^ Yeah, not being liked doesn't mean you have a hard life, lol. The fact that she wasn't well liked just proves how fortunate she really is, to be able to make it as a star when nobody likes what you have to offer.

Congrats to both Namie and Ayu! They deserve their places

EDIT: lol at the Kumi discussion. Here's my 2 cents. She's been through a lot to get to where she is now too, just like any other artist, so people snubbing her and just making it like whoever uses sex to sell is instantly famous, need to back off a bit. Others have tried to do what Kumi did and failed. She actually has talent which is something and really if she used a way to make herself more known then I say good for her :shrug. I'm not saying she should have been on this poll because I'm sure there are a lot more artists that have been through worse but really, some people need to be less harsh :/

I'm not saying she should be at the top of the list or something - Namie deserves that. :) I was just pointing out that in the culture of Japan, it is common to give your male coworkers a gift on Valentine's Day. (so its not like something incredibly special that she did in order to get attention) Then they are supposed to return the favor by giving you a gift on White Day a month later - whether you might particularly like the person or not. It is just considered polite and well mannered and of course the Japanese are very meticulous when it comes to that kind of thing. So to not receive something in return speaks more to the fact that Avex really didn't seem to care about her one way or the other at that time, not necessarily that those people didn't like her personally.

Honestly, I believe it all came down to her looks because her singing and dancing is better than a lot of people out there.(I'm not even really a Koda fan, but I can still admit that she has some talent in that area) She didn't have the looks of a pop star, so Avex really didn't think she had selling potential until they came up with the whole Ero-Kakkoi angle. In this instance I don't look down on her for using sex to sell because she had been trying hard to make it from a very young age based on her talent and not her looks. For example, I'm sure her face was the reason she didn't get put into Morning Musume when she auditioned, not a lack of talent. Its unfortunate in the pop industry that you basically have to be a knock out or sex it up to really sell - but that is something that society decided, not Koda Kumi.

I know this culture trait, but I really doubt she gave them chocolate just cuz she is really a nice person with so much love deep inside her heart... She wanted them to have a more friendilly attitude towards her and failed... I'm not saying that it was easy for her and her story is one of the reason why I dislike avex... But any pop singer anywhere in the world needs to overcome this stuff in order to get as famous as she got

^ Well even so, at least she's making an effort? And whether I want to be friendly to people, or really have that much love (lol), I would still be hurt if people... just ignore it or something... it's a really insulting gesture imo. I don't think working in a company where almost everyone dislikes or ignores you for a couple of years is even an "easy" life, but that's my opinion too. :)

Congrats to both Namie and Ayu. Both realli deserve the spot.. love both of them ^^

Congrats to Namie and Ayu! Ayu did inspired many Japanese people thorugh her poignant lyrics. They both deserve it!

I like the quote "the job despite the illness"...

Thanks for sharing!:)

Congrats to Ayu & Namie. Both deserved #1.