Yahoo: Tokyo police raid Avex over Ayu's traffic violation

[ExodusUK]

2 hrs 26 mins ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese police Wednesday raided the office of the agent of pop superstar Ayumi Hamasaki after a promotional event in April drew 8,000 screaming fans and stopped traffic in central Tokyo.

Police raided the offices of agent Avex Entertainment Inc., over the event that was allegedly held without a permit in Tokyo's fashionable Shibuya district.

Shrieking crowds massed around Hamasaki, 30, when she appeared for several minutes to promote her new book at the teenage fashion temple Shibuya 109, a shopping centre that is a magnet for teenage girls.

Police are reportedly investigating the incident as a possible violation of the road traffic law, but they declined to comment, as did Avex staff.

Hamasaki, known to her fans simply as 'Ayu,' enjoys intense adoration as a pop diva and fashion icon among girls and young women in Japan and elsewhere across East Asia, including Taiwan and China.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090610...cjapanhamasaki

Organizers of a street event featuring Japanese pop superstar Ayumi Hamasaki have come under suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Law by holding the event without a license, it has emerged.

The Metropolitan Police Department searched the offices of Hamasaki's management agency Avex Entertainment and several other locations in connection with an investigation Wednesday. Police are planning to send documents on involved parties to public prosecutors, accusing them of violating the law.

According to police, Hamasaki held an event at 109 Square in front of the 109 department store in Tokyo's Shibuya district at around 3 p.m. April 7. The event, held to promote a new book about the star, was an unannounced "surprise event," and the square was soon flooded with some 8,000 onlookers. The crowd overflowed the boundaries of the square with some ending up on the surrounding streets, causing traffic mayhem at the major junction.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/natio...na007000c.html
omg ayu what have you done!! Why do they always use the worst photos of Ayu too?

[Maemi]

wow. and, ayu really looks old in that pic. @_@ without tons of make-up...

[zyoeru]

The only crime here is using that ugly photo.

A RAID? Sounds way more important than it actually is.

[koumori]

Ohemgeee >__<

Poor Ayumi...all this scandal...

And she looks totally different in that photo..@_@ LOLL.

EDIT: LOLLL @ Furashubakku XD Really? It's all okay?! ;_;

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

thanks for the article.

"omg ayu what have you done!! Why do they always use the worst photos of Ayu too?"

I think we all knew what happened already, and yes they always pick weird pictures lol


EDIT: that picture is old anyways lol i dont think she looks old xD

[minna]

they could have chose another pic (-_-||)

hopefully people will forget about that scandal quickly

[Lanz16]

Oh dear... what's happening???
I hope she's fine... despite of this horrible scandal.


And WHAT THE HECK! on the pic.
Its 3 or 4 years ago!


Thanks for the flash news.

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by Furashubakku

The only crime here is using that ugly photo.
A RAID? Sounds way more important than it actually is.

Hmm... this scandal just never ends...

And a raid? Lmao, yeah okay, avex is hiding drugs and Ayu just raped a woman.

[koumori]

^ Ohemgee, really?! D': HOW COULD YOU AYUMI?!?! -die-

LOLL~

[PinkShinigami]

I thought they had stopped this? >.<

Guys, the picture could be hella' worse.

A raid?
:S
A raid for what? :S

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

honestly this doesn't really affect ayu, they just use her name to get the notice. i mean it affects her staff, but not her. she doesn't organize those events

but i literally just saw this on the news hahaha

[extepan]

ahhh that photo looks bad!

[Neferet]

Aahh... still with this? -__-
And that pic? OMG They could have used another one!

[njanjayrp]

This is old news. Why posting this again every few weeks?

[Blasterion]

lol yeah absolutely..they should have used a better pic!

and Avex should actually have went and got a license, but now they're stuck in this mess

[keikeiaznqueen]

lol, I love how they throw in Ayu's name as much as they could to get the publicity for this article that they need. Geez, the media can't get more obvious.

And honestly, using the word "raid" is such a word choice... it misleads the reader so bad. Haha...

[polka-dot-jewel]

Wow it's on the US Yahoo News o______o

Well they can't prosecute Ayu - she didn't know they didn't have a permit, and honestly, the police SHOULDN'T be surprised so many people showed up. If they can't find a permit, some bad things could happen to Max and some other people DX

[Hachimitsu]

Why do they use such an old picture from a Panasonic promotion? It's completely unrelated..

[polka-dot-jewel]

^ They always use old pictures. I remember with the announcement of her being deaf in her left ear, they would use pictures from the Panasonic press conference in 2006.