Hm, no, I think they don't need her anymore, they have some other all time favourite artists like Exile under their label. But I agree with you that Avex won't go that far, that's out of proportion loosing so much money, though it will be interesting to see what they will do.

hope it's only promotion and avex is not serious about punishment and break

Her tours = they really need them.

That's just a gossip post. Avex wouldn't really dare do a thing to her as they are supposed to manage her, so they are at fault and not her. Ayu is still their #1 female artist and every year she is in top 5 over-all yearly sales. Last year her total sales were bigger than Nishino Kana's. So you're completely wrong as along with EXILE and DBSK Ayu is still avex's piggy bank.

It's just what I'm thinking, I mean, yeah she still is one of the biggest artists, but they don't need her to make enough profit and being one of the biggest companies.

I guess now we'll see her only at PoM, then may be at Christmas/New Year TV-shows, CDL and no news till spring or summer

oh maaan, I really wanted to see her on TV and now we've ended with ONE and ONLY performance for FIVE :( I'm just speechless..

But that's just common sense. All these companies need their best artists to be working (releasing, promoting, touring) 24/7 if possible and at their best.


It seems to be though that AVEX is always getting into trouble or dramas with their artists, which is their fault as njanjayrp said. AVEX is mostly known nowadays for their dramas, other companies just go under all the crap and dedicate to support their artists. I don't even know much about the other companies really lol

Their management is really bad... they seem to be just really stubborn and proud.

That's why I agree with you that they won't ban her or something like that, cause that's just stupid and out of proportion.

Don't she already said that Matsuura always protect her? So I don't think Avex'll do something. It's the first time that kind of thing happen. & It can happen to everyone!

Yeah, really, what's going on? First earlier the Max Matsuura scandal that forced him to give up on Twitter, now this travel dilemma?

My minds over the past day or two have been this: "Who should blame for Ayu's MS absence? Ayu herself? No - it should be her staff surrounding Ayu!"

nobody should be blamed. Ayu is human, she can get sick like any of us.
She couldn't get on board for her scheduled flight and then all the followings didn't have enough seats available for her to come back home.. And I guess she's certainly not going to travel in eco.. Buisiness & first class seats are very limited so yeah. I can understand why it was so hard to find a flight.
All I can say is that this article is ********.. I mean is it the first time an artist cancel her/his appearance on the show because they are sick or unavailable? NO. Even though she would have made it back home, then what? She couldn't have sang anyway.

I just hope MS won't be a ***** and keep inviting her...

All the Max Matsuura dramas happened thanks to one and only JYJ drama queens and their fans.

I know this will sound a bit...mean, but it's Ayu's responsibility to be back in time for things.

And she failed to hold up her end of the deal. I understand she couldn't do anything about it, but considering she already knew she -had- to be back in Japan for Music Station, why didn't they just book a round trip ticket to begin with? It's weird to me. It'd be different if she didn't know when she had to be back, but she already had prior arrangements that needed to be fulfilled and booking a ticket back guaranteeing her a spot would have been a much more responsible thing to do, even if up until now she's always booked tickets last minute.

Also, if the problem with her not coming home in time is because her team couldn't come with her, that's really ridiculous. Ayu doesn't need her entire team to be there in order for her to make a TV appearance.

If she was banned or whatever, I hope she learns something from it. And if not, I still hope she's learned something from all of this.

edit: so they had tickets booked and someone messed up? Whatever the case is, that staff best be fired.

And yeah it is a big deal, especially because she's seen as this huge diva. Even if she was in NY for work and not play, people will say "Why don't you stay in Japan for once?" and stuff like that.

^ I find that ridicilous as well. After all her band was in Japan and she only needs herself to actually sing. Anyone could've done her make-up >_>

This. I mean, if someone is at fault it is avex' people/ Ayu staff. What's that talk about punishment? Are they stupid? If you want to punish someone they should punish themselves for not being able to plan properly. It is not Ayus responsibility. Time to reduce her staff and find some more capable people to look after her. And that AKB talk is the most ridicilous thing ever. Especially since Ayu is not always the last artist on Music Station. She usually performs somewhere in the middle. :no I hate those articles. They blow things out of proportion.

I think Ayu needs at least her bodyguards and one manager with her so maybe around 5 people? I thought she could go alone, but I guess it is impossible if you think about it. She needs her bodyguards.

From the news articles, I think the reason why she couldn't get back was not because she couldn't find a replacement ticket, but because she was ill, and she was not allowed on her flight. Not sure how this stuff works, but I know that people who are sick get quarantined for checks before they can leave/enter a country, which may result in them missing their flight.

I agree that it's her responsibility, but she had booked return tickets this time, just that she had to miss that flight because she couldn't finish the calendar shoot. After that, they couldn't get anymore tickets because of the post 9/11 rush + Fashion Week. Then she got sick and fainted, which probably added to the delay. Plus the probable quarantine issue mentioned above... So there are many factors which unfortunately came together at the wrong time to create this mess. And as ayu herself has said on Twitter, no matter who or what is truly to blame, in the end, she knows that she alone is the person who has to face the consequences.

Was Fashion Week starting or ending?

If it was starting, most people would be flying into JFK, not out haha. Right?

But yeah, I know there were a lot of things combined. I didn't know she said she had tickets booked and someone messed up, I thought she just went to buy tickets and they were all sold out.

^ There are so many conflicting versions of what the cause was. I agree with you though, no matter what the circumstances, it is ultimately Ayu and her staffs responsibility to be back on time.

There have been several times where she has song sick on tv shows. In Japan, artists canceling a show like this at the last minute is quite rare. To address your other points, if she isn't willing to travel economy class when she knows she needs to get to Japan because of this commitment...that's bad. Who knows though if she was willing to travel economy or not. What I find strange is that they didn't hire a private plane. If memory serves me correct, she has done that before. It's strange that there wouldn't be any private jets available out of both NYC and LA. Anyways, yes I think there is likely to be some consequences from this, but the degree of which I'm not sure.

I don't know about the inner workings of Ayus management, but I still think Ayu herself is not to blame for this. Ayu has a lot of staff people. She is not responsible for booking tickets, it is not her job. Other people do it for her. The problem is, she is Ayumi Hamasaki - a brand. And she is Ayumi Hamasaki as a person. The staff are also Ayumi Hamasaki. And if something goes wrong not only Ayumi Hamasaki - the brand is blamed no Ayumi Hamaski the person has to take responsibility, it seems. Unfair to me but that's the way it works, I suppose.

I do not believe for one second that Ayu didn't fly because she didn't want to fly economy. I don't think that matters to her.

I'm pretty sure she's taking it super personal anyway, blaming herself for it.

And I totally agree tokyoxjapanxfan, but as Misa-chan said, I think one of the reasons she couldn't fly was because she got sick.

Oh well... we can't do anything about this, just wait and see if anything will happen. Plus, the tabloids always need these kind of stories, and they always make them sound bigger lol