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『M 愛すべき人がいて』The story of encounter & separation hidden in the birth of a songstress
A Japanese friend pointed this out to me today. It looks like a book of sorts will be published by a popular non-fiction author centering around Ayu and Max Matsuura, and how their encounter ushered in the creation of Hamasaki Ayumi together, a creation that became too much for either of them to bear.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/43440349..._heVoDbFNW8XK6 それでもマサ、私は歌っているよ。 浜崎あゆみを生きているよ。 歌姫誕生に秘められた、出会いと別れの物語。 「二人で作り上げた“浜崎あゆみ"は、 マサにも、あゆにも、手に負えない モンスターになってしまったね」 博多から上京したありふれた少女・あゆを変えたのは、 あるプロデューサーとの出会いだった。 やがて愛し合う二人は、“浜崎あゆみ"を 瞬く間にスターダムに伸し上げる。 しかし、別れは思いのほか、早く訪れ……。 |
So he suddenly changes genres to fiction. It's interesting what's inside, though : >
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Sounds very interesting. I don't think anyone will translate the whole book though.:laugh
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Is this an official book from Avex?
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https://twitter.com/TA0413/status/11...541615616?s=19 video with today's news
They say that lyrix of M and Boys & Girls are about Ayu x Max love story |
This book sounds like a very interesting idea. Sucks that I don't understand Japanese at all tho so I can't read it. :/
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you can check more two-shot pics here https://curious-rabble.net/hamasaki-...ple_kiss_pics/
I wonder if this book really reveals anything new. |
At the NTV Special Interview from 2000 they say "she turned her gratitude to her producer into a song Trust"
line "Our lips start to get closer" is from that song |
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I’ll have to rewatch the 2000 doc |
I wouldn't get my hopes up that this book is of any relevance at all. I read a few articles written by scientists from the social sciences in Japanese already and they were like 120% garbage.
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Ayu over there on the TROUBLE cover like, "Grab my breasts, Max. I want them all to know..."
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Me: Cool. Music?
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There's a bit of push back from some fans, who brought up the fact she was dating Nagase Tomoya around that time too. Interesting to see the author (Komatsu Narumi) interviewed Suzuki Ichiro, and wrote about X JAPAN's Yoshiki and GReeeeeN...
Translation of the Japanese: Spoiler:
Some are saying they'd rather have read about Nagase/Ayu, and others are concerned that coupling is next on the "target list." The work is apparently "fiction based on fact" that Komatsu had gotten from Ayu herself. Some are saying they're not interested in something that happened 20 years ago, or are concerned that Ayu is that much on the verge of losing her A-list status (having resorted to selling her personal life stories in a tabloid-like fashion). |
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This article says it covers from prior to her Avex debut to her big break in 1999 (roughly 4 years), and "reveals a forbidden love between herself and Matsuura, which will shed some light on the hidden details surrounding her hit songs at the time." Spoiler:
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^ thank you for the translation!
God, this story is already on this morning’s news shows |
Nothing new since everyone already knew it...
I am curious and just wonder why they decided to release it now. I kind of hope that it's a PR marketing first step leading to some new music release.... lol EDIT: btw, the cover of the book is a photo that Max poster on his twitter some months ago. |
impaktada
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Well, the official story about how Ayu and Max started working together was always very strange, like...
"Oh, let me get this girl who never acomplished nothing, can't sing, can't dance, is skipping the singing classes we are paying to her and send her to another country for 6 months so she can pretend she finally learned how to sing so maybe she can become profitable in the near future! OMG, I'm a genius!" Putting that much effort into her career cuz they were lovers make a lot more of sense. :P |
Man, I don’t want to think of Max when I hear M
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wait whut? are all these for real?
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Damn, I didn't know about their relationship until now but I always knew there was something more behind the lyrics of some of her old songs but thought I was just reading too much into those lyrics lol.
And honestly, I like the Max/Ayu pairing. They don't look bad together in those pics that were posted on this thread. :D |
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I think it was pretty obvious they had a romantic relationship for some time. I'd love to see them married! :( I even think Max/ayu is much bigger than Nagase Tomoya/ayu.
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^Yeap. I don't think anyone ever believed on her potential at the same level he did..
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Ayu was always a very fashionable and social teenager though. Add that to her appearance, and it's no wonder someone like Max would go through the trouble of getting Ayu to a national audience.
Let's compare Suzuki Ami here. Her entire second album was autotuned to (poorly) mask how bad her singing was. It still sold like 1.7 million copies. She just had the image. I think Utada had also mentioned something similar to the start of her career, that it was far easier for her to break into music than it would have been for her to do what she wanted to do: be a teacher. She was the daughter of two known musicians. It was an easy cash grab to dress her up and have her bounce around for four minutes in front of a camera. One thing I'm not sure many of you may have noticed about Ayu's career: the vast majority of it has been centered around her image. Rewatch her PVs. Andrenekoi has made the point before that she's been more artistic in her later years, and I think there's some actual truth to that. A lot of her first 10-15 years as an artist was centered around her beauty, her fashion sense, etc. So, I genuinely don't think this was a romance thing. I think Ayu was pretty, friendly, fashionable. It was easy to get her popular. I mean, look at how Kuu's career took off after avex told her she was a bop and she completely changed her lifestyle and appearance to be more appealing to people. |
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^^And yeah, the relatable lyrics definitely didn’t hurt her cause, but when you think back to the early ‘00s you bought into each artist’s image. Granted the music market and landscape changed, but I think the lack of promotional airtime on terrestrial airwaves is what hurt the Japanese market the most. You could watch Ayu fool around without Downtown for a bit then watch her performance and think, “oh, she’s funny and her song is kinda good! Maybe I’ll go buy it,” even if you weren’t a big fan. There aren’t as many opportunities for musicians to do that, so they feel a bit more distant than they did before. You felt like you knew the artist, so you’d be more willing to support them. |
You once said, long ago,
While stroking my hair, "When you wake up, there'll be A nice present waiting for you By your pillow." ... When I woke up, I found by my pillow A large teddy bear... In place of Max Matsuura. Ayumi Hamasaki - Teddy Bear |
The funny/weird thing is i'm cool with her dating a fucking 19 year old but thinking of her in a close range age back in the day and Max, make me want to throw up lol But then again, some pics were fishy, so i don't think that is a surprise or a secret to anyone. Also NO they do not make a cute couple, he looks like a troll and she's a queen! NOOOOPE lol
So Ayu is alowing this BS to get released and GACKT is writing business advice books...gosh what are my fave artists doing? What is happening!? lol |
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Especially after combining it with Memorial address... I don’t want to believe that this track is for Max :o |
^Teddy Bear IS about her father.
But we can go a little freudian and point out Ayu's infatuation with a man that can be seen as a father figure anyway. :P |
Read the book! The content is interesting.
Getting positive reviews from Japanese fans from Negative |
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Edit: I read some reviews on Amazon Japan (thanks Google Translator). Seens like a lot of people bought the book out of curiosity about celebrity gossip and ended up finding Ayu to be a very relatable person and admired the story about a common girl becoming a superstar. I don't think there was any review, even the negative ones, calling it a desperate move or some ridiculous exposition, people who disliked it mostly found it boring :B Interesting... She may had just resignified the most iconic part of her career. And people seen to be reacting well to that. |
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I’m so curious who will play Ayu...
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Wow that’s cool :)
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Tie up with a best 3 and bam, you got yourself some promotion lol
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Damn, it's getting a TV adaptation? That's pretty awesome. I'm always interested in these types of stories. They're fascinating to me. :)
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Oh for fuck’s sake
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Wow, I honestly don't know how to feel about all of this (not her romance with Max but the book + tv adaptation thing) but i'm happy if she gets good publicity from this....
The picture from the article, where does it come from??? She looks stunning! Spoiler:
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Yeah, intersting. A story about a wealthy successfull man fucking a teen who is so desperate to make some money to contribute to her mum's income because her father left the family and is therefore in the idol industry selling bikini shots to men to masturbate to. Lovely story. Really, what could possibly be wrong here?
If Max really was involved with Ayu at the beginning of her career, that's sexual abuse. And you all know it. If this is just gossip, it's still disgusting that Ayu allowed this book/drama adaptation to happen. Not to mention that all that people will think after reading/seeing this will be that the girl with no talent happened to fuck her way to the top and doesn't deserve her spot among the most successfull female Japanese artists at all. |
Has she done some sort of a tv interview to be released for the book?
https://taishu.jp/mwimgs/e/7/-/img_e...7471111043.jpg |
I think this pic was shot at some of Kouhaku Utagassen's rehearsals a few years ago
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From what I've seen, reviews and opinions are very mixed about this.
Personally I don't really understand it - first I thought somebody is making a book out of those old rumours, so whatever. But then Ayu published her foreword she wrote for it where she basically confirms it's based on truth and there's the info out she gave the author interviews so she can write the novel. I mean, what? Does she have to sell parts of her private life now for avex in her current career path? Cause I don't think she needs it for herself, at least financially. Whatever she wants, but I'd like her to concentrate on other things. And well, yeah, Japan has sadly a history of romanticising relationships between older guys and younger girls (like teacher - pupil love stories in dramas). Btw. the info about the drama I haven't seen anywhere else so far, so Idk how true that is. |
comments at GirlsChannel are pretty harsh like 'she got to the lowest point', 'now she really sells her private life', 'the only way to get attention', 'nobody cares'
like I'm OK with the book but making a TV dorama? part of me is disappointed but another part wonders who's going to play ayu and Max :laugh |
Yeah, whatever they thought before making this - creating trouble to promote Trouble and the tour? - I don't think this is going to be good promotion.
Man, Ayu. |
I remember how genuine she was when she was younger about not wanting to be sold as Ayumi Hamasaki, a product.
This was a calculated move involving her. I miss the days when her private life was private. |
Anyone have a summary of her foreward for it?
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Guys... Her whole career was based on her exploiting her personal life to make money. The majority lf of her lyrics, and every single one from her peak, are about her personal life. WTH? O_o
And I dont get the pommy48 comment about her not wanting to be a product when she said several times at her peak that this was exactly what she was/is. A product. This is even more funny on a forum where most of the complains about her is that she is not being "product enough". |
I didn’t expect good comments from girlschannel LOL
People are quite hypocrite considering the book is Number 1 online it prove there are indeed curious... It’s juste like a biography nothing wrong with that all. |
Oh my.
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It happened 20 years ago, so its literally history from a couple decades ago. Plenty of fictional stories like this exist where people interview the figures of interest (or related figures) and then edit to make the story they want. Ayu's career is old as shit and she's not in her prime anymore, so it doesn't seem like a big deal to take an interview for this. At least in my perspective. And a lot of this info is stuff people knew or assumed (but even if it wasn't, what I said applies). She's also not writing this novel so the point on focusing on other things seems irrelevant, no? This doesnt stop her from doing anything else. On another note, people complain about ayu selling her private life...but this story is old, and we've always known things to some extent about her private life, whether about relationships or family history, etc, so I don't think it's a new phenomenon. In general, it's a book. People write books about many things, including celebrities. Nothing new. Somewhat unrelated to the above, I'd honestly be interested in hearing more about ayu's first decade of her career in general. It's far away, so it would be neat if she shared stories (unrelated to someone else's personal project like a novel they want to write). That's up to her though I guess and also whatever she's allowed to say without repercussions from avex. |
^ Also some AHS members have a need to seize every opportunity they have to portray ayu in the worst way possible, tbh the whole “selling of her private life” thing is beyond ridiculous. She is a public figure who has been in the medias for more than 20 years. Each of the songs she has been selling is a piece of her private life. It always has been.
Also that post by chibi-chan WTF??? Overreacting much? Quote:
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Honestly I’m pretty sure the Ayu we had at her peak was an absolute direct result of Max’s influence, control and input.
Once he disappeared from overseeing her, and she really became in charge, is the “real” Ayu, imo. |
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I'm actually excited what Ayu has up her sleeve because this is obviously a marketing plot to get her on the news.
I'm thinking something is being released soon (hopefully a new album) because this book is #1 on Amazon and is selling like hot cakes. It's definitely working and getting her a lot of attention. I'm shocked and surprised M is about Max. It's making me curious and want to revisit some of the songs that are about Max. |
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The funny thing in here is that people are always running their mouth to say how irrelevante she became and them there she is grabbing people's attention again. |
If there's ever a fan translation or it gets translated to english — I'd be interested to read it for sure.
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THIS :luv2 |
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Man it makes me question how long some of y'all been fans of her? Her private life was never kept private in the first place. Not even through gossips but through lyrics? And that Max and Ayu gossip? Like that gossip was going on since the late 90's and anyone who really knew Ayu from the beginning already knows what's up, we're just gonna get more details. I'm not surprised tho cause there was smth "romantic" going on between the two of them at least for a few years. Tho it never really got serious compared to TK and Tomomi, now that was a total train wreck.
Some of y'all are just so dramatic and act as if Ayu was an innocent girl when the fact is that she was never the typical japanese good girl from the start... Max discovered her at a club and she was a high school dropout for God's sakes lmao I don't know what is the big deal, knowing that a lot of these stuff has happened nearly 20 years ago, I don't think Ayu nor Max cares and thus a confirmation from Ayu herself. At least these rumors would be put to rest. |
It seems we’re forgetting something, this is a fictional book based on reality, which part it’s true and what part is not we’ll never know.
Anyway, hope for some music release this autumn. |
Kinda sad it had to come to this. Also, I am not sure if I really want to know about all this... in so many details I mean. Slightly sided with Chibi-Chan here.
Also M about Max??!! Maybe it is just me, but it seems reaaaaaaaally farfetched. Tho, if it is true about TV adaption, I kinda wish Mika Ninagawa would take the job and make Helter Skelter 2. |
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I have an issue with the whole manager/producer dating a young/upcoming singer dynamic as others have mentioned, but I also want to mention that I hope this doesn't change the perception of prime Ayumi Hamasaki as a self made, motivated woman...but I can't help but feel this will. I know Max was always highly involved with her career/always believed Ayu and him had a thing, but I've also staunchly believed that Ayu paved her own way and wasn't dependent professionally or creatively upon the power of a man high up at Avex. I really hope no specific songs are mentioned, because the appeal of Ayu to me was always the ambiguity of her lyrics and thus their applicability to people in my own life / theorizing about who she could be talking about (simply for fun!). Confirmation of certain songs being about specific people (aside from of course, those songs that are about family/friends who have passed and are meant to be a form of remembrance) would impact how I perceive certain tracks. But whatever I guess, we get tidbits about songs in interviews every now and then regardless. This really is no different to that, though I suppose it feels more like a mass transformation of those earlier eras for me.
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What you said is all true - she was an idol selling bikini shots for men to masturbate too. But why hide that? I honestly think it's kind of refreshing because she hid her pre-Avex career so much post-fame. It's what happened. Why not embrace it? And this should come as a shock to no one. It was always heavily rumored and there were pictures of them kissing for christsakes. I also don't see how this means she doesn't deserve her spot among the most successful female artists of all time. I mean, how she came to fame was always how she came to fame. So you're saying she deserved her spot so long as her past was never officially acknowledged, even though that is indeed what happened? That doesn't make sense. And just sayin' but MANY of the top female artists in Japan have something salacious to their stories. I mean, most of the top females (at least in Japan, not among foreign fans) are idols, and that entire industry is effed up to the max. |
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A COMPLETE back to top few weeks ago, a little before this book
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hahahahaahahaahaha But omg her and Max? THIS IS BRAND NEW INFORMATION |
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I think ayu went on living as the creation Hamasaki Ayumi under his guidance, and in later years when she started pitching the “real ayu,” thing, like doing open interviews, “nude” themes and trying to convey herself on more of an personal level, is when she tried to regain who she was/is outside of the persona that was created for her. |
I read through 4 pages and im still confused. LOL
1. Is this fiction or non-fiction ultimately? 2. M is about max? 3. Boys & Girls is about max too?!? |
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A BEST not gold yet? How can it be, it was on top at year chart
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In general digital album sales are pretty low in Japan.
But A Complete is going to reach 100k eventually. Afaik it's around 50k something on Oricon's chart in total. Edit: This is the chart from last week: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/u3jaN3.jpg Though you have to add what it sold before Oricon started its digital album chart about 2.5 years ago, so it must be a bit higher already. Not many albums have reached a digital certification yet at all. If you wanna check out, I regularly update the thread in the Asian Music section. |
I'm working at a summer school at my university right now and teaching German to Japanese students. Since it is always an easy topic to talk about in a language one just started learning, I talked to them about what kind of music/artists they like. In return they asked me whom I like. Also a Japanese friend came to visit me just today and stays at my place. Everyone seemed to have heared about this book and the first thing my friend asked me was like "is Ayu ok?". And she only was that nice in formulating the question that way because she knows how much I like Ayu. What she actually wanted to ask and did so later was more like "has Ayu gone totally nuts now?". The reaction from the students was kinda the same and it was obvious that they tried to be nice. What they said about her regarding the book in Japanese because they assumed I wouldn't understand was pretty clear.
My opinion on the whole "Max dating 17 year old Ayu" aside, selling her private gossip from 20 years ago was the worst idea she ever came up with. It's one thing if gossip like this is out there and something she can't control. But selling it on purpose? This really is a poor move only absolutely irrelevant people would normally do. If she wanted to prove the public right and to see her as irrelevant and as some has been and desperately attention seeking, she succeded. |
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It's just so weird to see someone like Ayu flub this image thing so hard. I mean, she's only human, but it's just awkward to live in a time where so many people think she's a scandal magnet. And it's been building for the better part of 10 years now. And she doesn't seem to give a damn about that shift in attitude toward her legacy. She still does things that, regardless of gender, many people find inappropriate or bad rep. I love Ayu for what she's given us, but I do wish her heart was still in this. All that talent has no message anymore. It's like she doesn't have anything to say or experiences to share with others. And what's worse is that now, more than at any time in her career, the whole world desperately needs messages of sadness, loneliness, isolation, and hope, inner strength, and integrity. But nope. Ayu is now banging her backup dancer two marriages later, extending a tour she launched off a mini-album, hasn't put out anything solid for music in over three years, has basically dropped out of performing at huge events for all of Japanese pop music, and spends more effort posting fashion pics on Instagram than on original tour concepts or even non-music activities like Utada did during her hiatus. Some days, I just wish climate change would hurry up. Edit: I just want to emphasize my disappointment by pointing out I recently watched Yumi Matsutoya's Uchuu Toshokan Tour and was so moved by the whole set and Yumi's energy on stage. And she's been in the industry since the 70s. Her heyday was the mid-to-late 80s. But I just love so so much that even if she takes a few years to release new music, she's 60+ years old and that music feels like it has a message. To be 38 albums into your career and still performing like she did on that tour... It's sad that Ayu's effort even half that timeline is so pitifully disregarding. And Ayu is a waaay better singer, writer, and performer than Yumi. |
^I find that comment to be really unfair to her...
In the past 10 years Ayu touched a lot more of urgent issues than her peers. She sang being a woman in Japan, shared the spotlight with LGBTQ people in a culture that pretend they doesn't exist outside of the romantic/sexual fantasies of straight people, sang about feeling alienated, about the risks of escapism through partying ans alcohol. She sang about her fears about her future, about her current health state, about the issues her see on human relationship on her culture. She gave the middle finger about the expectatations her culture have about her while also singing about how hard it is for her doing that. And she also performed about her personal struggles, the women condition, thr LGBTQ people issues, the feeling of isolation that exists so agressively on her country. People want Ayu to be bold, but not too bold. To take risks, but not too much risks, to be a non conformist, but only if she is ultimetely conforming. And them there are those rants about "Ayu, what people will think! D:" everytime she doesn't just pretend be edgy by simulating she is going against the norms, but actually does so. If there's something the world needs in face of rising extreme conservative thiking is someone of Ayu's scale being as unapolagetic, shamless and non-conformist as Ayu is. That being said, this whole book thing is a clearly publicity stunt, and it's so silly and make people unconfortable with so little that I can't help but live over this. Lol. |
Your most helpful Amazon reviews (as of 8/5/2019):
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She needs to remake/recycle Days ASAP to capitalize on this.
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M-2019 shameless gossip explotation mix- where she sings "Masa" instead of "Maria" |
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And yeah, I can totally see M being about her Max breakup. The lyrics to Boys and Girls don't really scream it to me, but sure. |
Ok I'm lost and really curious about how this works, does Ayu have anything to do with this book? I mean the idea/writting process/ publishing, etc. I really don't know about these topics so if someone could clear it out for me it'd be much appreciated! Because for what I get, this is "reality mixed with some fiction from the author and some interviews quotes" if so I wonder if Ayu had anything to say regarding it being published (or not), sounds pretty vague to me, if she didn't have anything to do with it I don't get how is she "seeking attention using her personal life", is she credited as a part of the book process or was just the inspiration? like those unofficial Britney biographies where they made her look really bad :rolleyes
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I'm interested in the TV adaptation... might be cringey but sounds interesting. I kind of assumed Max had a thing for Ayu when he discovered her and that they probably hooked up but didn't really think Ayu felt anything serious for him. Her life is pretty interesting, why not write a book about it. I just think she should write one herself, I think she'd be a great author.
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I think the two things that are really bothering me are: why now, and why this medium?
Maybe the first question is less important than the second one. The randomness of it really does make it seem like a cash grab or a ploy for publicity. She just had a milestone anniversary and I would have loved to see this story, since she clearly wants to tell it, in the light of a broader retrospective on her earlier career. At the end of the day, I just can’t wrap my head around why she chose to present it like this. I get that it’s her story to tell and she ultimately gets to decide how the public hears it but...you’re going to let a stranger write a dramatized version of the story of one of the most formative relationships of your life? I’m sure she was able to give the final OK before it went to print but this is just so fucking bizarre that I can’t help but sit here, shaking my head in complete bewilderment. |
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They are probably banking on the TV adaptation. |
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Tabloids earn a lot of cash writing shit about her all the time, why not monetize on your own story/misfortune while everyone else is making money out of it anyways. It’s business and you are taking it a bit too personally imo. Also being judged by the Japanese society means that to the rest of the world you are regular person with an actual life and not some make-believe shit fantasy of innocence and fake moral. If Utada Hikaru released a book about her relationship with a guy who directed her music videos, also considerably older than her, this would be the best selling book with no judgement attached. You guys have problems with ayu dating both older and younger people. It’s best for her to join a covent and spend her life not having sex with anyone. |
Unfortunately, people, Ayu is a Japanese artist, not an American or European artist. And I know this is a lot to swallow, because diversity is only skin deep in the West, but Japan has a culture, that culture has certain traditions, one of those traditions is to not be the reason others gossip. So, arguing that this is perfectly normal for you and thereby perfectly normal in the context of Ayu is honestly shameful and ignorant.
We can all agree that relative to our own cultures, a lot of norms in other cultures seem completely nonsensical. But cultural relativism is racism. We're talking about Japan and Japanese culture. We're not talking about how much Japanese culture should approach this situation the way our cultures would approach it. |
^Shameful and ignorant projecting your perception of a culture on her in order to belittle her, someone who is actually a part of that culture and way more aware of its complexities, so you can complain she doesn't fit an idealized version of how you believe she should be or how she should act as a japanese person.
She herself chose her lifestyle as a actual Japonese woman and how to approach her own issues with her own culture the way she does and most likely is well aware of its consequences. This also doesn't happen only in Japan as every culture has its own share of hypocrital expectations over and will suffer some level of moral judgement once they go against it. |
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