http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/face/index.html
Polished Ayu losing her shine.
Diva Ayumi Hamasaki's reign as the queen of Japan's charts appears poised to pop, according to Shukan Jitsuwa (12/30). Rumors she was shunned by the Japan Music Awards she has dominated for years, troubles within her record company and loss of a long-time endorsement contract have given voice to whispers that Ayu's long-time dominance of the Japanese music scene is now on the wane. Some reports had Ayu saying she would refuse to accept if she won this year's Japan Record Award, probably the country's top pop music prize. But the organizers of the awards said they had not heard anything formally from Ayu or her record company Avex, and now some are saying she was never considered for the prize in the first place, anyway. "This year's contest has always been about Kiyoshi Hikawa and Mr. Children. Ayu wasn't in the running from the start," an entertainment beat reporter tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "Having won the past three awards in a row worked against her. Some say many people voted against her simply because they wanted to see somebody else win." If that wasn't a slap in the face, being dumped as the main poster girl for cosmetics giant Kose -- a position Ayu has held for many years -- could well have been. What may really hurt, though, is that Ayu was replaced by 18-year-old Beni Arashiro, a new face on the Avex books that Hamasaki has supported for years. "It's not like Ayu was bad or anything, but Kose wanted to make sure consumers weren't getting bored because she'd been doing it for so long. She's basically reached her use-by date," an advertising agency insider tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "If you think about it, if the company is starting off an ad campaign focusing on a new direction, Ayu doesn't have much impact." Even Ayu's biggest fans -- top Avex shareholders -- may not exactly have turned against her, but have spoken out publicly with concerns that the company putting all its eggs in one basket by focusing on the 26-year-old's career could be dangerous if her shell starts to crack. A letter Avex President Masato Matsuura sent to Ayu to soothe her following shareholders' complaints may also have backfired. "It's not the right behavior for the president of a major record company listed on the stock exchange to show in relation to one individual on its books. Doing so would only make her feel more than ever that she is the reason the company is getting by," a music industry source tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "Many in the industry are worried that other singers will start copying Ayu's behavior, while there are quite a few saying that Ayu should be put back in her place because she's become too big for her boots."