It's totally because Hikki is more low-profile. Controversial gossip in Japan is not good. Not like here in America. We love it here. We'll sit our butts on the couch, eat popcorn, and watch celebrity gossip channels going "oh my gawd, she did not just say that? Nuh-uh no way.
What? Brad and Angelina are getting a divorce OMGGGGG"
I mean for God's sake, Chris Brown beat Rihanna until she was black and blue and he's
still famous. Why? Because controversy garners attention and attention garners media and media garners fans and fans garner money. That's what it all boils down to here. You make money for your company, you can be as big of an ass as you want.
But in Japan, you do the wrong thing, you say the wrong thing and
boom, you're a target for a lot of backlash. (For goodness sake, remember when Koda Kumi said something about women not being able to have healthy babies after their thirties or something like that? Wooo. She paid the price there. Ripped from all media with a snap of a finger if I remember correctly. And none of us have even mentioned Namie's marriage-because-of-pregnancy back in the later 90's.) Now, yes. Hikki married a man 15 years her senior, but at least she was married for four years. They gave it an honest shot and had known each other for some time beforehand. Ayu's first marriage seemed rushed. They met, probably had some good laughs, apparently some good showers, some drinks, confused infatuation/sex appeal with love, got married. (And wasn't that in Vegas?) Then divorced a year later.
Something like that is frowned upon in Japan. I mean, yes, divorces in general are frowned on there but to meet-marry-divorce in less than a year and a half?
Even if there is a legitimate reason?
But here's where I think the biggest difference here lies: Hikki is low profile. The key to not getting mud thrown in your face is to not be standing there in the first place. Out of sight=out of mind. When Namie got pregnant, she disappeared for a year and there's never been any official pictures of her son (out of sight=out of mind). When Koda Kumi had a slip of tongue the promotion for her album Kingdom came to a complete stop as did a ton of her commercial endorsements (out of sight=out of mind). I'm not sure what Hikki was doing at the time of her divorce but I'm sure she didn't really say much about it. Probably just "Got a divorce" then went back to playing Kingdom Hearts. (errr...out of sight=out of mind?)
But Ayumi is a workaholic, so much so that controversy does not stop her. Music is her life and her life is music. She even stated recently in that one interview that she doesn't know how to just sit on a couch and relax. She always has to be working. Which means that she's always in the public eye. Maybe not as much but she's there. Magazines. Tabloids. Commercials. Whatever. She never gave the controversy time to settle and move onto something else.
Then it most certainly doesn't help that it seems controversy just seems to follow her as well. Do I have to mention
Maro? The King of Grass in his Cardboard Kingdom? Then the whole situation with the photographer (can't remember his name). And then Manuel's alleged porno shoot? Or whatever that was? (that whole thing has always been confusing to me.) I'm sure there's been more things but the one I remember most recently was: Her own misleading messaging on twitter leading to her management having to take control of her own profile for a while.
All these things keep happening, controversy builds and builds and builds, and she's never stepped out of the spotlight. The things I mentioned in the paragraph above do not even directly involve her (besides the tweet) yet they still end up hurting her. Maro and her were broken up, he was just trying to get his own media. Manuel is a model if he wants to do a porno shoot or whatever that was, all right. Go for it. Now that photographer, as we all know, is just dying to soak in the aura that is Ayumi Hamasaki and get some of his own renowned fame--but, as he attempts to do so, is only creating havoc for her. (I was so happy for her when she 'dropped' him but now he's back...)
All these things, these controversies, that are very frowned upon in Japan and she's never left the public eye. Not even for a couple of months. Now, she doesn't have to if she doesn't want to, but when too much snow gathers at the peak of the mountain, an avalanche occurs. Honestly the best thing for her to do right now is to get out of sight so she can get out of mind. I love Ayu, I love how hard she works, she inspires me to always try my hardest even when I'm at my weakest, but the avalanche has kind of toppled over her right now and I hate seeing it. I really do wish she would step down just for a year--just one measly year--and the difference that would make. We, us diehard fans here at least, would be actually
anticipating what she would deliver rather than just waiting. The difference there is substantial and could really save her some grace with the public eye and even with some of us here since her quality of music might up because she would actually allow herself time to
think rather than just rush on instinct.
That difference there is what makes Hikki's music so much more interesting to the public eye. One, she's an enigma cause she hides so much and doesn't really indulge that much into her personal life. (Hell, we didn't even know she had a kid until he was born.) Two, (and I'm not putting this here to dis Ayu, it's not her fault where she was born. And I'm definitely not saying one place is better than the other) but Hikki is Japanese/American and Japan loves Westernized music, which Utada brings almost every time and brings it well. Then, on that note, not only do we not know what she's going to bring to the table music-wise, we also don't know
when. We anticipate it. I mean, yes, her debut album put her well into the heart of Japan but she's managed to keep it there strategically/self-admitted laziness. With some luck as well. And maybe some very useful help from her father.
Oh my God, I've been trying to write this for over an hour. I'm going to just abruptly end it here, go to bed, and see what type of controversy of my own I'd've created when I come back tomorrow.
(If any of you actually read this entire thing, I'm very impressed. A lot of it was just me blabbering. I'd give you an award if I could.)