Ain't no dog's life for pop star's pampered pooches


By Ryann Connell
Staff Writer

April 24, 2003


Pop diva Ayu Hamasaki is going to the dogs -- literally, according to Shukan Gendai (5/3).

Where Japanese teenyboppers dote on the every move of the bubblegum pop queen, Hamasaki seems more intent on focusing on her dogs.

But, just as Hamasaki emulates Madonna by continuing to influence millions of teens, her penchant for pooches makes her more like a primadonna because of the dogged way she insists her pups be pampered.

"At the end of recording a TV show, she headed straight for her chihuahua Clare, picked it up and started making an almighty fuss over it, kissing it and praising it for waiting so long for her while she worked. She went a bit over the top the way she fawned over the dog," a talent agency manager tells Shukan Gendai.

When asked once about how many dogs she owns, Hamasaki once said, "Well, there's Ringo the Yorkshire terrier, Melon the chihuahua, Clare the chihuahua, Maroon the miniature dachshund, Vanilla the chihuahua and Pudding the chihuahua."

Shukan Gendai notes that it found out the pop princess also owns Momo a Shiba, Bu-chan, a bulldog, and Choko, a long-haired chihuahua, meaning of the at least nine dogs she possesses, five are chihuahua -- a feat that has earned Hamasaki the moniker of the Chihuahua Queen.

A column Hamasaki writes for a fashion magazine combines the konnichiwa, the Japanese word for "hello," and her coveted canine to become Konnichihuahua. She dots the column with photos of her dogs and has even started appearing with her furry friends in photospreads for fashion magazines, becoming, in the magazine's words, a chihuahuaholic.

Rather than seeing Hamasaki as barking mad, young girls can't get onto the bandwagon quick enough.

"Hamasaki started the chihuahua boom, which was helped along by Ku-chan, a cute little chihuahua that appears in ads for (loanshark) Aiful," Keiji Masu, owner of Wanpaku Chihuahua, which specializes in sales of the rat-like dogs, tells Shukan Gendai. "Chihuahuas are selling now for about 230,000 to 240,000 yen, an average of about 40,000 to 50,000 yen more dearer that what they had been going for just a few months ago."

While dog sellers and girls may be pleased by Hamasaki's hampering for hounds, it's got many in the TV industry growling.

Hamasaki insists that her pampered pooches accompany her everywhere. As the same conditions apply for her hair stylist and make-up artists, every time she parades into a TV studio, she's followed by a literal retinue befitting a queen.

"While Ayu's working away for long hours, her dogs are cramped up in her dressing room, barking like mad and pooping everywhere," a production company employee tells Shukan Gendai. "We've got to take it in turns looking after the dogs. It's a bloody ridiculous situation."

At least one network, though, has countered the problem by creating a special canine-friendly dressing room for Ayu and her brood, but that has also raised some hackles.

"During one music show recording, Ayu insisted on a 'doggy break' and spent all but the few minutes she was supposed to appear inside her dressing room playing with her dogs," a source from the show says.

Hamasaki is also said to be petulant when it comes to her pooches, throwing tantrums if they're not given the royal treatment. But there have been lighter moments.

"An assistant director opened the door of the dressing room and it slammed into one of Ayu's dogs, which gave a terrified yelp. The assistant director threw himself to the floor in a kowtow, turned to the dog and began speaking to it in an honorific-packed, polite form of Japanese, apologizing and asking if it was hurt," the music program source tells Shukan Gendai. "At the time, the assistant director was petrified by how Ayu would react. A little later, though, he'd calmed down and was laughing at himself for having spoken to the dog using the politest form of Japanese possible."



http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/face/index.html