Ayu's blood

Although the thought never occured to me until reading a post in the Enquiries forum today. The discussion was on why Ayu's videos had such an American style, why she had so many American people in her videos, and why she so frequently goes to America.

A member mentioned how Ayu was born in Fukuoka, a town with a high American population due to US military bases and activity.

It was also restated that Ayu's father left she and her mother when she was very young. Nobody knows anything about him, really, just that Ayu (for quite some time as seen in her lyrics) was not very crazy about him for having left.

Another strange account is how Ayu's mother, she has said, always wanted Ayu to call her the American-English "Mommy", as opposed to a Japanese name for a mother.

Obviously Ayu does have some naturally Asian features, and her hair and eyes are naturally dark, despite all the color changes she likes to create. But it's funny: a lot of my friends have seen pictures of her lying around, and they have not known that she was asian. They thought she was just "exotically white".

Myself, now I quite think it is an entire possibility that Ayu could be half-Japanese, half-American.

I feel like it might also explain her hyper-affinity for all things American. Aditionally, if her father was American, it may also speak words about why, pre-RAINBOW-forgiving-my-angry-and-sad-past, Ayu prefered sticking to all-Japanese lyrics. But strangely, she had almost entirely English titles.

Of course, that would get entirely psychoanalytical, which nobody here can do without (a) having proper training and (b) personally having a revealing interview with Ayu. But I thought it would be fun and interesting to speculate.

Thoughts, conversation, speculation, suggestions...

[Ani_C]

wow o_o u have some good points there

[Dangel]

wow u know her so much and i support your views.

[Jer Sieu]

I would have to disagree...

She is very white doesn't mean that she is half- american... We've seen asians very very white... For example, some Hong Kong actresses are very very unbelieveably white... Compare Ayu with them?

So what if some people calls their mom mommy? Why does Singaporean call their mom "mother"? Most chinese call their mom "ma ma" or something else... I am not singaporean btw...

Her eyes are completely black and that indicates that the chances of her being half american/japanese is very slim.. (not sure about this one)

Not all her PVs have Americans... Probably she wants to eliminate boredom in her PV by changing dancers/audience/whatever everytime...

May be she just wants to be unique by having English song titles... (I think all her song titles are in English) because we've seen other singers have English titles and some of them sound really cool.. May be she wants to be like them from the start...




Personally, I think that Ayu is a complete Japanese... These IS a slight possibility that she is half american/japanese too... This is because those things I just said may be wrong because some are just not proven...

EDIT : Sorry, completely forgotten some parts.. My first paragraph is wrong and have been deleted sorry... In fact, her father left her before she was even 2... So she couldn't have learn any English by then...

[Qt Mashi]

wow evolusean that's realli intersting! but i realli doubt it because she has said that she was Japanese, thus her profile, if she was half american she would have said in her profile, Ayu won't lie to us

Originally Posted by Qt Mashi

wow evolusean that's realli intersting! but i realli doubt it because she has said that she was Japanese, thus her profile, if she was half american she would have said in her profile, Ayu won't lie to us

Umm...Namie Amuro is a quarter Italian (her mother was half italian) and she was afraid to admit it because people would view her differently since she wasn't of pure blood and Japanese people tend to look down upon mixed bloods. Maybe that's what happened to Ayu. There is a posibility that Ayu's father was an American stationed in Japan. I've heard stories about stationed men having affairs with Japanese women and then leaving them with their children while they move on. Maybe that's what happened. Which could explain why her father left so suddently?

It's my speculation that Ayu did find some info about father in late 2003. She probably found out that he had passed away which could be why she wrote Memorial Address.

Originally Posted by touchedstar

i think she might be half african-american actually. that explains why she suddenly got into gospel stuff with B&D and Pride. its obvious that she is coming to terms witht his side of herself.

The SWEET interview explains that while she was in NY, she overheard a church choir so she went in to listen. Because she liked what she heard, she wanted to make something funky that included a choir and hence, Bold & Delicious was born!

[*Petit*]

I think that many of the artists around has something special to their appearances, if not they woulden't have been noticed. Ayu's features makes look sort of exotic no matter what, but she's mostly made her appearance look more western so most of us are used to seeing her being "western-looking." She's definetly not a classical japanese beauty (like shimatani hitomi f.ex). And the shape of her eyes are very special.

But if you compare her to 100% japanese people that actually look western like Ken Hirai, she definetly looks japanese.

And to those who wrote that black eyes and hair colour is a sign of that she's japanese, that's right, but the black colours are on dominant genes, so if her mother is 100% japanese and her father was caucsian, there's hardly a chance for her getting the lighter tones.

[Raiu-Ayu]

Ayu could be of mixed blood. She hasn't said she isn't so she could be.

By the way, her father my have been half Japanese half American so she would be a quater American. She would still have mixed blood. Her mother might have mixed blood and so ayu would be part whatever.

And as far as I know Kurumi Hamazaki was a name ayu used during her b-movie days. She made it up, it's a phsyondium or something like that. It's what people like actors, singers and writers give when they don't want to submit their real names. Most of the cast of Metal Gear Solid one used them

[immel]

Originally Posted by evolusean

Another strange account is how Ayu's mother, she has said, always wanted Ayu to call her the American-English "Mommy", as opposed to a Japanese name for a mother.

Interesting, never really thought of that. I agree some with Jer Sieu, her father left very early, but it just might have left tracks in her language. You've certainly learned the words "Mom" and "Dad" by the age of 2 .

her hair and eyes are naturally dark

She mentioned in an interview, I think I read it at masa's site, that her natural hair color is dark brown, not the usual intense black that is the usual color for all Japanese.

Myself, now I quite think it is an entire possibility that Ayu could be half-Japanese, half-American.

I have a small suspicion that she might be of mixed blood, but I don't think it's American. Uhh, I just dont. I'm like leaning 70% to that she is completely Japanese and 30% to that she might be of mixed blood.

I feel like it might also explain her hyper-affinity for all things American. Aditionally, if her father was American, it may also speak words about why, pre-RAINBOW-forgiving-my-angry-and-sad-past, Ayu prefered sticking to all-Japanese lyrics. But strangely, she had almost entirely English titles.

She does enjoy a lot of things related to America, but that is quite common in the overall Japanese community today. One difference is that she has got the possibility to live it out to the full, being able to go there etc. But you certainly are making good points .

Of course, that would get entirely psychoanalytical, which nobody here can do without (a) having proper training and (b) personally having a revealing interview with Ayu. But I thought it would be fun and interesting to speculate.

, I thoroughly agree.


Very nicely written of you, good reading and it brings up a lot of thoughts.

I think that Ayu involving non-Japanese people in her PVs should be left out of this discussion, because I don't think she is in very much control over that aspect over her PVs... but ofcourse we cannot know.

Originally Posted by Qt Mashi

wow evolusean that's realli intersting! but i realli doubt it because she has said that she was Japanese, thus her profile, if she was half american she would have said in her profile, Ayu won't lie to us

Maybe Ayu wouldn't, but her contract with avex might say otherwise.

[Yukitora]

Originally Posted by immel

She mentioned in an interview, I think I read it at masa's site, that her natural hair color is dark brown, not the usual intense black that is the usual color for all Japanese.

Usual colour for ALL Japanese? That doesn't even make sense. My hair colour is dark brown, not black, and it goes for half of my family of which both my mum and dad have jet black hair.

There are people in Japan who are naturally born with light brown/brunette hair. MANY asians actually have dark brown hair, but it is often generalized as black instead as it looks quite similar from distance.

Originally Posted by touchedstar

i think she might be half african-american actually. that explains why she suddenly got into gospel stuff with B&D and Pride. its obvious that she is coming to terms witht his side of herself.

Mika got into gospel music and she's not American. Why can't Ayu?

Originally Posted by evolusean

I feel like it might also explain her hyper-affinity for all things American. Aditionally, if her father was American, it may also speak words about why, pre-RAINBOW-forgiving-my-angry-and-sad-past, Ayu prefered sticking to all-Japanese lyrics. But strangely, she had almost entirely English titles.

All of YUI's song titles are written in English, yet she has no english blood. Why must Ayu? The fact that using english for song titles was/is very "fashionable" does not nessicarily mean that the artist has any knowledge of that language. Ayu said herself that she uses a translator (as she does when she has english lines in her music), and that sometimes the translations are not completely correct (e.g. evolution should have been era, which makes more sense with the lyrics).

It's more liable that it was harder to describe her feelings into a language she didn't even know let alone put them into words. After all, her whole first album was about herself.

Originally Posted by evolusean

Another strange account is how Ayu's mother, she has said, always wanted Ayu to call her the American-English "Mommy", as opposed to a Japanese name for a mother.

This is a very common case through Asian/non-english speaking families. My friends for example. However, the fact her mum wanted to is a good point.

She doen't look mix (mix usually has this brownish smooth coloured skin), but I've seen mixed who look completely Asian except for their caucasion features so theres a counter example I can't use

In short: I highly doubt it but I think you're awesome to point all these things out Never occured to me.

Originally Posted by alternarist

haha. i doubt her father is an american. her surname is hamasaki! and whats her previous name? i heard its kurumi _____? lol. but the points raised are rather logical. hmm.

Originally Posted by Jer Sieu

check wikipedia... it IS kurumi hamasaki... then to ayumi hamasaki... so IF her dad is american, it wouldn't be hamasaki... So the only possible way she is half american/japanese is her mom is american or it wasn't hamasaki...

Hamasaki Kurumi was her stage name for when she acted in Dramas. Her given name was always Ayumi (as seen through interviews regarding her past) however was originally written in Kanji. It even says on her "acting card" where she is named Hamasaki Kurumi that her real name as Ayumi. Sorry, but I can't find the image right now, but many people have seen it.

[immel]

Originally Posted by Yukitora

Usual colour for ALL Japanese? That doesn't even make sense. My hair colour is dark brown, not black, and it goes for half of my family of which both my mum and dad have jet black hair.

There are people in Japan who are naturally born with light brown/brunette hair. MANY asians actually have dark brown hair, but it is often generalized as black instead as it looks quite similar from distance.

I'm sorry, it was stupid of me to say like that. I had read somewhere that more or less all Japanese are born with intensly black hair, yet again, I'm sorry.

[sora2522]

Originally Posted by immel

Maybe Ayu wouldn't, but her contract with avex might say otherwise.

either that, or she didn't know that her dad was american? i mean, c'mon. her mom prolly didn't get along with him, or maybe she did but was heartbroken when he left. one way or another, she wouldn't have talked to ayu about him. just my suggestion, but yea...

[CREA.tive]

^I agree with Jer Sieu a LOT of asian people are really whiteeven me....i'm 100% but still, my skin is the same color as my canadian friends

[Jer Sieu]

@immel : well, as I said there is a slight chance she is half american/japanese...

A star lying? Everybody knows if a star lies, there is a high chance that people won't listen to her music anymore... I'm sure Ayu doesn't want that...

And there is always not enough prove to prove that Ayu is pure japanese or half american/japanese.. However the chance that Ayu is speaking the truth is incredibily high... If she is half american/japanese and doesn't wants to reveal it, she may keep quiet to that question instead of lying...

@creative : You are as white as your canadian friends? are you proud of that? i envy you... some of my friends (girls of course) wants to be white but they cant... sad thing...

EDIT : Even if she is half american/japanese, I will still listen to her music...

[immel]

I certainly hope that no-one is against the idea of the possibility of her being of mixed blood, if that fact would change your view of Ayumi... I don't know what to say.

[ohsixthirty]

i think she might be half african-american actually. that explains why she suddenly got into gospel stuff with B&D and Pride. its obvious that she is coming to terms witht his side of herself.

[Dreamland]

Originally Posted by touchedstar

i think she might be half african-american actually. that explains why she suddenly got into gospel stuff with B&D and Pride. its obvious that she is coming to terms witht his side of herself.

not necessarily...

maybe it just fit with the theme of the song and she wanted to use some powerful voices to get the message across or something like that

but what ever floats yer boat go with it

[Raleigh]

Interesting analysis which could be possible

[alternarist]

haha. i doubt her father is an american. her surname is hamasaki! and whats her previous name? i heard its kurumi _____? lol. but the points raised are rather logical. hmm.

for you guys info, singapore is a multi-racial society. we address our mother in a lot of ways. "mummy", "mother!", "ma"...

[Jer Sieu]

^ Yup... I agree on the young photos part... Another nice point... Good one..

@alternarist : i've seen singaporean dramas are mostly they call their mom "mother"... hehe...

check wikipedia... it IS kurumi hamasaki... then to ayumi hamasaki... so IF her dad is american, it wouldn't be hamasaki... So the only possible way she is half american/japanese is her mom is american or it wasn't hamasaki...

Nice one, alternarist... completely forgotten about that point...