Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - [SG] Ayumi and Nagase in iWeekly Magazine

iWeekly Issue 352, 29 July - 5 August 2004
This issue features Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau on their covers. It is a two cover special.

http://www.chs.edu.sg/~y02chs131/iweeklycover.jpg

This issue of iWeekly features a special column on Japanese Celebrity couples, who are under Sony Music. Titled "The relationships of idols: a case study" goes into analysis on Sony's 3 generations of idols: Takuya Kimura, Tomoyo Nagase and Hideaki Takizawa (also known as Tackey). There are three celebrity couples in all.

1. Takuya Kimura (who is married to Kudo Shizuka) and Yuko Takeuchi
2. Tomoyo Nagase and Ayumi Hamasaki
3. Hideaki Takizawa and Ami Suzuki

In this article, the only couple that isn't real (but is rumoured to be) is Takuya Kimura and Yuko Takeuchi while the remaining two are.

Scan

http://www.chs.edu.sg/~y02chs131/iweeklyscan.jpg

Translation (note: I only focused on Ayumi's and Nagase's relationship)

Case 2: Tomoyo Nagase and Ayumi Hamasaki
The year when Takuya Kimura took the risk and turned his back on Sony’s instructions by getting married, his junior, Tomoyo Nagase also revealed his relationship with Ayumi Hamasaki. That took place 4 years ago. It is said that because of the company’s objection to the relationship, hence it is still unable to successfully progress on.

However, both of them, frankly, love each other. Recently, their trip to Los Angeles and their return to Japan caused a lot of uproar. Tomoyo Nagase first went over to the US to do recording for his album, after which Ayumi and her friends joined up with him there, spending the vacation together. This is the first time that both of them have gone out together after a courtship of 4 years. Upon stepping out of the arrival gate, Ayumi constantly looked over to Nagase and smiled, regardless of the public who were setting their eyes on her, and she allowed the public to take photos of her. A pair of lovers who were once rumoured to be on the verge of breaking up are now still going together as sweet and as strong as before.

Nagase and Ayumi were revealed to be having an underground romance back in autumn 2000. This garnered the attention of the public and media. However, the couple is still seen dating openly. On top of having fun at an amusement park, at Nagase’s birthday last year, Ayumi specially went over to a famous cake shop to buy a birthday cake for her boyfriend in order to celebrate his birthday.

The media is predicting that Sony’s Administration is not happy about their relationship as Ayumi is very open about it. Their objective is for Tomoyo Nagase’s career to take flight and to go solo as soon as possible, and for both of them, at the same time, to fight for their love’s freedom.