Huh. I wonder how many Japanese people have noticed these things. I think we're all catching them because we're English speakers and (for a lot of us) our mainstream music is from the American music industry. So maybe while Ayu and them over in Japan may not have ever heard these songs before, we have.
Nevertheless, this is all a bit disheartening. The beginning of "What I've Done" and "GUILTY" are very, very similar; though that one I'll give might actually just be coincidence. Pride and Crucify (omg, that is the most hilarious video I've ever seen!) I can see the similarity, but it doesn't seem similar enough to be ripped off. Plus, that seems way to obscure of a song for any Japanese person to know about (but then again, maybe they thought they could get away with it BECAUSE it's obscure). And the Hoobastank thing...yeah. Blatant. However, I really do honestly like Ayu's version better. So I don't really care all that much.
But seriously, I wonder how many Japanese people have figured these things out as well. You'd think there would have been some sort of uproar by now.