How much do you love Ayumi Hamasaki?
 

Well I was walking with one my friends and we were talking about jpop and she has a japanese channel and she was telling me that she saw Ayumi singing on a show for new years and that she won but she didn't udnerstand why people liked her so much because she sang so bad and I told her that Ayu went deaf in her left ear so that's why she was probably singing so bad... then I just kept going on and on talking about Ayumi lol I told her about Dome Tour and that that is what probably made her lose her hearing... and it made me think about when I first started listening to Ayumi and how much I really kinda fell in love with her. ^_^ It made me realize how much I really do love Ayumi and how much she has inspiried me. Ayu really cares about her fans so much and that's one of the things that makes me like her so much. And for her to continue singing even with her left ear deaf I think that really shows how much she loves her fans and sometimes I think that she loves her fans a little too much lol because it makes me wonder about her personal life... however I'm really glad she plans on singing for a long time because I would love to go to one of her concert/tour performances someday... I just thought I would share this, lol I guess this was a nice way to flashback on how I came across Ayumi with it being her 10th Annevisary and all. Another thing It odl my friend was that I never realized how many "#1's" Ayu had until GUITLY got #2... :P
Anyway yeah I LOVE Ayumi! ^_^
Sorry if this thread kinda doesn't make any sense but I guess the question is "What makes you love Ayumi Hamasaki so much?" :P

Definetly her loyalty and honesty makes me continue to love her, whether I've been listening to her for three to four years or if she's been singing for ten years.

I can see how reminiscing about her older work can make you open your eyes to see how much you love her. Happens to me all the time. ^^

How she doesn't seem so tainted.

Her strength and dedication. I find it motivating and empowering, for sure.

hmmm...her lyrics, music, looks as well as her strong character

Her loyalty to her fans, her continuing to go on even when times are tough, how she does whatever she wants, how her lyrics are so real and how people can relate to them, how she can sound so good when singing live, and how she looks so good all the time. ^^

her ALL! i love her... voice, style, lyrics..blah blah blah... i cried and laughed many times because of her songs and yeah!~ Probably, she's already part of my life that i can't live without.

Her strength. Everything that makes her, her.

I love her so much. I wish I could meet her in person...

Her music and girl power songs. XD

For me, it's her devoting to her job, caring for her fans and staff so much...even with the deaf ear...awsome and very encouraging for everybody!

I love Ayumi more than i have loved any other artist in my whole life. I'm probably restating what others have said, but oh well! I love her lyrics... they're always so beautiful and heartfelt. I love how she puts her all into songs... she never half-asses anything, you can always hear the emotion in her voice, that seems so rare now-a-days. I also love her dedication to her fans. It seems like she would do anything for us! She pushes herself forward even now that her hearing problem has become so bad. You can see that she truly loves what she does and how much she loves us.

Now, the stuff about doing anything for fans being said, Ayumi does what she wants, musically speaking. MAybe she doesn't do exactly what's popular at the moment. but she takes risks in her song choices, and thats why i love her!

I love this topic! Its so fresh and wonderful in a time where i feel like everyone is a little bit down on Ayu because she doesn't sell as well as she did in her prime. Its good to look back on here and remember why we love her. <3

hmm i don't know how much i love ayu..
but for sure, i love her more than any other artists i like...
she's the 1st on my fave artist list.. :)

Hitomi Kisugi spred the Ayu love
So I Love it too xDD

:tbiggrin

i really love ayu. i listen to her songs everyday since 2004. because ayu's songs has 'longevity' so i never bored to them.

haha dunno if I should say love since I haven't meant her in person.:P. Although I can say the point at which I respect her reaches beyond that it could practically be like love =D

I really love how true she is her on-half assed attitude to her work and basically everything she does. She's original, a person that can think for them self. She hasn't even resorted to being cheap yet just to sell her music and still sings just for herself and her fans. Also even though she hasn't met all her fans, I love the way she shows dedication to us and i love the little messages she sends us in countdown lives XDD

I really can't say enough for there. She's one of the very few artists that have such beautiful lyrics, and even then her lyrics are the only ones I've actually cried to repeatedly @__@ maybe i'm just being a girl, but she's the person I respect the most in my life.

I love her so much it's up the the point of obsession and sometimes it's scaring even myself. What happens if it fades away someday? D:

I love Ayu to the point where it can't be explain in words.

I never thought in my entire life, that I would come to love an artist as much as I love her right now. Everytime I receive a package of Ayu things(goods, dvds, cds, ect) I just end up hugging it all the way from the post office to my house every single time. Everything about her is so precious to me. She cheers me up when I'm sad, I get excited while watching her concerts, I cry with her at the end every single time... She's loyal, she's honest, she loves her fans and most of all, she's true to herself.~ <3

At first, I was captivated by her beauty, her songs and her unique voice.

But later, as we get to know her more, her inner beauty really shone.

Now, I love her for her will, her determinance, her love for fans. She wholeheartedly putting her best for us, she treating and loving music as part of her life and not for fame, her frank beauty. Her kindness, her humble self, she as a lovable role-model. Her time speat, her energy spent and her strength... and the list goes on...

She's like the only singer I'm supporting now, and I wanna thank her for the persistence and courage she taught me...

Haha... Let's create a "Thank You Ayu For..." thread... Jkjk... ^^

It wasn't Dome Tour. Her hearing loss is not related to sound damage (acoustic trauma), otherwise she would have taken a break on her career (and she'd be deaf on both ears, not only one).



Actually I think that's more of a proof that she loves her career/job and the $$$ rather than the fans themselves. I know she must love her fans, to an extent, but nah, not to THAT extent that she'd put them above everything else, otherwise she'd make free performances and distribute free cds and w/e. Ayu is not some holy saint that came to earth just to please the masses. She's human, she knows she's not incapable and that she still can make her career worth of fame and $$$.

I really love Ayu-chan like a loyal friend.
The lyrics got my attention to her music and it makes a contrast to the other music artist I knew (and hated).

The one thing I really like her is she really loves her fans around the world and to her fellow fans from her country like a friend. Even though she lost her hearing on the left ear, she continues to sing. She had this "fighting spirit" that even though she lost her hearing, she continues on her singing carreer no matter what. She's really a "Beautiful Fighter" IMO. ^^,"

Whenever I get lonely or even bothered, I listen to her music and reading the translated lyrics and even I sing along. And whenever I buy her stuffs like CDs (singles or album, but album makes me really happy), It makes me happy very much that I really support her music.

She treated her career as a passion for her music and for her fans not as a work like some music artist nowadays.

I never get bored with her music until now and this is the only music artist I support today.

I think love is a strong word, but since I went to her concert the other week (and when she gave me a funny look :P) my appreciation of her has certainly improved. To keep the audience thoroughly entertained for 3 hours, and to sing live as well as she did, you have to respect that.

omg!!! she looked directly at you???...speechless...anyway...a thread with our posts expressing our gratitude to AYU for anything we feel like, would be a good idea, don't you guys think?

Umm, yep, she stared me out for a few seconds :D I had a seat near the catwalk thing that goes into the crowd, so when she performed "my name's WOMEN" I got a funny look. Guess being the one white guy in a sea of Japanese people, I was bound to stick out ;)

i love her all! the way she gives her all to her music, her lyrics, and everytime i hear her sing, i just get all happy inside...or sad depending on the song, i would to think i would never want to lose my sight, but...since listening to ayu, i would rather lose my sight than my hearing...that's how much i love ayu

Well all of the artists are doing their job for money as well to an extent lol :P
Though the fact that ayu is so loved and respected by her fans makes her feel really good and willing to do music as well and she gives them love and respect as well (as ayu wrote in her song Trauma "Humans are like mirrors, they way that you'll treat them, they will treat you the same way" or something like that).
Money is not the only issue for her but obviously she likes the money as well lol.
I'm just happy she's not full on it and that's one of the thousand things that makes me give her a lot of respect. She could forever more release highly mainstream songs like only cute songs only love ballad songs etc. just to sell, but she prefers doing her own music and not do high mainstream things that no one will be able to dislike because they sell.
When she was in france you could see how she liked to sign autographs for her fans there and she really was excited, she didn't run away and said "oh no, fans here too? let's go quick!! crap!!"
she just was happy to see them and to be near them.

More of the things that makes me love her (of course everything that is connected to her music which is the most suitable for my taste), but her devotion for her work, determination to move on despite her left ear, and satisfy her fans (and not all of Japan) with the music she likes doing and that is coming from her.

ayu is a human with an awesome music.

I love ayu to a large extent..because of her determination, hard works and talent for writing great lyrics.

I love, love, love, love Ayu :D

well, i love ayu is because she's HARDWORKING
;D
ayu ganbatte neh !

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT HER <3
THAT IS WHY I CANT STOP SUPPORTING HER S2!!!
but one specific reason are her strong and powerful feelings that are put into songs and the songs themselves sound good <3

:laugh lucky duck. I want to see that caught on video hahaha. If only it was like america where they have those big screens that show people in the audience, and then there you would be the white guy admidst all the japanese XD

If I went, I don't think i would have gotten a look or stood out cause I'm asian, unless I started yelling really loudly in random english to get their attention.

i love ayu so much! cos she puts her heart and soul into everything she does.. it's rare for a girl to continue moving on despite facing challenges..

also, she remains positive all the time!! this is something we should learn from her.

I thought I'd never see the day that an Ayu-worship thread would be created. :laugh

It's sad that people love ayu? I've yet seen "ayu is a goddess" posts here :o
Why is it SO bothering you?

^....it's not really bothering but I just don't see the purpose of creating a thread like this. :shrug I've seen similiar threads like this. Most of them saying, "Without Ayu, my life would be dull or missing something..." etc.

Oh, yea. i edited my previous post because I realized that I might hurt a person;s feelings by saying something like "How sad!"

I don't think it would hurt anyone's feelings because I can't see what's so sad in it? :shrug
And you do really care about it or else you would just ignore it love.

Thank you! I'm getting sick of people insisting ayu is staying in it "for the fans". I'm sure the fans mean something, but it's more about making money for herself.

Eh. I got through phases. Like. I'll be obsessed with Ayu, and then it'll gradually die down, and I'll obsess over someone else. Right now I'm obsessed with Kuu again, and I'm forgetting about Ayu. Don't hate me please! :rolleyes

But I'll always have love for her. :yes

It happened to me with kumi lol I was obsessed with her until I knew BoA, then I was obsessed with BoA then I got back to be obsessed with kumi, and then I knew ayu lmao :P

Well, I edited just in case. I really don't wanna read another backlash about me. <~I just had one in the Kuu thread. :rolleyes

My luv for ayu: 7/10 I'm just not big on her like I use to be. When Secret came out, I was pratically screaming but now its like, yay for another album or single! :sarclap

And this is really worth being anti-ayu? :(
I don't care for the other anti-ayu people here but I love you and I know how kind and mature person you are, I just don't understand why you post a lot of anti-ayu comments? specially if you still like her even a bit?
aww...

^Gotta agree with this. While I am a fan of her music, as a person I believe she is very aware of her current position in the industry, and knows she has hit a sweet spot.

It's been a long way... *starts typing out really long rant that no one cares about*
When I first started listening to J-Pop, I ended up hearing about her, obviously, 'cause she's really really famous and stuff. In western music, I tend to find unknown artists A LOT better than the famous ones - so, when I first found out about Ayu, I thought she'd be lame because she was famous, I though her music would be as useless and meaningless and way way too mainstream like the stuff that plays on the radio here~
I think the first song I heard from her was In The Corner. I remember keeping the song in my iTunes/MP4-player for quite some time, thinking it was "decent", but eventually the song annoyed me and I deleted it. Basically, I just hated Ayu, I thought her poppish mainstream songs were really really bad and really silly (I had no lyrics translations >___<) and I thought her rock songs, while not being silly, were just decent, and didn't really appeal to me.
The first song I actually LOVED, the one that I kept on repeat and looked up the romaji lyrics online to sing along, was YOU. I loved it. But I still disliked Ayu for some reason, and I think I just ignored the fact that the song was hers. The second song I fell in love with was Moments, I loved the chorus very very much... I loved how repetitive the melody on the chorus sounded and compared it to a ticking clock ^___^
Thing is... I don't remember what it was, but for some reason, one day, I decided to give Ayu a second chance. So I went to Youtube, I wanted to watch the most watched Ayu video to see what her most popular songs were like... and that's how I found M. Seriously, I don't know what it is about that song. I usually don't become obsessed with a song unless the lyrics are really genius or just really appeal to me for some reason, but I had no idea what the lyrics meant at the time~ yet I really fell in love with the song. The song, the PV... I don't know what it was. I fell in love with Ayu in that moment, and I have no idea why~ But when I started to look for other Ayu songs that I might like, I just didn't like any of them. After a while I just gave up, "Ayu is a great artist, but her music just isn't the kinf of stuff I listen to"~
It was when GUILTY came out that I actually started to enjoy her music (yes, I'm a newbie fan XD) I just loved the Marionette PV... and I thought, as I watched it, "Hey, this song is actually... good...!"; then I decided to watch the (don't) Leave me Alone PV, but I was really sure that I wouldn't like the song. I was surprised that I actually really liked it as well... so I downloaded the album... and it was a really pleasent surprise, I loved basically every track. That's when I decided to see what her lyrics were like... I saw a subbed performance of fated on Veoh, and loved it so much and it was so beautiful that I had the song on repeat for about 2/3 days. I have no idea how many times I listened to that song at that time, really.
Then, since I really loved the GUILTY album, I started coming to AHS as a guest, to read the Oricon style sales thread. Someone had a bit M lyric translations on their siggy, and I immediately noticed I NEEDED to find the translation to that song. When I read it... I was... I dunno. I fell in love with it all over again. So I started to look for more Ayu translations... and much, much more often than not, I was impressed. they were too beautiful. That's how my love for her started to grow a bit more...
After a while, her personality really started to make me love her even more. I mean... I'm not gonna say the only reason she's in the business is because of her fans, and I'm not gonna say she's sacrificing herself for our sake when she continues her career despite being deaf in one ear. But I can't help but think Ayu is a really lonely person, and she really does love her fans a lot. She was lost before she started singing, in my humble opinion. Now she's so happy... songs like AUDIENCE seriously shake me up. Anyway... both her good qualities, and even her flaws... they make her so beautiful...
Her songs really mean something to me. I'll admit I'm obsessed... as pathetic as it may be... have I ever said Ayu is my biggest obsession after Sailor Moon? The reason I have an internet addiction, the reason I like anime/manga/J-music, the things I dream of, the things I'm afraid of... I don't know how, but they were all influenced by Sailor Moon at some point. (I sound like a lunatic, don't I? XD) Ayu influences me like that. That's how much I love her.

*finnishes typing out really long rant that no one cares about*
I hope I didn't sound too pathetic. Haha XD

i used to watch this over and over when it was broadcasted on singapore's tv and recorded it down:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/media-216...BI-Live-2.html

now? i can barely forced myself to watch any tv lives of her to the end .. >_<

^lol I love her vibratos at this performance.

I love everything from ayu.
her voice, her image, her face, her songs, her PVs, her Lyrics, LOL

I watched Ayu's CNN interview like 10 times..the reason for me to have internet is to update on Ayu's news...the excitement I get is from enjoying Ayu's work and feel great! that pretty much sums up how much I love her!

I love everything about Ayu, her songs, her lyrical style, her honesty, her style, her beauty, her loyalty to her music and her fans...Ayu, in my opinion, is the total package.

The biggest reason to why I respect and love Ayu so much is because... without her, somehow I think I wouldn't get the chance to type something here.

Yes, it was somewhere in April 2008... like 3 weeks ago... I felt suicidal.

And Life leaked. I read the lyrics... and I heard the song.

Yes, I decided to live.

She has taught me things that I can't learn from other people.

I'm really grateful to Ayu for these things.

i love her lyrics, her music, her unique voice, her looks, her hairstyles, her character (how she's goofy, dorky, laughable, REAL), her fashion style (most times). also, i love how she doesn't try too hard to me americanized and conform to the music industry's typical female artists image and stays true to her individuality. she's different. she's unparalleled and irreplaceable in many ways for me.

her music has saved me so many times. they've given me courage, strength, wisdom, and compassion. she will always be my number one singer. she has touched me in a way no other artist has.

Obviously. It's just that it is really weird to see people letting their ayu love create false excuses that ayu is this extremely kind, flawless and perfect person, who's willing to sacrifice her life only for the sake of the fans. That's quite unreal. Artists can be grateful for their fans...but self-destruct their own bodies for them? unreal...
Also, ayu has a love for her $$$. She loves to go shopping for superfluous stuff...she has an insane collection of shoes and bags. She wear high quality luxury brand stuff. She wants to keep her diva status. Quite honestly, ayu doesn't really look like the altruistic person willing to ease the pain in the world and become a martyr as you can read in some ppl's opinions.:no

Well, according to all what has been said here...the $$$ vs fans...i think that Ayu proves to be THE genius artist who can perfectly combine both interests (she has to do smth for her living afterall) and that makes her so damn SPECIAL to me. What goes for the strong determination to continue with her career despite her left ear (poor Ayu-chan:(), honestly...just imagine yourself in her place...you are a god-like celebrity with masses of fans worldwide...would you really consider quitting? I mean, if it further harms her health, it sure is worth consideration but she seems to be fine with one ear so far. The HEYHEYHEY performance of Mirrorcle world shows her left ear without ear plug, and look at her...at cca 02:01...I nearly collapsed, when I saw the video for the first time. Today, when I watch it over 'n over again...I'm still near heart attack but I'm getting used to it XD.
You see, there are so many factors that suggest that Ayu carries on singing no matter what...it's her heaven-like beauty, divine voice, angelic smile and remarkable courage. It's pointless making my soul leek with all those her-lyrics-gave-me-strength compliments, 'cause it's SO obvious (and my English is not good enough to express them sufficiently...lol). So to conclude all this, I just say that without Ayu, my life would be as empty and shallow as a life of a lonely and desperate person could be. Thousand thanx to o-kassan Hamasaki for bringing up such a perfect human being who has become the light at the end of the tunnel for many of us...hotoni arigato.

She's pretty cool, yes. :)

I highly agree :yes

ayu love her cash and use it in the way I would use it lmao =P (admitting).
But also she likes in the same amount of getting cash, to make people happy with her music, her fans and people who like to listen to it.
It makes her feel good in her heart.
And if she feels good and having fun of making music, making people/fans who're happy/touched with her music and getting big cash, I think it's just the right thing for a true artist to do.

She is obviously not perfect, flawless, world caring goddess etc.
But she is a combination of what a good artist is (imo), and that's what I like about her.

I personally don't like money *****s, which are ONLY into money and their fans for them are just a big "ew get far away from me" and I don't like money donators artists that will donate to anything their money, just for the sake of look good and do wonders in the world ("perfect" artists).

I like her more than, say, the singer of Within Temptation. She seems so fake on the TV. Talking about making her music more mainstream to make more $$$. Idk, I just don't really like her. Not even when I met her in real life. Not that anyone cares lol I just felt like typing that somewhere 'cause it's been bugging me. XD

Ayu seems pretty cool. :D Luv her~~~~

I fell in love with Ayu because of her beautiful voice, fashion sense and music styles... out of other singers, I listen to Ayu the most... she's not afraid to go against the odds and bring out new things. seems to me, Ayu fights challenges because she's there to win them.. she's a very enthusiastic woman and that's what I love about her :)

Ayumi Hamasaki has some quality to her that draws people to her. I mean, think about it really, she's NOT the best singer in the world, nor has she ever been. Her voice is really nice, but that totally isn't what sells her music. Ayumi is a rare sort of celebrity. Her fans can SEE the human in her. She's not some higher being sitting on a pedestal, she's one of us. She's lived through problems that a lot of people face, she survived them and moved forward strongly. That's what I think I love most about her. She's obviously human to her fans.

I think it's also safe to say that she's one of the great poetic minds of our time. I truly hope that if her songs as songs don't survive the ages, their lyrics do. I truly believe the woman is a genius.

That's a point I'm trying to get at:

Her determination is strong, because she has a serious problem. But the problem doesn't make her invalid, nor does it get worse because of her job. I believe most people if they were in ayu's situation (the fame, the career - and obviously the self steem she has), they still wouldn't give up, because to tell the truth, it's a lot harder to give up on such a career than to accept working with such a disability. The decision would have been harder if her job had been directly related to causing her disability, but it isn't.This is why I don't see that much as a honorable quality. She just chose the most reasonable path imo. She still can sing and perform, with hardships, but she still can. This is where I get that she isn't really making any superhuman effort to go on with what she should. If i were in her condition I'd do the same, i'd still go on with my careeer, because I'd know I'd still could make it worth it.

Sorry if i sound so annoying about it. I really like and admire ayu a lot, but I try to be moderate on what could be just my fandom creating masks to put ayu on a higher pedestal than she should be LOL

Years ago, I first like Ayu because I thought she was really hot and all I did was watch her PVs on repeat. Eventually I learned more about her and now I love her for being an awesome musical artist.

Her singing is not her best specialty, there are many singers who have more singing talent than Ayu (though I notice her improvement over the years and maybe her sweet voice just appeals to many people). People are drawn to her because of her lyrics and they feel Ayu is being very genuine about them. And she is. Everyone has a little Ayu inside of them because we all have dreams where everyone is listening to you and your thoughts. In this case, Ayu brings that out through singing her own words (as oppose to singing from another songwriter). And we all dream about making it big the way Ayu has done it, start from being unknown into someone who will be really popular in a short period of time by putting forth your best talent. That's unlike, for example, Morning Musume, where some mom brings their cute daughter to some audition in hopes for them to be popular. This in turn gives Ayu lots of respect especially since she started out as a high school drop out; which is similar to Bill Gates since he was a college drop out but became a billionaire anyway.

It also helps being attractive. Ayu can easily advertise whatever because of her looks (heck, she had her own TV show too). However, there are so many good looking people out there and Ayu stands out amongst them because of her positive connection with the people and her fans. She was not chosen to sing on stage simply because she's some pretty face (which does happen a lot in the music industry like umm...Morning Musume). It was her songwriting and her honest personality that gave her that distinction. And again, she is very respectful because of this.

So I love Ayu for her lyrics, honest personality, and her looks. Not to mention the nice variety in her music and the fact she composed some of them. But what really made me love her the most? Her dedication to her fans. It seems to me she has given up a lot to not have a personal life of her own (ex. she's not married yet and I think her dogs and collecting fancy clothing are her personal life now which I find funny). Every year, she writes a lot and goes on many concerts as well as producing some of them. Her deaf ear is not stopping her either. This also shows how strong a bond she has with her fans. I hope that we and all fans will continue to develope this strong mutual relationship we have with Ayu (keyword is "mutual").

There is just one thing I want to see Ayu do. And that is do some humanitarian work. Anyone with hundreds of dollars of loose change in their pockets should do this. Something is better than nothing. I mean Shakira done it. She actually created and founded her own charity and even recently went to Bangladesh to help chidren in need. Wouldn't be awesome if Ayu took a slight detour from the music industry and help out as well? I mean some of her music videos is just unnecessarily expensive. Ayu did wrote the song "A Song is Born" which was suppose to be a non-profit song for 9/11 victims (which is cool and I would like to see that more often). Actually, I don't recall any other notable humanitarian work from Japanese stars or singers. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I think, she should at least try. The human approach to people in need would perfectly match her human-like approach to her fans and she would become even more popular. Well, not all artists are "suitable" to do charity, but people like Shakira...or...Ayu, who are SO sincere with their music, should give it a try...there isn't really much to lose, right?

that is a goooooooooooood point. she's sort of a reasonable person and all, quite the good role model and hardworking lady... but yes, she should try that. she can be such a diva and not practice what she sings. her music, if a stranger to her would listen, would expect she'd be involved in some kind of charity as its so compassionate.

Didn't she perform at a concert for the tsunami victims a few years ago?

How do we know she doesn't donate money to charities low-key? I mean, at least she's not all "Look at me I donate loads of money to poor people" like Bob Geldof or something. I really dislike him that too. :eviltongu

^Yeah, I think it's sort of a double edged blade. I mean, what's the point of someone doing a charity if it's just to show off? I think it completely loses its real intention :shrug

AYU DOES NOT SUCK!! EVEN IF SHE IS DEAF FROM ONE EAR!!

Well, I can safely assume anyone with extra money has donated to some charity. It's fine, but in a sense you are right because anyone with a huge load of loose change can easily do this. It does not take much effort and its like saying to the people, "see this, look what I can do that you can't, I can donate this much...and that makes me high and mighty...and you should like me...". So the intention seems to be in the wrong place like it's done to gain popularity.

But I was talking more differently when in comes to humanitarian work. For example again, Shakira actually founded and created a charity with her own money (almost 10 years ago?). And recently, she physically went to Bangladesh to help when she could have been making up more music or belly dances to make more money for herself. Even though there may be some "selfish reasons" to do so, IMO, its a sincere move for the most part. As for Ayu, she was sincere in writing the lyrics for "A Song is Born" and if she did sing in a concert to help tsunami victims, I think she was sincere and not because she can or to gain popularity or to show off. Doing more than just simply donating loose change is at least to me sincere enough (especially when she has alternatives to do instead, like writing songs, producing concerts, commercial ads, photo shoots, etc.). Besides, something is better than nothing.

And to add to the main topic and I forgot to say this, I love Ayu because of her really cute personality and mannerisms. Like when she starts jumping around in her concerts being all happy and bouncy. And even when she cries. But most of all is when she sings, she gives it her all to put so much emotion to the songs. :luv2

^huh?

It would be nice to see her do some charity stuff, if she could fit it into her busy schedule.

When someone gets richer, is because somebody else gets poorer. If ayu were ever to do charity just as an excuse to boost her popularity to gain more money, I'd rather she didn't do it.
Also, if an artist uses their "charities" just to boost popularity, making ppl buy more of their stuff just because they think the artist really deserves it, these ppl are also wasting money they could be using to help somebody in need. In a way it can completely dillute the whole artist's goal :shrug

I know this is really complicated way of saying things, but something is better than nothing doesn't necessarily always apply.

On remark of that, I think that when we consider the 9/11 victims, a kind of common JPop artists' raisings should be made so none of the artists would look like they show off by donating to charity. I mean, if there is really such an ocassion as the 9/11 and there are lots of money needed, there's nothing bad in popstars donating to charity as they usually ARE totally rich XD. But on the other hand, I trully HATE when some celebrity donates just to show off because raising popularity in such a way doesn't correspond with the artists' tallent nor effort at all.

P.S: Ayu rulez!!!

Even if someone did do it just to seem good and wonderful to the world, it's still a positive thing. I don't think people in need care about the intentions of the money giver.

Hmmm...I not sure if you understood much of what I said. If artist "x" donates to a certain care center trying to boost their popularity by doing the beneficent act, more people will buy "x" products. If more people is going to buy artist "x" product because of that, they will be reallocating money they could be using to help people in need. It's not only the rich people that help those in need with their large ammount of money (actually there are far lesser extremely rich pppl compared to the ppl who live in an average situation, and many ppl who live in an average situation help). My mother is not rich but part of the money she earns that spares, she donates money to cancer institutions and other things. Now if a person who helps these institutions with their spare money is a crazy fan, they could spend the money they save for the donation to buy the promoted product (just an hypothetical example), or even worse they could buy that product from the artist not only being a fan but also knowing the artist "helps" those in need and get the false idea they're helping those in need.

On the other hand, if artists doesn't use their beneficent actions to promote themselves, they won't be selling more stuff because of it and it won't be draining money from ppl for their personal interests.

The care center/ppl in need who receive the benefit OBVIOUSLY won't care about the intentions, they've received the help. But there's not only one person/institution or w/e needing help in this entire world, so the whole purpose of the artist doing a benefit there gets dilluted. It's hard for me to explaion because I can't seem to pick the proper words to express myself.

That's just how credit cards companies make you feel you have a lot more money than you really have with their "credit benefits". While they make your life easier, they obviously have the intention of earning money, and every benefit you get is because they're using your money.

^Yea I understood that, I just don't think the majority of the people who would buy the CDs would be doing any charity donations in the first place anyway. If they didn't spend it on her CD, they'd spend it on somebody elses or something completely different.

But yea, maybe the people who wasn't gonna buy the CD, but then did because of the artists charity work, would've spent it on donations if they hadn't bought a CD instead.

ayu could always donate huge money for a lot of stuff, and we will never know about it if she did it discreetly XD
I prefer it to be discreet anyway.
As I said earlier, I don't like weeshy woshy artists who donate their money and shove it in people's eyes, that's another way to make a lot of money from people.

Oh well, maybe I've said is a bunch of BS...economics is so complicated....but i do think there's a difference when you donate with second intentions of actually earning (promotion, $$) from it.

yeah, I'd prefer it like that too....unless she did want to raise her fans awareness to a specific problem...:shrug

Well, she is not a power puff girl lmao.
If she donates discreetly at least she helps it, she sure has money to do so, but I hope that if she does she will never shove it in front of us...

Well, I sorta of liked mika nakashima's campaign on using recyclable shopping bags and non-disposable chopsticks "to help the environment". :laugh

LMAO!! XDDDD

Did it help though? :tipsy

LOL I dunno...:shrug I guess if she keeps repeating it it will start brainwashing ppl :laugh

ayu's A Song Is Born single was for WTC victims, wasn't it? (and other avex artist doing it too)