Ayu's blood
 

Although the thought never occured to me until reading a post in the Enquiries forum today. The discussion was on why Ayu's videos had such an American style, why she had so many American people in her videos, and why she so frequently goes to America.

A member mentioned how Ayu was born in Fukuoka, a town with a high American population due to US military bases and activity.

It was also restated that Ayu's father left she and her mother when she was very young. Nobody knows anything about him, really, just that Ayu (for quite some time as seen in her lyrics) was not very crazy about him for having left.

Another strange account is how Ayu's mother, she has said, always wanted Ayu to call her the American-English "Mommy", as opposed to a Japanese name for a mother.

Obviously Ayu does have some naturally Asian features, and her hair and eyes are naturally dark, despite all the color changes she likes to create. But it's funny: a lot of my friends have seen pictures of her lying around, and they have not known that she was asian. They thought she was just "exotically white".

Myself, now I quite think it is an entire possibility that Ayu could be half-Japanese, half-American.

I feel like it might also explain her hyper-affinity for all things American. Aditionally, if her father was American, it may also speak words about why, pre-RAINBOW-forgiving-my-angry-and-sad-past, Ayu prefered sticking to all-Japanese lyrics. But strangely, she had almost entirely English titles.

Of course, that would get entirely psychoanalytical, which nobody here can do without (a) having proper training and (b) personally having a revealing interview with Ayu. But I thought it would be fun and interesting to speculate.

Thoughts, conversation, speculation, suggestions...

wow o_o u have some good points there

wow u know her so much and i support your views.

I would have to disagree...

She is very white doesn't mean that she is half- american... We've seen asians very very white... For example, some Hong Kong actresses are very very unbelieveably white... Compare Ayu with them?

So what if some people calls their mom mommy? Why does Singaporean call their mom "mother"? Most chinese call their mom "ma ma" or something else... I am not singaporean btw...

Her eyes are completely black and that indicates that the chances of her being half american/japanese is very slim.. (not sure about this one)

Not all her PVs have Americans... Probably she wants to eliminate boredom in her PV by changing dancers/audience/whatever everytime...

May be she just wants to be unique by having English song titles... (I think all her song titles are in English) because we've seen other singers have English titles and some of them sound really cool.. May be she wants to be like them from the start...




Personally, I think that Ayu is a complete Japanese... These IS a slight possibility that she is half american/japanese too... This is because those things I just said may be wrong because some are just not proven...

EDIT : Sorry, completely forgotten some parts.. My first paragraph is wrong and have been deleted sorry... In fact, her father left her before she was even 2... So she couldn't have learn any English by then...

wow evolusean that's realli intersting! but i realli doubt it because she has said that she was Japanese, thus her profile, if she was half american she would have said in her profile, Ayu won't lie to us ;)

Interesting, never really thought of that. I agree some with Jer Sieu, her father left very early, but it just might have left tracks in her language. You've certainly learned the words "Mom" and "Dad" by the age of 2 :).

She mentioned in an interview, I think I read it at masa's site, that her natural hair color is dark brown, not the usual intense black that is the usual color for all Japanese.

I have a small suspicion that she might be of mixed blood, but I don't think it's American. Uhh, I just dont. I'm like leaning 70% to that she is completely Japanese and 30% to that she might be of mixed blood.

She does enjoy a lot of things related to America, but that is quite common in the overall Japanese community today. One difference is that she has got the possibility to live it out to the full, being able to go there etc. But you certainly are making good points :).

:yes, I thoroughly agree.


Very nicely written of you, good reading and it brings up a lot of thoughts.

I think that Ayu involving non-Japanese people in her PVs should be left out of this discussion, because I don't think she is in very much control over that aspect over her PVs... but ofcourse we cannot know.

Maybe Ayu wouldn't, but her contract with avex might say otherwise.

I certainly hope that no-one is against the idea of the possibility of her being of mixed blood, if that fact would change your view of Ayumi... I don't know what to say.

i think she might be half african-american actually. that explains why she suddenly got into gospel stuff with B&D and Pride. its obvious that she is coming to terms witht his side of herself. :yes

@immel : well, as I said there is a slight chance she is half american/japanese...

A star lying? Everybody knows if a star lies, there is a high chance that people won't listen to her music anymore... I'm sure Ayu doesn't want that...

And there is always not enough prove to prove that Ayu is pure japanese or half american/japanese.. However the chance that Ayu is speaking the truth is incredibily high... If she is half american/japanese and doesn't wants to reveal it, she may keep quiet to that question instead of lying...

@creative : You are as white as your canadian friends? are you proud of that? i envy you... some of my friends (girls of course) wants to be white but they cant... sad thing...

EDIT : Even if she is half american/japanese, I will still listen to her music...

Interesting analysis which could be possible

haha. i doubt her father is an american. her surname is hamasaki! and whats her previous name? i heard its kurumi _____? lol. but the points raised are rather logical. hmm.

for you guys info, singapore is a multi-racial society. we address our mother in a lot of ways. :P "mummy", "mother!", "ma"...

i myself, don't think ayu is a mix-blood too..
because looks at her old pics before she's even a famous artist..
her look was completely a down-to-earth young japanese girl..

if she's a mix blood, we might have known easily..

example: Beni Asahiro, whom is 100% a mix blood, at once we see her face at the first time, we will directly 100% sure she's a mix blood, that's so obvious...

about ayu having her blood is 70% japanese and another 30% is maybe mixed with another race..that has the possibility.....but just don't assume it to be the american blood... maybe a chinese? taiwanese? korean???? (haha LOL)..

but we'll never know the exact profile even though we have her profile in her official site or any other forums or fansites...

i only think that her look when she has her blonde hair (especially nowadays), she sometimes looks like an american girl.. strengthen with her big dark brown eyes, her quite sharp/pointed nose...and maybe her skin?
well..that's all the things called MAKE-UP technology!

^ Yup... I agree on the young photos part... Another nice point... Good one..

@alternarist : i've seen singaporean dramas are mostly they call their mom "mother"... hehe... :D

check wikipedia... it IS kurumi hamasaki... then to ayumi hamasaki... so IF her dad is american, it wouldn't be hamasaki... So the only possible way she is half american/japanese is her mom is american or it wasn't hamasaki...

Nice one, alternarist... completely forgotten about that point...

Wow, you gave nice reasons... I must admit.
Probably we'll never know the truth. I know Ayumi looks (especially her eyes) as a white woman, but check her pics from Ayumi's childhood. She looks 100% Japanese. I'm pretty sure she is.

*edited*
Sorry for repeating thoughts of AyUmIXx - posting took me a while and I didn't see the latest posts.

I came to think about that, too. It's very possible they try to make her look American for many of the photoshoots, hence the common reaction among people who see her for the first time not thinking she is Japanese.

Don't ever trust wikipedia by the word. Even I have been there editing some obviously wrong facts, anyone can.

Trust masa's page :).

Usual colour for ALL Japanese? That doesn't even make sense. My hair colour is dark brown, not black, and it goes for half of my family of which both my mum and dad have jet black hair.

There are people in Japan who are naturally born with light brown/brunette hair. MANY asians actually have dark brown hair, but it is often generalized as black instead as it looks quite similar from distance.

Mika got into gospel music and she's not American. Why can't Ayu?

All of YUI's song titles are written in English, yet she has no english blood. Why must Ayu? The fact that using english for song titles was/is very "fashionable" does not nessicarily mean that the artist has any knowledge of that language. Ayu said herself that she uses a translator (as she does when she has english lines in her music), and that sometimes the translations are not completely correct (e.g. evolution should have been era, which makes more sense with the lyrics).

It's more liable that it was harder to describe her feelings into a language she didn't even know let alone put them into words. After all, her whole first album was about herself.
This is a very common case through Asian/non-english speaking families. My friends for example. However, the fact her mum wanted to is a good point.

She doen't look mix (mix usually has this brownish smooth coloured skin), but I've seen mixed who look completely Asian except for their caucasion features so theres a counter example I can't use :P

In short: I highly doubt it but I think you're awesome to point all these things out :P Never occured to me.

Hamasaki Kurumi was her stage name for when she acted in Dramas. Her given name was always Ayumi (as seen through interviews regarding her past) however was originally written in Kanji. It even says on her "acting card" where she is named Hamasaki Kurumi that her real name as Ayumi. Sorry, but I can't find the image right now, but many people have seen it.

not necessarily...

maybe it just fit with the theme of the song and she wanted to use some powerful voices to get the message across or something like that

but what ever floats yer boat go with it :)

I'm sorry, it was stupid of me to say like that. I had read somewhere that more or less all Japanese are born with intensly black hair, yet again, I'm sorry.

Umm...Namie Amuro is a quarter Italian (her mother was half italian) and she was afraid to admit it because people would view her differently since she wasn't of pure blood and Japanese people tend to look down upon mixed bloods. Maybe that's what happened to Ayu. There is a posibility that Ayu's father was an American stationed in Japan. I've heard stories about stationed men having affairs with Japanese women and then leaving them with their children while they move on. Maybe that's what happened. Which could explain why her father left so suddently?

It's my speculation that Ayu did find some info about father in late 2003. She probably found out that he had passed away which could be why she wrote Memorial Address.

The SWEET interview explains that while she was in NY, she overheard a church choir so she went in to listen. Because she liked what she heard, she wanted to make something funky that included a choir and hence, Bold & Delicious was born!

Actually, stars lie a lot on profiles. Most profiles are even created by their companies to uphold an image. At the end of the day, as a record company's product, it is all about upholding an image as designed by the company. I know from first-hand experience that Japanese companies, in particular, are strict with this.

No, actually in Japan, women traditionally don't take their husband's name. It has become a very modern, but still rare trend, to legally change your name to reflect your husband's, but it is still not widely practiced (at least as far as a 2004 television documentary I saw, and the input of a recently-married Japanese friend).

Besides, Ayu's mother and father don't necessarily have had to have been married.

As far as physical evidence, I don't think it's particularly strong. You really can't tell, as much as you'd like to, what a person's lineage is, by the naked eye.

but about the subject i personally dont think she is mixed with anything i think she is all japanese though you've brought up good points and i'm sorry dont have any information that might say she is all japanese but my thoughts

Judging by Mika Todd and Olivia Lufkin, I doubt she's half American.

Ayu's voice too, is very..... Japanese. I don't know how else to say it. AI is half-Italian and her deep/raspy voice really shows it.

I think some interesting points were brought up though. I think it'd be pretty cool if she had some other blood in her.

It's all about the enviorment the person grew up in. Ayu grew up with two Japanese women, hence why she speaks like a Japanese. When you're young, you mimic the tone of voices that you hear and your vocal chords adjust to it.

highly unlikely

already at 2nd page??? wow...

@immel : Don't trust wikipedia? But It is still true that it is hamasaki... I guess

@evolusean : Name me some? I'm not sure about that cuz I haven't seen any artists lie.. YET!

Sorry people, my post now is short cuz i am quite busy

^you dont have to apologize for that :)

The "Don't trust" part was more aimed at kurumi, which was discussed recently in some other thread.

Also, don't apologize, please don't take my "the value of your posts" too seriously ;). It was more like something refering to the statement "what matters is what's on the inside".

omg. you guys really don't get sarcasm. :rolleyes

didnt sound sarcastic...

Heh, I thought your post was funny, but the replies you got was even funnier :D

@dreamland & immel : Hehe... Alright... Thanks... I apologize because I have more to explain yet I don't have the time just now... Bzzz

@immel : erm, may i know where is the thread please? I wanna know more about ayu!! thanks...

@creative : Wait... Did you just said everyone??? I never realise it till now... Wow... Thanks for the info creative..

EDIT : And yes, I don't find it sarcastic...

I knew your post was sarcastic lol Which is why I explained it so people not fluent in english wouldn't get confused. :P

It's in a recent one, I don't remember which one. It was I who mentioned something about "kurumi" being the name she was given by her father, but I was corrected and told that this was only the name she briefly used when she was a model.

^ I'll check it out... Thanks for the info... I think we are kinda going off topic... :thud hahaha

Umm...I say she's fully asian...not american...a mixed blood asian is possible...but she should know, hello, she has a mother..the public wouldn't need too much on her

haha.. as you said. its in dramas. not in real life.

there are many examples of halfies in the industry, i'd say if she had mixed blood, then her characteristics are alot like kaela kimura, who is half english and half japanese. at first when i saw kaela kimura i never thought she is mixed until i heard her english lyrics, even though they aren't that great because she is not fluent at english herself and ofcourse then reading about her being half english. other halfies are like anna tsuchiya, olivia, ai, beni arashiro, that singer dude from hoobastank, devon aoki, and a few more i can't remember, there are those with only fourth different blood then japanese like sowelu and namie amuro as well. who knows what ayumi's daddy is. i don't. but there are endless possibilities.

kaela kimura
http://www.nj.com.br/jpop/f_kaela_kimura/kaela01.jpg
anna tsuchiya
http://www.tokyotimes.org/archives/anna_tsuchiya.jpg
olivia
http://olivia.lufkin.nihon-zone.com/images/2.JPG
AI
http://www.gdpmusic.com/Images/photo...%20Carsten.jpg
beni arashiro
http://nippop.com/images/artists/161-1.jpg
singer from hoobastank doug robb
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../doug_robb.jpg
devon aoki
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...99467851949587

sowelu
http://www.tokairadio.co.jp/program/bj/image/sowel.jpg
namie amuro
http://uk.geocities.com/ajaxgo/amuro.jpg

Echoing some other posts, it's so unlikely that she is of mixed blood. Keep in mind that she uses a lot of make-up to make her look the way she does.

Having big eyes isn't something that is limited to being half Japanese/half something else as it's not like all Asian people have small eyes. Also, Hirai Ken has much stronger features that make him look like he's of mixed descent but he's also 100% Japanese. Not everyone fits the mold of that of some who "looks Japanese"

I think that many of the artists around has something special to their appearances, if not they woulden't have been noticed. Ayu's features makes look sort of exotic no matter what, but she's mostly made her appearance look more western so most of us are used to seeing her being "western-looking." She's definetly not a classical japanese beauty (like shimatani hitomi f.ex). And the shape of her eyes are very special.

But if you compare her to 100% japanese people that actually look western like Ken Hirai, she definetly looks japanese.

And to those who wrote that black eyes and hair colour is a sign of that she's japanese, that's right, but the black colours are on dominant genes, so if her mother is 100% japanese and her father was caucsian, there's hardly a chance for her getting the lighter tones.

Here is my original post that evolusean is refering too: "My parents always speculate about that. (both are in the military and have been stationed in Japan at various points in their life) Being from Fukuoka, there would have been more foreigners around there durring that time than other parts of Japan - it would also explain why her father just suddenly left. Many of her features don't look typically Japanese, but really, who knows. I wouldn't completely rule her out as having mixed blood though."

So, of course I don't KNOW anything, but I do see it as a possibility which would explain a few things. If it is true, then it is possible that Ayu herself doesn't even know since she claims to not remember him and that her and her mother don't talk about him. It's also possible that her Mother is half caucasion and Ayu ended up being a genetic throwback. (Namie is 1/4 Italian that way and you can definitely see the caucasion in her.)

No one is talking about her paleness - they are referring to her features.
In Japan, it IS very odd for someones Mother to specifically want to be called "Mommy." (especially considering that this was 25+ years ago)
How? That's like saying a child who has blue eyes couldn't possibly belong to someone who has brown eyes.

@alternarist : hymph... Well case solved hahaha... Why not let's make a poll about this...

Ditto.

Just wanna add that having "big" eyes is not a Caucasian/European trait. There are lots of white people with little eyes.

It's not just her eyes though.

Actually, it would be something to be covered up. Although Japan has made great strides to be less ethnocentric, there still are prejudices against people who aren't full blooded Japanese. (I don't think this way of thinking really exists with the young generation in Japan anymore) But yes, 20-25 years ago it would have been something to hide.

Kurumi is her old STAGE name. Her only real last name has ever been Hamasaki and that is because her mother was never married. Her last name gives no indication of who her father was.

There are many names being tossed around in this thread who are half but no on is really mentioning the full Japanese blooded stars who have exceptionally strong features without the help of western genes.

Also, I think it's easy to talk yourself into something when all the facts are unknown about Ayumi's background (Partially because Ayumi doesn't talk about her past much). It reminds me of how my Filipino friend Lea's mother mentioned that she might have Chinese mix blood in her somewhere because of some feature. There's no proof whatsoever but she convinced herself of it because of certain traits.

There's always a small possibility of this mixed blood thing being true but the fact is, someone will see this thread and start spreading everything said here as "the truth". I'll bet we'll see this on wiki one day. XD

Forgot to mention, if it's all about her features, wouldn't the plastic surgery argument also be a possibility here? We're talking about her looks now, which resemble her looks as a child. That being said, she arguably looks more "western" today than back then. We're going to talk ourselves in circles because there are so many things that could account for, well, everything.

She does use many American styles, but somehow I don't think that she's half American.

You did make some excellent points there, evolusean!

Huh? I thought what evolusean said during the first post :

refers to her skin...

In fact, it IS odd but that still doesn't proves that Ayu is half american/japanese... May be the mom just like it that way?

I didn't say it is impossible... I said it is less likely...

And about the name, I'm sorry!!! I keep forgeting that Kurumi isn't ayu's real name..... :( :( :(

@devilayu : Seeing that makes me to not trust wikipedia anymore @@

Um.. since when does having blood of a certain race automatically make you interested in the country its from?? o_O.. I know lots of people who were born in Canada who have blood from India, Germany, etcetc and they dont give a crap about those places.. I don't see how even if Ayu was part caucasian she would be automatically interested in the USA just because of it..

That's what I was getting at in my original post. Even to this day, lots and lots of military guys stationed over there have Japanese girlfriends for 2-3 years and when they move to their next base, that's it. And durring that time period(70s), it was the area between Okinawa and Hiroshima that had the highest concentration of soldiers.

Ah, sorry, I was referring to MY original post, where I was mostly talking about her features, although her skin color plays a part as well. :)
Yeah, of course non of this proves anything. But it is interesting to speculate about.

He could've ment white as in "caucasian".. That's what I thought of at least, especially after reading the rest of the posts. I thought most japanese had white/pale skin..

True... I have to agree..

@SunShineSlayer : Yup, it IS interesting... And nah no need to be sorry for that... I'm the one that should be sorry... ><

@*petit* : well I guess we have to ask evolusean to be clear... ;)

You'd think if her father was a Japanese native, he would've come out of the woodwork to earn some money off of her! Maybe that's just an American thing, though...

He could be a foreigner who doesn't know Japanese popculture at all, so he doesn't know his daughter is famous! Or, like someone said before, he could have passed away. This is all really interesting! She looks 100% Japanese to me, though.

But there is no proof that she is full blooded Japanese either, since no one knows who her father is, or what her mothers lineage is and Ayumi has not said so herself. So I don't see why the possibility of her being mixed should be ruled out. :shrug:

OMG.
This must be true!! My grandfather was in the army and he was in that area at that time!! I BET AYUMI IS MY AUNT!! :O

NOW ITS TIME TO GO SHOW EVERYONE MY NEW AUNT

I think this is wayyyyy far fetched. It even sounds kinda typical for fans... You like her so much you just like to think she could be half-American or half-whatever-your-nationality-is...

Her father left her at the age of 2 -- why would that mean he was US Army guy in Fukuoka?... He could be anyone... And the "mum" thing? Oh well, US is not the only place where ppl speak English...
Her bright skin -- guess that was explained already.
Her features -- come on, Asian ppl don't look all the same. Have we seen all of them to say who fits and who doesn't?...
Her hair color -- the same, not every Japanese has to have black hair...
Liking American things -- that's another thing that surely isn't rare among young Japanese...

I know that was all just a theory, but I don't think I could agree.

let's ask ayu..
what blood she has on her! hehe :D

all i can say that..
MAKE UP technology makes all the possibilities we've been typing down here..

she looks like to an american woman because of her blonde hair and her big round eyes and the sharped/pointed nose.... (i'm kinda repeating myself here..haha :D)

well..here's another thought..
maybe ayu's grandmas and grandpas have the american or any other bloods...
because somebody said up there.. that fukuoka is the place where lots of american people staying there during the war zone..and one of ayu's grandmas and grandpas hooked up with some American guys/girls and then they got married..

because.. Japanese people are now mostly looked mix blood to me..
you know..the original japanese people do not have big round eyes or sharped nose...like most japanese people nowadays...
example: Kyoko Fukada, Kumi Koda, and others....
i saw lots of japanese artists..they have the round eyes and sharped noses..
(this is what my father told me..)

*they called the original japanese people, AINU*

^^ wtf.. this is what ainu are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people ... where ARE you getting your information from?

Quite simply, no that is not it. And while it's not a GREAT possibility, it isn't that far fetched either because it DOES happen more often than you would think.
Of course it doesn't automatically mean that. All anyone said is that it is a possibility. You are over simplifying it in that statement.
But generally Japan is not one of those places, lol.
Of course not everyone looks exactly the same - I've lived there, so I know. BUT her features are far from being common there. (even her features as a child, not just her made up features now)
Yeah, that is definitely true. And I don't consider her using English song titles and casting caucasions in her videos as being an indication of her nationality.

Ayu has huge ears, dude. o_O

lol

I was thinking the same thing when I watched her Beautiful Fighters video. She hardly looked Japanese at all in that video. Who knows what race her father was. He could have been British for all we know. People swear Ken Hirai isn't full Japanese but he is.

Ayu could be of mixed blood. She hasn't said she isn't so she could be.

By the way, her father my have been half Japanese half American so she would be a quater American. She would still have mixed blood. Her mother might have mixed blood and so ayu would be part whatever.

And as far as I know Kurumi Hamazaki was a name ayu used during her b-movie days. She made it up, it's a phsyondium or something like that. It's what people like actors, singers and writers give when they don't want to submit their real names. Most of the cast of Metal Gear Solid one used them

The point of this thread is that no-one is looking for agreement, it's just about discussing the possibility.

I wouldn't bet against you :).

Uhh, this thread has started to become a bit too repetitive, a lot of people is bringing up the same things. I like how it started out, though.

I would be pretty shocked though if Ken didn't have some caucasion though somewhere in his background. Like even his great grandparents or something - otherwise, he is a pretty big genetic stand out. :yes

evolution7931: my friend who lived in Japan for the study exchange told me about AINU...and seems that it was right..
AINU people is just like the origin people of Japan before Japanese people took place of their islands..
like Aborigines are the original people of Australia and Indians are the original people of America..

and Japanese people are actually parted of Chinese people.
they were somehow splitted long long ago...and had their own countries with different languages and different cultures..

the Ainu people might have mixed with Japanese people and had their descendants...then because ainu people were just a few...and japanese people who mixed with Ainu people grew more and more..
finally, there were european or american came to Japanese in order to do some businesses or for war or something..
japanese people might have mixed with the American or European people..

that was what i heard from my friend...

and read here:

*haha we're like talking about the old japanese people..*

credit to: wikipedia

those are good points...i think there is a slim chance that she might be part American. and, i dont think her natural hair color is brown, cuz i have a pic of her in her pre-avex era, and her hair is really dark. its kinda hard to tell though cuz her hair blends with the background...i'll try and upload the picture in a sec

EDIT:http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/4700/ayumi1181zj.jpg

Can i just ask one thing... why half american? could be half british or any other caucasian nationality o.O

^That has been quite thoroughly discussed throughout the thread, there is a certain reason to why many here belive that it might be American blood flowing in her veins, if she would be of mixed blood.

Interesting points.

My mind must be going off on it's own... i've read through the thread but i've been spacing out all day lol. sorry ^^;;

Someone do a PI investigation on Ayu. xD

~_~

^lol thats probably the only way we'll be able to find out unless someone asks her personally or or she tells us

PI?

Private Investigator.. aka 'Private Eye'~

Sometimes people hire these people to find out background information about people among other things~ :x

Oh, okay, I'll put up a page with a Donate button to collect money for one of them :D.

Actually, when I first saw the PV for RAINBOW; my mother and sister walked in and immediately said that they believed her father must have been of black or hispanic descent. They said her nose reminded them of it. And it kind of does to me too. Umm, I do know one thing though; she just may be part American because if her father just "left" and never came back; he MAY have been an American service man on duty or something. Perhaps he met her mother, swooned her and then left her with poor baby-Ayu. I have heard that that's happened alot. Perhaps that's the answer????

I will say this though...If I were the man who got Ayu's mother pregnant I'd have been fessed up now. I mean come on, look at her success and her sadness as well...If he knows that he is the father he should be a real man and tell her who she is...That way she can vent out all her frustrations and be truly happy. Or at least that's what I think...

either that, or she didn't know that her dad was american? i mean, c'mon. her mom prolly didn't get along with him, or maybe she did but was heartbroken when he left. one way or another, she wouldn't have talked to ayu about him. just my suggestion, but yea...

This is so interesting! And what I find even more interesting is how people are getting so worked up and actually defending their belief that Ayu is 100% japanese when really, they don't even have valid proof. I imagine though, it is a little more believable to accept that Ayu is 100% japanese but I think its a little biased and ignorant to not even consider the possibility that Ayu could be of mixed blood.

Though I have to agree with whoever said it; it doesn't make much sense for Ayu to like the US simply because she's 1/2 american; If she were around it a lot as a kid, that could play a part in why, but other than that... I mean, a good majority of this forum isn't of asian blood, but we still like Japan.

As for the eyes being totally dark being a "japanese trend"... i don't believe that for a second. My sister is 50% german and 50% american, like me, and she has (no lie) black eyes. While im stuck with blue x_o

I think its just as possible for ayu to be mixed as it is for her to be 100% japanese. And if you really think about it, there's just as little proof of her being japanese as there is of her being mixed.

As the originator of this thread, I just want to take this quick-coming 8-page point to clear up what I originally said, for those who don't properly read each and every post.

(1) I was not "accusing" Ayu of being anything, nor was I attempting to "inform" anybody of any secrets of Ayu's life, or to start a rumor. I know just as much as everybody else does about her. But the question of her race was just such a neat, novel idea to me, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the possibility. The truth is, nobody here knows, nor will they probably ever know.

(2) When I initially said "exotically white", I meant "caucasian, with exotic features, uncharacteristic to a caucasian person". I never mentioned anything about flesh tone. But as I also stated, physical features really mean nothing in this discussion. A lot of people are half-A, half-B, and yet they look ENTIRELY B. There is really no way of knowing by eye.

(3a) I brought up Ayu's affinity for American things, and also her regard (first, somewhat stand-offish, and recently quite accepting) to the English language. I then said that these things are entirely psychoanalytical, and could be DEEP-ROOTED subconcious reactions to things that have happened to Ayu in her childhood; thus, these are things nobody here is qualified to answer. I never said "being white makes you like white people" or "being half-A makes you love country-A". That would be plainly ignorant. What I was suggesting is something along the concept of a child who was once kicked by a horse before their own span of memory, who then develops a fear of riding horses later in life. If that's possible, then it would be entirely possible for someone to be hurt/loved by an American long ago, and one day find an unexplicable dislike/like for something you personally associate with America.

(3b) Because of the psychoanalitical nature of the topic, you cannot simply hold one person (Ayu) to another person's standard (Namie, Beni, a friend of yours, etc...). One person's reaction to something is in no way related to another person's reaction. The mind is a complicated, messy, messy place, especially in the case of Ayu, who I think we can all generally agree, has an extremely complex personality.

(4) I used "American" as an example because of the issue that was originally discussed in the other thread. Ayu comes from a town with a US military presence, and it's very common for US military personnel to start families with locals, in whatever country they may be. Plus, Ayu's career reflects the most influence of American themes and cultures than any non-Japanese culture. I also only used "half-American" kind of generically. She could be 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 something, absolutely. Although the 1/2 bloodline (i.e. parental) would make more sense than smaller fractions like 1/4 (grand-parental), simply because of the timeline (Ayu was born in the late 1970s, a time more likely to find an American-Japanese couple, rather than the 1940-1950s for her grandparents to be American-Japanese).

And sidenote... It's a little gross to see some people so adamantly against the idea. It's not an argument, one side against the other, even. There is no anti-Japanese, anti-American, or even pro-Japanese, pro-American content to this discussion. At least not to anything I have said (or will say). It's 100%, pure speculation and hypothetical discussion. To say "Ew, n0 \/\/4y, U ar du/\/\!" both misses the point and... is du/\/\.

I'm officially in love with evoluseans posts.

Heh, sorry, but I'm too tired to praise your post in a longer reply, I'm about to go to bed :D.

I find that Japanese people have a great range of features. Some of them look like the archetypal Korean, whereas others that are fully Japanese and yet have interestingly more Caucasoid features like the double eyelid, a higher nose bridge, and broader chins. My mother, although her family's been Japanese for as far back as she knows, is often asked if she is of more exotic European ancestry. Even Japanese people ask her if she has a Russian grandparent.

I think Ayu looks very purely Asian. There is a possibility that she is of mixed ancestry, but if anything, I'm putting my bets on Korean.

I think that the highest possibility of Ayu being anything other than Japanese, is that her father could have been half-American and not said anything.

All of my friends think she looks Asian. I think that it's possibly only to us her fans who see her everywhere that she looks anything but. She doesn't really look like anything to me...she looks like Ayu.

just a heads up on this update:

first off, being asian, i can truly say that asian women DO love to be very pale-skinned (they think the paler the skin, the more pwetty they are), so i agree w/ jer sieu. also, she could be wearing TONS of makeup. (i know that this issue has been cleared up, but i just wanna clarify this w/ everyone)

BUT, i disagree w/ the mother issue. the chinese character for mom is pronounced 'ma', so us chinese usually put in 'ma ma'.

I'm fluent but also very thick XD *embaressed*

I believe she is purely Japanese.

I don't think she has any western genes in her, but her saying stuff like, "my hair is naturally brown", leads me to think that she, like many asians, want to be white or something. I'm not accusing her of anything, but I know that a lot of my asian friends, and even me at one point, said that my hair was "naturally dark dark brown", just because we were/are in denial of being fully Asian.

Even if she is a fraction blood, she probably doesn't know. Although I don't know, it's possible that the only person who knows is her mother, since she was the one getting impregnated (unless they did it in complete darkness and she never saw his face). THough this is assuming that they had a one-night stand. Maybe she doesn't want to tell her daughter, afraid that it might be a shock or something. Who knows.

However, the easiest way to find any hints of genetics is through Ayumi's profile view. While it's still possible, I think she's 100% Asian. The shape of her head/nose and the inset eyes are almost dead giveaways. Unless the father was Indian? Oh well, what do I know.

Isn't that what Jer sieu said? I'm Chinese and I don't call my mom "ma ma" though. It sounds weird for me to be saying it. Instead I call my mom some slurred version of "okaasan". Dunno why.

KEN IS FULLY JAPANESE!? Wow, when I saw him on Music Station during the talk of ayumi's blue bird, I thought he was just born in Japan and rose up there. And knows japanese...wow...what a shocker...

Ayumi though, hmm...that picture of her with her natural black hair (or pitch brown, as most asian hair in the light...or shade of blue in a certain light)

well actually, someone mentioned that asian is dominant in hair color and eyes, so I don't think the recessive is showing much if she IS of mixed

Yeah. I read in an interview that people used to pick on her as a child because she looked different. She said it was because of her huge eyes that made her stand out with the children, so you see, even little kids knew she looked different than them.

I heard she was an uber-rebel too. xD She dyed her hair, ditched school~:p

I don't think the British have bases in Japan? Aren't they mostly American? That's why the speculation states so? <---that was choppy sorry :x

I like how people are like, pooping brick logs while reading this thread.

but in chinese, the way to say mom is ma ma...like...ma Ma...you know?? ask your mama XD

but what jer sieu is saying is totally different. she is saying that the chinese people are calling their moms 'ma ma' as in the english way of saying mama, not the chinese way, which is 'ma ma'. she disputes the fact that ayu calling her mom mommy is NOT proof that she is part-american by saying us chinese people call OUR moms 'ma ma', but the chinese way of saying mom IS 'ma ma'....gosh, i think i'm confuuzing you...i'm confusing myself! XP

yes, i know how you feel. i immediately knew him as ken hirai (although i didn't really know him that well) and i was like OMG O.O (XD)

Wait... Are you refering to Ayu or someone else?

Ayu. :p

It's so weird that you say that. Perhaps Fukuoka is different from Kobe, but where my mom grew up, all the little girls wanted large open eyes. When one little girl HAD to get the eye opening/double eyelid surgery because her eyelashes were irritating her eyes she returned to school and many other girls were jealous and my mom made a comment that she was so much prettier. In America, Asian beauty and mystique is almost defined by the slitty cat eyes, but in Japan, she tells me that large eyes are actually ideal. Why Ayu would be made fun of for that just boggles me. Maybe the other kids were just envious?

By the way, it's a little unrelated, but do we actually know if Mr. Hamasaki actually physically died. I know about the 06/30 date in Memorial Address, but I was under the impression that he merely left his family when Ayu was very young. Or did 'left' mean you know...'passed away'? Or did he just leave initially and he died later when they found him?

　(S) How were you in the kindergarten or the nursery school?
　　(A) In the nursery school, I think I was a calm child, though I was conspicuous in appearances. I was quite fair-skinned somehow and my hair was not pure black. And my mother was such a woman that she applied a sauvage to my hair. Very conspicuous, brownish hair with a sauvage and fair skin. I was so conspicuous in appearances that I didn't want to attract people's attentions any more. You see? If I had cried, "Wow !" in such appearances, I would have attracted so much attentions. It was annoying for me to be watched as that, and I kept myself calm. I wasn't bullied by other children.

From Rockin' on Japan interview~ :p

the origins for this thread is the previous thread asking WHY IS THERE SO MANY AMERICANS IN AYU'S PV?! O.o;; and yea. so this is one of our beloved member's theory. this has nothing to really do with ams and brits having bases. after all this half-american thing, people added all this other crap in ^.^

Do we actually know that they are all Americans? Being caucasian does not always mean American.

that's exactly what the repliers in the other thread said. i personally am not stating the fact that all her pvs have american ^.^;;

there is a possibility~ it's true that she's never realli said she's not mixed because no one ever asked her...

guys, isnt it strange how Ayu's been in the music industry for 8 years and we've always thought that Ayu is full Japanese and suddenly we have a speculation that she could be half or a quarter white...Ayu keeps her past so private~

if it's true then, speculations about Ayu having plastic surgery will decrease, im not saying if Ayu did or didnt but a majority of people would think "ohh~ no wonder she has those eyes or nose etc", their views will change

^It's not necessarily that she's keeping quiet. It could be the fact that she just doesn't know.