[Translation] TEAMAyu blog: 27 October: Addressing Twitter
 

PLS READ NOTE: From now on, I'm going to respect ayu's wishes for special messages like this to remain TA only. Therefore, I'll only post this up here for 48 hours, after which I'll take the first message down. You can save it privately if you want, but the fact is that this will not remain in public view for longer than 48 hours (at least not from me). Naturally, I'd also like to ask that the first message not be reposted anywhere else, either in English or your own translation into something else. If you've missed the 48 hour period, PM me and I'll send you a private copy of the translation.

I know this will inconvenience some people and anger others, but please understand that ayu believes TA a private place for her, and I don't want to be the one to make her lose that trust by posting TA messages out on a public forum for everyone to read. Ideally, if I'm doing this, I should do it for every single TA message she's ever posted, but I won't go so far, the limit is set only for messages with a TA-only special request like this.

I hope everyone can understand the position I'm in and why I'm doing this. Thank you.

OK? Then read on...

thanks Misa.

I really dislike all this drama :(

^ me too =(

I think it's good that we'll try to respect Ayu and her wishes!

Btw, she sounds too happy with the light hair colour imo. I was hoping for a dark brown change. XD And maaaan she looks young! Like a teenager! O.o

Shes just the best, and so sad that we wont get more Ayu pics on twitter

It just upsets me. I'd join TA in a heartbeat if I could.

okay I'm just gonna be honest and say it here outright, sorry if it offends anyone:

her message sounds so contrived and diplomatic... if she only shows her real self on TA then what is she on Twitter? Her fake self? I'm sorry but I know it's hard for Ayu too but I'm sick of how she always "brings down" the people on Twitter just to boost the TA members' egos.

I'm very sorry for saying that, and I'm sorry if ur a TA member, but face it, that's the truth. I bet Ayu isn't even happy typing all that and it's ugh breaking my heart so much and pissing me off so much too...

but thank you misa-chan for translating this, it must have been tough on u too~

In sort of a predicament here...

But I understand your feelings Misa-chan, and I wouldn't want you to feel like you are going against Ayu's wishes in any way, and I hope that everyone else here respects your decision as well. Thank you for all you have done for us.


This whole mess is gross. But there's always, transition periods yeah? Perhaps we are at the start of something very great.

I agree COMPLETELY.

Thanks Misa! And I don't mind your decision, you have the right to do what you want with your translation and people should respect that.

Well, you can understand why she feels more like herself in TA then Twitter just because of one main reason.

You can't write long messages in Twitter. Twitter will always be on the surface and light. It's not fake, just... short.

In TA Ayu have written long messages. I still remeber the long long long ones she wrote about her friend who died, about the release of CDL 07-08 DVD that was just heartbreaking, the one about A WORLD IS ONE book and her loosing her hearing (imagine those messages in just a tweet). I mean, those feelings can't never ever be summarized in such a short message that Twitter is.

And therefore it's pretty natural that she feels more like herself in TA then Twitter. It is and always will be stronger.

I have to ask but how has Ayu ever "brought down" the people on twitter?
I have to agree with you COMPLETELY.

It's great, that Ayu finally spoke up about all this drama.
And she is so sweet...she reli thinks about ALL her fans, no matter if they're Japanese or not!

And Misa-chan...I completely understand you!
Thank you for the translation, once again!


@waterballoon: I don't think, that Ayu shows us her "fake self" on twitter. What she means - I think - is that in her "TA Diary" she can reli express her feelings and opinions more vividly, because she can type as much as she likes (and when she talks about her feelings, her entries are always quite long).
twitter is only for short messages; news she wants to tell her fans, but not reli for talking about her emotinal life.

Of course she hasn't outright said, "Oh I think the fans who follow me on Twitter are less awesome than u guys!" or anything like that, but it's what she says to TA, "I only show my real self to you guys...", I mean maybe it's a miscommunication or something but doesn't it also mean that she shows her "fake" self to Twitter/other places?

I understand how she can be more "herself" in TA though; writing longer messages and being able to post more everyday photos of herself and all that, but again Twitter is more convenient too I guess?

But Ayu has said it right, there ARE fans out there who'd love to join TA but can't for their own reasons but who support her with the same heart as the TA peeps. I personally can't afford the TA membership at all and I don't have any credit/debit cards so I can't apply for a membership too, but I love Ayu and support her just as much as the TA peeps/anyone else, and I'm glad she's acknowledging our existence :)

I havent read all the "drama" around twitter too...but even tough I kind of feel like waterballon, I also wouldn't read too much in to it....I mean, TA is something that gives Avex and Ayu revenues, while twitter doesn't, so in other words you could say that Avex pushes Ayu to give more importance to TA than to Twitter.

Moreover, Ayu is a person, I don't think she has a switch to turn her true self on and off, so I think she's only saying what some of her "unmatured" "egoist" fans want to hear.

Thanks Misa-chan, I completly understand you, and thank you so much for keep on translating.

I love what Ayu said. And we should apreciate it. She knows she has foreign fans and that most of them can't join TA. And she know all of them would want to join TA. I've explaines in some TA messages I sent, that lots of foreign fans would love to join TA and that even if there's a way, it's still TOO expensive and difficult for most of us. And you can see here that she knows that. And she knows we all have the same love for her!

Forgeting the differences between those who pay, and those who don't, love is not shown with money, and she knows that.

I'm so happy because of that.

But then, is what MissElin said.. it's not like there're 2 Ayu's, it's just that if we hadn't people who translate her TA messages, we would see hust a little part of how she is.. her short, cute and fun tweets... no more. and in TA we have been able to see the deepest part of her life, her true deep feelings. And that can only be found on TA.


I like this message because she is defending her opinion and asking TA to understand why she did it.

I guess I missed all the drama... I'll deffo have to look it up. However I guess it makes sense that she'd write more personally on TA where her hardcore fans are rather than Twitter... thanks for the translation Misa :)

Okay. I get what you mean now. Twitter is more convenient but it has it's downside since you can only use up to 140 characters I believe so she can only say so much. It is very nice to see Ayu point out that those who aren't part of TA love her just as much.

I wonder...how much does it cost to join TA?

It's sad that all of the drama has resulted in this.
Oh well. I respect your position on this Misa-chan, and of course I also respect Ayu's decision. I just wish she and avex would open an International TA already. I would love to join. But anyhow, I am glad that Ayu understands that TA is not the only ones who support her completely. I also wish you could write longer tweets in twitter, maybe Ayu would feel a little more like herself there.
Anyhow, thanks for the translations.

I think the thing is.. because Twitter is that short & convenient, it'd be much more easier for her to give little shout outs like, "new album might be out!" or "hmm I'm preparing costumes for CDL!" instead of having to post it via TA Diary (well she uses her iPhone to do that now but whatever lol)...

I mean, this whole drama started because people couldn't understand the different contexts behind her posting in Twitter & TA I guess... if only we could all understand the different type of messages under the different types of contexts in their own situations that Ayu has... wouldn't it be so much better? :laugh

I have never been more ashamed to be part of her fanbase than I am now. I am SO sick of this.

6,000Y = 73$ (USD) each year~

I think it would be much easier if she did give little shout outs on twitter and then full blown details about everything in TA?
I really like what you said here! :shake

These photos are great :heart and I agree with her!

I never like the whole "Celebrity fan club" things, I feel like the only thing they should exist for is maybe getting special items. and sometime snot that because the people who join or get to be in those fan clubs think there a much more better fan or "true" fan because there in them. and there fore think they should get special treatment, like getting angry at Ayu talking about news on twitter >__>.
I feel like you should just have her website and post messages on there for all her fans to see, since you should feel like your self around any of your fans not just the ones who are able to pay membership. (Alot of TA members, become Elitist its so wierd/annoying)

Hmm... not too shabby for a year subscription, considering the benefits. That's like 53 euros.

i'm glad to know that she didn't upload that picture just by accident, but that she meant it for her fans who either can't join TA for whatever reason and for her foreign fans. i'm glad she doesn't totally forget about us. i myself am not a TA member...i want to join, but have not been financially able to yet (:(), but i definitely have plans to. although, for those of us who don't know japanese, its a shame that joining TA really doesn't help us much. then again, its not like i expect ayumi to translate her messages into english for us, or even to write in english on TA. i do appreciate when she writes in english on twitter though.

anyway, i really hate this drama. i hate it so much. i just wish that all ayumi fans could be ONE instead of always having to feel thats its TA against twitter. in some way, i feel like the past decade of supporting ayumi should at least afford me the ability to read her TA entries too. it makes me feel sometimes like i'm less of a fan or something, like by joining TA somehow you become a super fan. i'm not sure how to express my feelings, i just know that as much as i love ayumi being on twitter, i miss those days before twitter when there wasn't any drama like this. i have so much appreciation though for those of you who have done translations for us.

and also, i really hate that ayumi has to even deal with this. she should be allowed to do whatever she damn well pleases. yes, i do think TA should get things that aren't just out there on twitter or the internet for everyone, i mean they do pay to be a part of her fan club, but i hate how ayumi seems to be forced to walk on eggshells for fear of upsetting TA members. what does it hurt if she uploads photos on twitter of herself once in a while? its not like that diminished TA in any way. its not like she even uploaded that image with an english tweet, it was still in japanese. it seems to me like any fan that is dedicated enough to actually pay and join TA should also be dedicated enough to ayumi to support her and not to cause her stress by complaining about the things she does. i support ayumi no matter what. if she closed her twitter tomorrow, or if she opened TA to everyone, i support her and i think that any true fan should as well. they shouldn't be so ready to send her messages about how displeased they are. besides, for every few members of TA that are upset, how many don't care? why does she have to cater to the few?

sorry, this is totally a ramble. thanks a lot for sharing with us though misa-chan. i respect your decision completely. i don't think TA messages should be spread all around the internet. ayumi writes them for her fan club, and while i myself would be sad not to see translations of them, i would understand. on the other hand, like i was saying before, many of us can't read japanese, so even if we join TA we won't be able to read her messages, so i think its important that people do translations. its just a shame that they can't be locked down somehow. maybe it sounds ridiculous, but i wish there was some way that translations could only be accessed by members who have joined TA or maybe on some other criteria, but that translations wouldn't be just right here in everyone's faces for anyone on the internet to come along and repost. i imagine sometimes what ayumi would think if she came to AHS and not only saw her music up for download, but that she would see all of her private TA messages displayed for everyone here to read. i think she would be very upset with us, and i definitely wouldn't want that to happen.

but if i couldn't read any of her TA messages ever again, i would be very upset. so i'm not quite sure what to think. i guess in a perfect world the answer is join TA and learn japanese, but thats realllly freaking hard, lol.

ok, sorry for the ramble. :shrug

Thank you Misa-chan, and I totally understand and support your decision. I mean, of course it is nice for us who can't join TA to read her messages, and I have to say I would miss it if you stopped translating them now at all. But I could understand that as well.

Since TA is that special to her.. I love her for caring and thinking about us foreign fans and giving us twitter, but I can also understand her deep feelings for TA and that in consequence, they are more important.
I think she always tries to make all her fans happy and takes everything in concideration and for that fact alone I will always love and support her, even if she decided to quit twitter. (sure I would be sad, but in the end, I would accept it.) She will never forget us (foreign fans), never! I want to join TA someday, too, when I can. Probably next year after I went to Japan and saw her live.

Off course Twitter has the fake Ayu... or do u really think she really is all diplomatic, sweet and "oh guys! just discovered I'm so nice my poo is made of sugar!" like that?
Twitter is superficial... no news here...

uhh, ayu was still nice/sweet before twitter. it's not like she just started showing some fake sweet side for twitter, we just see more of her sweetness because she tweets a lot.

Thank you Misa-chan for all your hard work translating, of course I totally understand and support your decision.

what she means to say and Misa-chan / MissElin has explained perfectly is that in TA she can show us her feelings through the messages, she feels closest to the fans writing her diaries through TA than only a few words in twitter... she's not saying that feels closer to TeamAyu members than non-members, just the opposite, made it very clear saying she loves everyone equally, even mentioning us (foreign fans) that's so nice from her <3

I still think she should not apologize for doing what she wants to do, she's free to do anything she wants in TA, in twitter and always, same thing happened when began twitter (; ; ) she should not apologize for being herself, she didn't do anything wrong... if we can't remain ourselves then it's not worth keep going, right?

She loves all fans, TA, not-TA members and foreigners, this should make everyone happy, end of the war, all Ayu fans UNITED, peace! ;)

nops, we see more of her sweetness cuz she is diplomatic on twitter, as she usually is in general media...

i always wonder why people assume a celebrity just cant be a nice person. theyre always faking it.

even if u dont seriously think that. there are people who do. its so close-minded


----------------

i dislike all of the twitter drama. and things like this never have a direct solution. always a grey area. not everyone can be happy. same with this post not supposed to be being seen by fans like me who arent in TA. so i have no problem with Misa-chans decision. :yes

i just hope all this settles down and we can all look forward to the future

It's kind of sad to see those "fans" who are actually questioning if this is actually the way Ayu feels about her own fan club... =\

I support her with this decision, because, for reasons I have already wrote 1000x, if you really think about it, it's logical and expected. =\

If she didn't have TA take precedence over TWITTER, what really is the use of TA??

And p.s. ... She hasnt been just sweet and diplomatic on twitter. She has been defiant against those who criticise her, and she hasn't apologized like "oh I'm so sorry" for anything she's done. She's been real. =\

And when was she not like that on TA? Besides when it comes to her more personal TA posts. It's not like she has had a rant post about hating this or that as far as I recall.

She's really trying her best to solve this thing, or at least take a stand, it's really sad.

It's really nice to see her acknowledgement and appreciation for overseas fans though, even if it's through a mess like this.

Doesn't necessarily mean she's a total ***** behind close doors either. No idiot in their right mind is going to be mean to their fans so of course she's always going to be sweet and diplomatic in public, that's part of the Japanese pop culture. We may never really know Ayu's true genuine feelings are on the matter, but that doesn't mean she's being fake or lying. She's just playing peace-keeper. I have no doubt that at the very least, she loves us all and thinks all of this drama is stupid. :laugh

Plus, no one's really making her tweet as much nor post almost every day on TA. It's just hard not to hurt anyone's feelings and she is trying her best.

I don't remember saying she is evil, or bad, or mean or that she hate anyone or that she dislike any side of her fanbase o.O
I just said she is sweet and diplomatic on Twitter, and that she doesn't act totally as herself... She is an human being, and as one of this kind, she is not made of cotton candy and sugar 24hours a day... not even her lyrics are like that...

We can have better insights of her personality on TA posts, where she says more than "Thank you, I love you too" or stuff like that...

It's not like she is going to say "wth! stop annoying me! u don't efing own me! Damn!", even if she does feel like that about this whole stupid drama...

^I don't think she means it that way when she says she doesn't truly show herself on twitter, I think she means she cannot post long entries there like she can with the TA blog. So therefore, we at twitter do not get to see how she is truly feeling, what she is really thinking, etc.

u implied ayu was being fake on twitter. as if she could never be that nice.
i dont think anyone noted that u think shes a mean ***** or we'd probably have entirely different replies to your post, dont u think?
although its technically easy to assume that if shes nice on twitter and its fake. then she actually must be the opposite which would imply ayu being a bad person. but thats a totally different mind-set

thats all my response came from...

all i can say is that i hope someday she opens TA for everyone to be able to join. with out having to live in japan.

respect her wishes and don't complain
thank god I don't use twitter, waste of time

cute pics btw

^^ We can dream... I wonder how huge of a hassle it would be for avex to actually do that.

tnx for the translation and all.

i hate how she always has to have some weird problems because of some people. idiots.
hope it'll all turn out ok. and i love how Ayu understands that even though some of us aren't TA, we love and support her just as much!! :luv2

Thank you for all of your hard work and I totally support your decision. It's sad this drama is still going on or that it ever even existed. I'm so glad to see Ayu acknowledge us foreign fans who love and support her even though we can't be in TA. :heart

I have to say, kudos to her for facing these issues and dealing with them in a mature, appropriate manner all on her own. I admire that about her.

So sad that there has to be this sort of drama, but it happens all the time. She seems to be handling it well, and that's all that matters to me.

And personally I think when she says that she's her "true self" with TA only, she just means that's where she'll pour out her true feelings from her heart, like when she's upset or in need of support from others. Twitter seems to be just for the fun/random stuff. :P

And WOW. Those pictures are ... adorable. Nay, adorable is an understatement. I LOVE them. Her eyes are beautiful, and I just love her big, brown eyes. :)

Thanks for posting, Misa! I respect and even admire your new rules about TA messages. :)

Tbh it's quite hard express your own feelings on Twitter.
I mean, you cannot write a long post about a really bad day or what you think about something. That's why I can't keep a Twitter site lol. 140 words are not enough for me :laugh I rather a thumblr, wordpress, livejournal or blogspot's site instead.
So may be it's what she meant by 'true-Ayu'. She cannot be herself in a site where you can just type random things like 'I had a good meal today.' or 'Papiko ate my Iphone' lol.
I'm sick of all this drama though, poor Ayu :|.

Anyway thanks for your hard work Misa-chan and I respect your decision.

I know how she feels. My blog is also somewhere I can be true to myself and others..i believe those who maintain blogs will know how it is.

I respect her decision.

does that mean we wont be getting TA messages anymore??? :(

^We will still get them, they just won't be available on AHS 48 hours after they are posted. If you miss a translation or something, you will have to PM Misa-chan and ask for it. :)

I thought that was for this message only.
And future messages that were important?

Misa-chan, could you please clarify?

Now because of this, I'm going to focus more on Sayuri Sugawara. (Recently she has created her own Twitter account!) And what happens if I'm really away from my house? That's a concern here...

Yeah well that's true ^^

Thanks Misa! appreciate what you've done so far, i might be considering to join TA in this case... maybe it'll make me work harder to learn japanese!

I get kinda annoyed at TA members and all the drama related to them not wanting to "share" Ayu, but I also understand that they do pay money for the privilege, so I think its fair. I just hope Ayu doesn't feel bad about it, that would be the worst outcome here, if she feels torn in two because of TA and twitter. :(

Hmm, I guess I didn't explain it too well in my first post, but the 48-hour limit is only for TA messages like this, when ayu says something like "please keep this TA-only" in the message. All other messages will continue to remain up for viewing at all times.

That's the current status quo. But if the Twitter/TA war keeps getting worse then I may have to apply the limit to all TA messages. Let's hope it never comes to that? ;)

Actually, like some members have suggested, I was thinking about how we can limit TA messages so they're not up in a public forum like this for any random passerby to see (or god forbid for ayu herself to find!!). If the situation gets so bad that all TA messages need to be taken down, I was actually deciding if a locked blog will work. Password will be given to AHS-ers via PM request, so it'll only be AHS-only. Of course, the translations will appear on AHS first, but only for 48 hours, after which they will be transferred to the locked blog. Do you guys think this can work, cause it's quite some work to be done to get this up and running in the first place, and then to maintain it.

good idea.but i think its appropriate if all the translations are in JPEG format so that people couldn't share it on other places or maybe some other method like this.i've seen the translation you made on other ayu forum and facebook too.

That is the problem. I've never shared my translations anywhere but here, on AHS. I'm not going to talk about rights and stuff because I don't own these entries (ayu does), but those translations were taken and reposted without my permission, and often without credit as well (esp those on Facebook), and I haven't been able to find out who's been doing so. That's why I've been getting worried about this whole issue. Supposedly private TA messages are being spread around like nobody's business nowadays.

^Well, I would suggest maybe talking to the mods about it?

Maybe they would let you put them in the downloads section or something...where you'd have to be a member to access them~

Regular passer by people can't see those forums...although, when I'm not logged in, like, a lot of forums don't show up...so they may have made even more private....

but I would ask them about that ^^

That is a really good idea! i think it's possible. :)

And thanks so much for all your efforts and everything you do for us!

Well, I think we're all undertstand the situation. Just do whatever it needs to do.

Thank you so much for the translation as always.

it's nice that she think about us (overseas fans)...
i hope everything will be alright, i have high respect to ayu for this message...

and i respect your decision for just showing the message within 48 hours...thanks anyway for your hard work...

talking about the pics, it's crazy that she looks soooooo young, just like 17 years old girl...hahaha...her hair looks so damage by everything though...she really need to take care of her hair...

TA complainers should be happy she officially apologized.
anyway.

:heart

Thanks Misa for translation.I'm reli appreciate what u've been done all this while.

This message is reli special.And I think what she said is true.TA will remain TA like before.And I know, I'll join TA someday.Someday~

as i suggested,maybe you should make the translation as jpg (or swf? lol) and watermark it.hope it helps.

Sounds feasible, I'll give it a try. :)

A locked blog and/or jpeg entries would be a good idea, although it might be even more tedious. :) It would surely help contain the many uncredited translations.

I don't see how jpeg entries will work ... because anyone can type what they see, so a locked blog is the best solution =)

well,a locked blog doesn't help too since the invited ones can copy and paste the whole content to everywhere :irked

Thanks Misa-chan~

she looks so much like kana nishino in the first pic~ :D :D

thanks misa-chan!

and Twitter! thank god she finally used it to upload photo~

damn TA members, why are they so possessive??

TA is too possessive.... At the end of the day, does it matters who ayu is sharing the message with?? Those members, no offence, their world is so small.... look at the bigger picture, TA members... :):).. you pay becuz you support her out of willingness, need nt necessarily that you expect all the info to be given to you and restrict it to the rest. then wad's the point anymore??

Ayu would definitely connect with you, no matter, where, when ,what or who you are, As long as you love and respect her... (It's just that she doesn't have to ability to connect to every single fan) Just as ayu said. "everyone support her with the same heart"

i agree with waterballoon, but i also agree that Twitter doesn't feel as personal as TA does, and i'm sure that's what Ayu meant by saying that she only shows her real self to TA. i don't think she's being fake, but Ayu is an "emotional" person in the sense that she writes her feelings out in long messages and you can't really do that with Twitter.

it's sad that the drama has resulted to this, but what can we do, right? :/

Unnecessary drama... really :no
I would pay for TA, I wouldn't be upset some informations leak on Twitter before... It's seldom and she is human...

Thank you ayu, and above all, thank you Misa-chan. As a lot of people said before, you've done a lot of things for the international community. :innocent

I think I'm in love with her new hair color! It's rock 'n' roll!

Agreed. I will respect Ayu's wishes. Thanks for all your hard work, Misa-chan and Ayu-sama. I'm very sorry that she has to put up with little drama. I'm glad she can be herself at TA, though. Even though I can't join, I want Ayumi-sama to know that my heart is united with hers through her songs and wonderfully powerful messages.

So only certain TA messages are going to only have that grace period? And for others it can remain indefinitely?

And if such, will the messages that are subject to that grace period will be identified by that notice that "this post will only be available for 48 hours"?

Drama between TA and Twitter again....sheesh.:shakehead

She looks good in those pics.

Thank you so much Misa for the translation.

some japanese fans are really selfish (I don't talk about you Misa-chan, I respect your choice, so don't worry. I only talk about some of them)
I say that because no need to be jaleous:

1. They're Japanese
2. they know Ayu since her debut.
3. they could see her more often than us.

Moreover, it's not like as twitter people get the same advantage that TA. The only thing that is the same is the love of Ayu.

Thanks a lot Misa-chan.

^The fact is: they are paying to have information first and exclusive photos... and she is giving that for free, so, they are right on disliking it... It's not like she wasn't aware of it, considering it's HER official fanclub managed by HER staff...

If u guys think someone should pay her for no comercial reason just to show suport, start sending her your money...

thx ^^

i don't understand much what's going on...

but anyway she looks on the pics baby-like very cute^^

thanks for translating~