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Excerpt:

BoA’s success in Japan is assured. Every new album tops the Oricon music chart and more than 10,000 fans gather to see each concert on the tour. But it is the result of a punishing regime in her teens.

For one thing, she couldn’t wear sneakers like other teens because she always danced wearing high-hilled shoes. That has caused inflammation in her feet. "It’s an occupational hazard,” she shrugs.

On Sunday afternoon, BoA was preparing for part of her 2007 concert tour “Made In Twenty” at the Yokohama arena. "Now I can wear sneakers. It feels good,” she says. Age has crept up on her. "I never used to take vitamins when I was in my teens, but now I take vitamins and proteins. It is harder to get up early in the morning when you’re 20." To BoA, life as a 20something brings more responsibilities. "I have more responsibility and I can’t joke so much because all staff take my jokes seriously."

Read it: BoA's Teenage Discipline Pays Off at 20