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荒川選手のイナバウワーは、自分でどこまで反れるか試しているうちにエスカレートし、大きく反るようになったという。（画像提供：ロイター通信社）
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Trendy Japanese #12:
Ina Bauer (a figure skating technique) |
* 2006/4/5 配信 ALC Newsletter No.33(ALC
International Marketing 発行)より
* クリックできる語句には、語注がついています
It's already been more than a month since the 2006 Winter Olympic Games ended. But the phrase Ina Bauer, which is a figure skating technique, has remained in the minds of many Japanese.
Ina Bauer is the name of the movement where the skater skates sideways on both feet, with the toes turned out to the sides and heels facing each other. The movement was invented by German skater Ina Bauer, one of the world's top figure skaters of 1950's. Not many Japanese paid attention to this technique until Shizuka Arakawa, one of Japan's top female figure skaters, won the gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Arakawa's Ina Bauer is special in that she performs it with her back fully bent backwards. It's more than enough to show her elegance and flexible body movements, and many Japanese fans were attracted to the technique soon after they saw it on TV. Ina Bauer itself is not given a technical score any more --- since the new judging rules were introduced in 2005 --- but people still believe Ina Bauer led Arakawa to the podium.
After Arakawa's victory, there's been a kind of "figure skating boom" going on in Japan. Skating rinks are filled with people, and many of them are trying to imitate Arakawa's Ina Bauer by bending backwards over the ice. Unhappily, most of them end up flat on their backs, but if you do it on the ground, it shouldn't be that difficult. Just stand up with your legs wide open, toes pointing out in opposite directions, and bend backwards. Your Japanese friends will soon notice it's an Ina Bauer! Try not to swing your arms, because then they'll think you're doing the Matrix. If that happens, tell them it's an "Ina Bauer" --- with the Japanese pronunciation, "ee-nah-bow-woo-ah"!
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