My journey to yo-yo mastery | BLACK

13,676,459 views ・ 2013-04-19

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast
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When I was 14 years old,
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I had low self-esteem.
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I felt I was not talented at anything.
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One day, I bought a yo-yo.
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When I tried my first trick, it looked like this:
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(Laughter)
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I couldn't even do the simplest trick,
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but it was very natural for me,
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because I was not dextrous, and hated all sports.
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But after one week of practicing,
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my throws became more like this:
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A bit better.
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I thought, the yo-yo is something for me to be good at.
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For the first time in my life,
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I found my passion.
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I was spending all my time practicing.
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It took me hours and hours a day to build my skills up to the next level.
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And then, four years later, when I was 18 years old,
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I was standing onstage at the World YoYo Contest.
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And I won.
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I was so excited.
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"Yes, I did it! I became a hero.
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I may get many sponsors, a lot of money,
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tons of interviews, and be on TV!" I thought.
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(Laughter)
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But after coming back to Japan,
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totally nothing changed in my life.
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(Laughter)
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I realized society didn't value my passion.
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So I went back to my college
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and became a typical Japanese worker as a systems engineer.
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I felt my passion, heart and soul, had left my body.
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I felt I was not alive anymore.
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So I started to consider what I should do,
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and I thought, I wanted to make my performance better,
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and to show onstage how spectacular the yo-yo could be
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to change the public's image of the yo-yo.
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So I quit my company
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and started a career as a professional performer.
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I started to learn classic ballet, jazz dance, acrobatics and other things
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to make my performance better.
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As a result of these efforts, and the help of many others,
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it happened.
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I won the World YoYo Contest again in the artistic performance division.
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I passed an audition for Cirque Du Soleil.
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Today, I am standing on the TED stage
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with the yo-yo in front of you.
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(Applause)
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What I learned from the yo-yo is,
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if I make enough effort with huge passion,
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there is no impossible.
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Could you let me share my passion with you
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through my performance?
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(Applause)
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(Water sound)
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(Music)
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(Music ends)
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(Applause)
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(Music)
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(Music ends)
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(Applause)
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(Applause ends)
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(Music)
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(Applause)
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