I'm so glad that ayu's still with us, she's touring and anyone has a chance to go and see her.

I feel blessed I had a chance to see her for 13 times by now. it used to be such a big dream. I even saw ayu's concerts in my dreams when I was like 11 or 12 yrs old. and now I can go and see her whenever I want. it kinda blows my mind.

and then I think about Amuro Namie and Komuro Tetsuya and they're retiring this year and everything's changing, I suddenly realize how it's going to be painful if ayu decides to retire.

I'm listening M(A)DE IN JAPAN and god, I love this album. For me it's still sound fresh. There was a time I listened to much the album so I forgot it (except FLOWER) but now I think Ayu did a great job, telling the story of the songs, music, lyrics, concept. I can see reflected Japan and Ayu in this album, what she feels about her country and life.

My favourite thing about M(A)DE IN JAPAN are the guitar solos. They represent the feelings of the songs perfectly.

FLOWER: sounds angry, fast, stunning, like destroying oneself.
Mad World: sounds melancholic, like if someone is crying and stand up his face to life.
Breakdown: the title itself said all, the guitar is epic.
Survivor: I can feel the constriccion, how it's trying to escape and be free.
Mr. Darling: cute, cheesy and happy.

I agree with you so much! love this album, Mad World is my fav, the only thing that kind of bothers me is that all tracks from tasky to Mr. Darling have like this instrumental sound, guitars, piano, violin, etc. but then it jumps to Summer Love and MCM and I like those songs but is such a big and sudden change! I always felt like an EDM interlude between Mr. Darling and Summer Love would have been great :laugh

We all need to grow up then, commenting on a culture that isn't ours in such a way too well except those members that like Timmy, now live in Japan and in a way are part of the culture too. I would say he does have right - I am not taking away right of people that don't live in Japan to comment on it but if you say he needs to grow up for the reason you stated then many of us need to grow up as well.

That's exactly how I feel about these songs too! I think Mr. Darling is one of the songs that I listen to the least from MADE IN JAPAN, but every time it comes up on shuffle I think "oh, it's actually quite an adorable song..." :yes

Ah I see. Thanks for filling me in.
I was expecting something worse. But this is a good example of a culture gap.

actually since TK announced that, I started to think if Ayu does too... I would lost a great inspiration in my life :(:(:(

Raising eyebrows at this TK thing. Such a dramatic exit. I don't know if you can really speak of a culture gap? Cheating is disgusting and wrong, no matter where you live or what religion you practise. It's betrayal, dubble-crossing... Is it normal in Japan to give up your career after a scandal comes out? Maybe I am in the wrong to say but... it looks very weak of him. Even a little planned, and then this happens and he is like; might as well retire right now. I mean to say; Ayu has revived after many scandals; might have losed some fans, but I am very thankful that she is still doing what she loves to do.
Her continuing on, appear to me much stronger than TK's decision.

Whatever, it is awful and I am feeling bad for Keiko. Nobody deserves to be treated like this.

All this retire talk... I am with you guys! I really cannot imagine Ayu to retire.

I don't think the average person would retire. He's a public figure and what he did was really gross, so I think there's a different standard expected of him. I don't think it's necessarily wrong for the public to want him to step out of the limelight temporarily or long-term. This wasn't an accident and it's an extremely bad thing to reflect on your character.

Retirement is however pretty extreme imo. A few months of reflection/reconciliation/whatever you wanna call it should be enough. I mean, your apology is "Sorry, honey, I'll never earn money for us again so let's go live off our savings and hope we don't go broke~!"??

Freedom of speech is not the same as the freedom of saying anything.

Yes, an EDM interlude was necessary, I agree. I would put one more EDM song too, Summer Love and Many Classic Moments alone are weird.

It happens to me, I only listen Mr.Darling if I'm listening the album.

Hope Ayu does a collab or 2 for her next album! Sayonara from sixxxxxx was so great, and the video was perfect aswell. Apart from the weird animal sounds haha. Still a high quality PV!

oh I don't mean the cheating itself as a culture gap, I mean public figures speaking out/handling scandals differs from Japan and like Western countries.

Yes, I was wondering the same!

Thank you!
He can state an opinion but he’s not exempt from criticism, like...?

I need a new album so bad It's getting too long by now

Waiting for her to surprise with an anni. release or something.

I am desperatly wating for her promised April concert announcement ><

Yea I cant wait for this tour to end to be honest, because I wanna know what she had for us or she got nothing special really...kinda lost hope for any new music release now

Yeah, I would think for as long as Timmy has lived in Japan, he would know more. It does not ruin your career in Japan; honestly, I don't think many cared about his personal life anymore at all. He chose to end his career in a way that was convenient timing for him. That's my take on the situation at least.