AYUppears - ayu voice

I have just watched a documentary program in TV Asahi on (you bet) Hamasaki Ayumi!!! They followed Ayu for 150 days since 99/12 and tried to find out what Ayu is like behind the scenes. This is really an absolutely fantastic documentary!! It makes me even more impressed with Ayu and I have just went to some of the Japanese fan sites, "even more respect" and "her strength, determination and dedication makes me even want to struggle harder" are the most common reactions I have seen from the Japanese fans. Let me tell me some of the most impressive things that I saw from the program:
- Ayu said, when confronted by the TV Asahi's program producers at the beginning, "As a merchandise, I am Hamasaki Ayumi; as a creator [of lyrics etc] I am Ayu" (first, this shows that Ayu is strongly aware of the value of her commercial appeal second, she is very aware of the difference between her inner self and her appearance (which may have to change to suit other people's taste) third, it is interesting to see that Ayu actually treats her real name as the name for merchandise) Ayu also said that she does not know why she is so popular with the young girls but she guessed that it may have to do with the "a place for the self" (it sounds less odd in Japanese) which makes the TV staff a bit puzzled.
- Ayu's parents got divorced when Ayu was still young. She lived with her mother ever since. She started modeling at 9 and went to Tokyo at 16 (this part you may already have known) - Although we did not see Ayu release new songs (except cuts from the LOVEppears album) or appear on TV in the time when the documentary was made, she was actually really busy!! A new photo album in 99/12 which was accompanied by a shake-hand gathering with 1500 fans!! (I didn't know or I would want to be there too) Red-White Singing Tournament on the New Year Day followed straightly with the Avex-Trax new year party in Velfarre Disco. Music Video for Kanariya Music Video for Fly High. Jacket photo for Ayu-mi-x II. Planning the nation-wide concert tour. Prepare for the 3 singles which we have just seen the second. Ayu said that she was really busy during the last few month in an interview with Oricon magazine (The Ichiban) and now I can more than believe her!
- Ayu is really very serious in all of her work. Much more than I expected. We saw her do her own make-up for Kanariya video. She even advised how the other actors should have their make-up done (and did one herself) We saw her review all the film for Kanariya and decide which part to keep or cut We saw that she arranged the four Ayu characters for the Ayu-mi-x II promotion poster (she even cut out the figure from the photo herself!) We saw Ayu first got the idea to put an Ayu among the audience in the Fly High
video (if you have seen the video you would know what I mean - while Ayu is singing on the stage in the video, there is also an odd-looking and strangely quiet Ayu standing among the jumping and dancing audience)
We saw Ayu got too tired and collapsed in the van on the day when she was supposed to film a video. She was taken to the make-up room. (This scene makes a lot of Japanese fans heartbreak in the BBS)
We saw Ayu arrived at the rehearsal hall early and checked on the dancer's costume design and make-up.
We saw Ayu making a recording of Far Away, and afterwards she edited the Vogue's lyrics and then started to write the lyrics for Seasons!
- We got to see the filming of the cover for Seasons. As you know, the cover for Vogue is actually the close-up shot (with some editing) of Ayu's head in the Far Away's cover. I have been wondering what sort of cover the
Seasons would be like. It must be a picture with a part of which being the Far Away's cover, and the cover of the three singles would form a chain of close-up shots with Vogue being the most "zoomed" one. Just as I thought, the filming of Season's cover showed Ayu standing on a beach with sea as her background
(remember that in Far Away, Ayu sings that she went to the seaside?) and holding a torn-up photo just like the one used for Far Away's cover. She was wearing a black dress just like those used for funerals. I remember
Ayu once mentioned that "Forlorn Hope" could be said to be a theme that went through the three songs. I guess this gives some hint as to what song "Seasons" would be like. - And lastly, we got to see Ayu's home! In fact, she was organizing a gathering with her staff and she cooked some food for them too! Not very sumptuous
or luxurious stuff, but still impressive! The only dish I could tell was "Cusu-Cusu Salad" (a kind of Moroccan dish). The program seems to imply that Ayu's home is in the Tokyo Bay area as it showed the Rainbow Bridge before showing Ayu's home. And Ayu's home is flanked by a long wall of glass that reaches the feet
level and the lack of any light outside her home seems to suggest that her apartment is by the seaside. Her home is actually quite simple and plain. I guess she does not spend too much time at home anyway. The base tone is white and I remember Ayu said at the debut time that she likes to collect white things for her room, so that matches. The sofa is also white, and there is a tea table with a white marble Classical-Greek-style column as its support. The TV is a big plasma model as I can tell.