ago, a sports reporter wrote that I wasn't strong in the free-skate, that I was more of a short-program skater. And that bothered me because I work so hard every day just for a person to judge me on a couple of bad skates and deem me a bad free skater. That's absurd!
I just want to redeem myself and show the world that... it wasn't a fluke that I won at nationals. I can compete on the international stage as well.
Daisuke Takahashi has really good footwork.
Getting to the Olympics was the hard part.
Who cares if you get last place. This is the Olympics. Making it is the hard part.
Something that I saw in Sochi that I didn't get the opportunity to have in Vancouver was the team holding hands with arms in the air and medals around their neck.
Japanese people, they're not really one to complain.
I feel like the worst has happened to me, so what better person to skate to 'Madame Butterfly' than me?
My dad is a very creative type of person, so he has rolls that make no sense to most people familiar with sushi. He has a High Five roll. What is that? Don't ask questions. Just try it. He's kind of mischievous, and that's how I am, too.
It was hard for me to leave the nest, but my mom is super proud of me. She said, 'You became independent really quickly, and I'm so proud of you,' but she misses me all the same.
My parents are super excited that they've produced an Olympian. I don't think they ever would have imagined this would happen in a million years, so I hope I represent not only Team U.S.A., but the Japanese-American culture and my family as well.
I started skating when I was five years old in Pasadena, California.
I used to skate around the rink with my mom, and we used to race each other until I started getting way better. Then she hung up her skates and resorted to playing my music at the rink.
I think being in the public eye has made me more determined than other people to show that I do belong at the top, and I believe I am one of the hardest-working people at the rink. I feel like I have always been that way, but sometimes I just get in my own way.
I loved being at the rink every day and training.
I skate six days a week, three sessions a day, and I go to the gym three times a week. I lift weights, do some ab work and whatever my trainer tells me to do. I take Saturdays off.
Education is more important than skating. I want to keep up with my schoolwork and my skating.
You can train to be ready for the nerves, and we simulate it all the time, but it's never the same when it actually matters.
Figure skaters are usually young and then just fade away. But I'm not a fade-away kind of person.
Pre-competition rituals include nap time, because when competition rolls around, I'm a sloth. I also FaceTime my dogs.
