Mainichi Daily article of Ayumi
 

By Ryann Connell
credits:mainichi-daily and ayu_ready?@AHS

Did Ayumi know about her condition when she and Tomoya were together or did she tell Tomoya after they had broken up, near the end of the year?

Thanks for posting the article.

Kinda' makes me wonder how lonely she really is .__.

^yup

I dunno. the article doesn't say exactly...

This article only made me more depressed about Ayu's half-deafness. But I always suspected Ayu must be extremely lonely. I want to give Ayu a big hug :(

She told Tomoya? I thought she said she only told Mika...

Interesting article. She probably didn't know HOW to tell everyone, especially since she had her countdown coming up, and a new digital single out. I'd do the same thing, to be quite honest.

She'll probably never tell us, but maybe one day she'll tell us what exactly she has that made her left ear deaf.

Thanks for the article!

I'm sure she'll overcome all of this. I don't mean career-wise. Of course I want her career to be at its best. I'm sure (or at least hoping that) she'll overcome all these problems in her personal life and just keep doing what she likes - music. She doesn't need the pressure of being the queen. She's an amazing musician, there's no need for such title, as she doesn't need reassurance.

Thank you for sharing

though...I think she should realise that somehow the family is more important than a career

I agree with you 100 percent. She does not need to be number 1 to keep making amazing music. Ayu's Queen of Jpop status was not what attracted me to her, but rather it was her originality in music and lyrics that brought me in as a fan. I am pretty sure it will stay that way as well.

why do these articles always bring in koda kumi and such people? its frustrating. they also failed to mention that it was a two week total as opposed to the normal one week total for the album.

ugh. hayters be haytin

thanks for sharing

I don't really see what difference that would make... A bunch of other Ayumi's albums were released on January 1, so.. The way SoundScan [not Oricon] reported their first week sales changes nothing, in my opinion.

AYu was taught at a very early age that it isen't. She hardly has any family at all.


Regarding her so called "decline" she was the highest earning artist last year, she's still on top of the game, and honestly unless times flashing coochie counts, no-one puts on as flashy shows as ayu, everyone knows that.

GUILTY was a great album and it will end up being the top ten best selling albums of 2008. Just like every other album she released. She just made a bad desicion on release date.

Awww.. I feel so sorry for her :( She sings with all her heart and one day... no, I won't say it!

I'm also not in the same boat as the author about how "concerned" we should be about how long she kept it to herself. What was she supposed to do? Go and blab about it the moment she found out? Sheesh.

I really don't like the tone of the article. It's kind of poisoning her image :/ Why haven't they written earlier before she announced her deaf illness. And now when they know that she can't hear on one ear they write that she is going down etc... I really, really don't like the article.

I love how the article says GUILTY only reached #2.

she's also kicking ass in the rest of asia too....I'm sure she'll be generally pleased and optimistic about her career.

just go tto see how she gets on with her tour....

I don't think she has control of releasing dates... it's avex trax promoters/releases planners whatever's job.
She really has been educated that a career is really important.
She lived alone with her mom and granny and her mom was always at work so no wonder where she got it from.

I don't think it's important for ayu to be any queen, it's really important to her though to satisfy the fans, I didn't see anything about ayu acting ourageous with GUILTY being #2.
They should add it had a fight against kobukuro's album though and it was pretty expected it won't beat their album with their such high sales as oldies people and a lot of male's strong boyband and of course her sales decline, she's almost 10 years a singer, and it's awesome her sales are still pretty consistent, she's selling more than half a million for an album after 10 years, isn't it awesome?

Agree.....agree......and agree....
:)

It really is tough and lonely being at the top. She's sung about that many times before, so I think we should all realize that by now.

The article really puts everything in a pessimistic light.

And honestly, I don't see anything wrong with debuting at #2... I mean... it's #2, right after #1... that's pretty damn good.

I don't like Ayu because she's at the top... I love her because of her awesome music! If charts didn't exist I'd still be here. When I got into her I didn't even know she was at the top (and that was just last January!). She doesn't need a title to be #1 in my book.

I hope she really gets through this, despite all the negative feedback she may get.

I know she'll get through this!

as long as she keeps her single streak active... she should be able to maintain that for a few years if avex plans its releases well.. at any rate; we now know why the album was called Secret...

Yep, I totally agree. :yes

I think with the loneliness issue...Ayu was taught at a very early age (with experience) that she has to depend on herself and stuff, or else she has no one.

Plus an issue like deafness is not like a gossip that you blab to people. Really, it's a lot easier to keep it in than just telling people.

It's kinda interesting how Nagase's the other person that knows this though.

exactly.

This is a very well written article--interesting and sad, really.

Looks like she's got a lot of competition ahead of her...

YEAH!!!! I also mentioned that disease as one of the main possibilities as well! :D (Even though I'm no otological specialist). Finally we get a specialist view on the matter and they also have a simillar thought. They don't mention acoustic trauma! I knew acoustic trauma was very unlikely, because ayu only has one affected ear, and she also didn't quit the music scene. ayu is surely not a self destructive person and I'm sure had her hearing loss been caused by the loud noise of the concerts, she'd already had taken a break or quit her career ;)

i dont like this article :/

Well, the article is blunt (and I'm not sure if Mainichi is a tabloid). However, I don't really think the article was that bad. I mean, tabloid or not, they're still media. Media obviously prefer that famous people be more open about their lives, because they'll have something to write about.
And the reason why they mention Koda Kumi is obvious because ayumi is not alone in the market and koda has been growing a large fanbase around her. Sometimes it's just impossible not to compare since for the media it doewsn't matter if they hurt ayu's or koda's feelings, if an artist is losing their spot and others are arising, comparison will be inevitable LOL

I'm just glad that article doesn't revolve around lies or questionable facts though.

They're criticizing that ayu isolated herself from the media: Well that's true.
They're criticizing that ayu has been losing fame and that other artists are arising: Well, that's true.
They're criticizing that gUILTY got number#2 while her previous albums got#1: well, that's true.

Maybe they aren't doing it in the kindest way, but heck, they don't own anything to ayu anyway :shrug

You are pretty right!
I'm not sure if the comparison they give is so good though, kumi's fame isn't really increasing either, she's still more popular, but since BEST ~ff~+~ss~ era her popularity is on the decrease like ayu's since A BEST and then since MY STORY. I think people are just annoyed with that comparison rather than hate kumi or stuff, I think it would be wiser to compare her to someone who's really starting to get popular. Personally I wish both ayu's and kumi's popularities would go up but it can't happen forever.

wahh..Ayu told Tomoya too? but i just have to believe Ayu in the blog she posted..
that the very first person she has told about her ear was Mika John~

sigh..poor ayu...
i still her loyal fans...whatever may happen in the future
thanks for sharing the article

Well, being him her love for years, even though they recently broke up, I'd believe she did tell him. If she didn't that would really be scary :eek

Hello? She told EVERYONE about her hearing problems in that 2004 NTV special.

The article is talking about her recent deep and incurable hearing loss she only revealed to TA (and ayumi also emphasized how she wanted the news to have died there). In 2004, details on her hearing loss were very shady, as people wouldn't really know its severity and if it was treatable. I think the article is emphasizing that once you become a famous person, you have to somewhat abdicate your privacy and avoid being too secretive. It's their opinion.

Agreed... :yes I really believe ayu ,will overcome this!!

Hmmmm, I wonder when she told him though, I wonder if she told him before or after they broke up. I'm guessing probably before... *sigh* who knows...

He was most likely aware that she was having appointments with physicians because her hearing was troubled. I find it unlikely that a couple wouldn't really share their healthy problem with each other :shrug

Ayumi will always b #1 in book

Interesting article - GUILTY didn't reach No1?

I laugh at stuff like this, and then feel bad for Ayu. She must feel a lot of emotions inside that she never shows to her fans.

Oh, and so what if GUILTY didn't hit #1? It's still a damn good album, so I don't really care. XD

Aww what a sad article. They should stop releasing depressing news @_@! how about some good news for once!

It's amazing the coverage this is getting. I mean, of course she's the face of Japan, but the overall coverage is just amazing.

Although this'll make everyone wonder why she sounds so great in her recordings, and contemplate large mixing, there's no way she's letting up her singles streak at least. As long as she's able to make it appealing to buyers, it'll be a hard to stop her.

seriously... i don't think Ayu HAD to reveal this problem unless she wanted to...
The author was liek "WHY DIDNT SHE??"... I mean she doesn't ave to, its a personal ordeal..
Each person has their own way to deal with things..
Personally I think Ayu kept it to herself.. and expressed her emotions through her music like she always does...

thanks for the article

I feel sorry for Ayu!
But still; she'll always be my queen and no one can defeat her!

While I have to agree, her disease is not diabetes or something else unrelated to singing. Her disability actually has an impact over her career. She has every right to hide it as much as she wants but fame still does have its price. You never know, maybe some of her fans that aren't members of TeamAyu could feel ignored when she told a secret only for those who pay a fee to maintain her fan club.

With the whole ear thing, you wonder if Secret was about this condition..

[highly unlikely, but still possible.]

--until that Day...

:( sad

that's not good because guilty cant reach #1 weekly..
and now is the 1st time..
guuilty make me disapointed

They're still talking about this in Japan? :/ They should just let it be, Ayu might be angry already about how the media keeps talking and writing articles on her hearing loss. It's not nice. This is one of the reasons I really hate media, they never let anything go so easily (someone even made a in memoriam speech for Britney Spears, I don't remember where this was, but it's true). Stupid.

And GUILTY is only punch of **** because it didn't get the top spot? I think #2 is awesome and good thing. I really don't see any reason why media should give a picture like this about the album. I mean, I loved GUILTY more than I ever loved Secret or (miss)understood, because there's so many songs that are like me. GUILTY is my new favourite album, and that media fools can't make me think otherwise.

And I don't really think Ayu even cares about her career so much she would start thinking of a suicide now that GUILTY didn't get the top spot. I knew there will be competition Ayu possibly won't ever win. And Koda Kumi... Well, I don't think she is going to be a long time popularity. Ayu's popularity can start rising again someday, maybe this year, who knows? And Utada Hikaru. She could sell more than Ayu, but she hasn't really released anything so crazily like Ayu has for years. And Utada's popularity really seems to be on rising point again (and I really think it's because of Flavor of Life and Hana Yori Dango 2, because Flavor of Life sold over 600,000 copies.).

I believe Koda's popularity will decrease soon more than it has (comparing to this year single sales to last year I'd say she's not as popular as before), and even if Ayu's popularity would decrease and she looses her #1 single streak, I bet people will still respect her. I do respect her a lot, not just because of her music and everything. I admire her because of how she can be so happy. Of course I love her amazing music too, but her lyrics are what I love most about Ayumi Hamasaki. :>

And now it seems to me that I'm going to start talk about why I'm into Ayu's music, I'm gonna stop right here and now about my babbling. :3

You are right.

If you don't want to be a target from media, don't become famous. If you want to be famous, get prepared to lose part of your privacy. It's not only the media that devoid artists from their privacy. The fans also do it. Tabloids and papparazzi exist because there are people who buy what they publish. This is how the celebrity world works, and, unfortunately, we can't change that. :(

In all honesty, I think GUILTY was a little mediocre album. Nothing new, and after a week listening to it, my interest in listening to the album completely faded out. And I'm a very hardcore ayu fan. They weren't directly criticizing the album though, but just trying to prove thast ayu is gradually losing popularity (we can't really compasre her popularity these days to the one she had in A BEST era, so the article points that after a long streak of #1 she's finally gotten a #2)

She doesn't care for her career? :eek Wow, if she doesn't, fans shouldn't care for it either, and move on to another artist. I still think she does, and would rather believe she still does care for her career, specially after she mentioned she would still work despite her hearing loss :shrug I don't think she's obsessed for the #1 spots though, but being obsessed about it doesn't necessarily implies you're really caring for your careeer imo.

^I think she was talking about ayu don't care she didn't get #1 rather than don't acre about her career...

The writer doesn't sound like an ayumi fan to me & the writer should note that ayumi's pre Avex mini album & A BEST 2 -BLACK- did not debuted at the no.1 spot on the Oricon weekly chart .

Then again , everyone's a critic . Usually when I come across such articles , I just take it with a pinch of salt .

I think I ow in the stage - don't be bothered by these articles afterall they are just the writers' own opinions, unless you are telling me the entire Japan / world wrote in their ideas -

I think they always mention Kuu to make more gossip, because the media likes to compare Ayumi to Koda and say that someone of them is obviously a lot better ans so on... =/

Thanks...wat a sad piece of news :(

If she still bother to break the news to tomoya 1st rather than any other people, that means she still cannot forget him??

maybe I don't know since both of them probably know each other almost 1/2 their lives

Yeah, as Ayumi said, they are not going to ignore each other, they still go to dinner and stuff.

Haha... But i guess that she usually tells her problems to him when they were together.... But after they break, perhaps this habit doesn't go away...:yes...

well, perhaps..

yeah only she herself knows the answer .

Who knows maybe they didn't really broke up in the 1st place but are taking a break of sorts ? I have no idea seriously .

Her hearing problem didn't start this year with her announcing. She's been having that problem for years, when she was still together with Nagase. If she were to be secretive and not tell him about it, then I'd say she didn't love him. How does a couple, living together for years won't know about each other problems?

No matter what.... I hope ayu will be fine even without tomoya..... She knows whats she doing.... =)

ayu is fantastic :yes

Thanks for the article, but it's not really showing Ayu in a positive light, it seems whoever wrote this is trying to say that Ayu is going down since the annoucement of her deafness...and I didn't know she told Tomoya about it. Meh.
GUILTY ONLY #2...wow, I think Ayu is going DOWNHILL guys! *sarcasam*

Thank you so much for the info!

Honestly, you guys are too sensitive. :laugh Not everybody has to write positive things about ayu. As long as they don't resort to batlant lies, they have every right to criticize her and her work. It's not because she's lost her hearing that she has to be treated under a different light, or that people who write articles have to feel pity for ayu. She IS losing popularity, and the fact GUILTY was #2 is definitely a sign of it. I agree it would be more correct for them to compare in terms of decrease in sales compared to the others albums sold, but their example still fit what they wanted to imply.

ayu's losing popularity, but I don't think that GUILTY being #2 is a sign of it. Since when the #2 position isn't awesome?
The total sales of GUILTY might not be so far from Secret's sales and it means that her popularity wasn't slightly decreased as bad as they say, and if they mean since the A BEST era where she was the most popular thing, so what did they expect?

Media is really good at exaggerations.

Her sales have been dropping year by year. Sooner or later her #1 streak would drop too. It could be that ayu definitely face someone whose popularity has risen too much or that is greater than hers, but if someone who used to be on TOP is now facing more and more artists topping her, that is a sign of what then?

#2 is awesome, but the article is focusing on this possible curve (I know they were rather blunt on say "only #2" but w/e):


111111111111111111111111 V
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Well it's pretty obivous isn't it? After 10 years it's pretty awesome her albums are still on top 3, let's not talk about top 5 and 10...

Yeah, that's wjhat's awesome about it! But we have to be prepared that her popularity will eventually decline and that people will comment on it. These numbers and whatever people say about them doesn't really matter to me though, because what I want is to still be enjoying her songs the next years.

Yeah eventually the main thing we need to care about is her music and not her popularity, I think people are just happy when they see that ayu's popular and she wins at stuff and they're used to it, but nothing is lasting forever and as long as ayu keeps doing music which is the important part then we all should be happy and not dissapointed, and ignore pathetic people who actually party over it (the popularity decrease) :shrug.

^ yeah..come to think of it if ayu music's quality decrease i would be quite disappointed in her..regardless of being popular or not.

''Nothing last forever'' sounds cruel to me but it's reality and we have to face it.

that's true so to speak . I rather ayumi keep on releasing good & consistent material from each album rather than churning out sub par material & yet each album's able to debut at the top which kinda defeats the whole purpose on why she's in the music business in the 1st place .

I always place quality over other issues .

I wish ayu support an success. I think it sos sad what's happened to her. Also, I think it unfair that avex doesn't seem to support her as much as koda. Meaning it seems like ayu's vids are cheap (ex: don't leave me alone) in $ & quality compare to what avex puts out for Koda.

Considering all that ayu has sacrficed for avex, that's sad. Still I hope ayu continue's to make music. I love her lyrics and her sound!!

Of course every music artist has their time when its time to say さよなら, and as sad as it is, we all know Ayu will one day stop making music...BUT I don't think it's going to be within the next 5 years, and yes, her popularity has declined slightly, but she's been around for 10 years, I mean, of course their is competition with Kuu and whoever else, but I still think Ayu outsells them in CD/DVD sales, lives/arena tours and goods. Plus Ayu's music is high quality, in my opinion, compared to others.

i agree wif u! what matters to me most is her music :yes

I hate Mainichi Daily. All the writers there must have an IQ of 90 or something. I've yet to see anything but condescending garbage being spewed from that site.

The fact a person isn't a hardcore obsessed ayu praising fanboy doesn't make them to have a IQ of 90.

i think she can stay in the top for more than 5 years from now, even celebrates her 15th year carrier on 2013
look at namie, she stay strong, and i think she is back as a queen of RnB, she looks hot and her sales is becoming better and better...

queen of hip-Pop to be precise XD.

I hope Ayu stays on top for another 10+ years, we'll just have to see. ;)

It's sad, but I do see some truth in this. Let's just wish all the best for her ^^
Her sales don't really matter nor her popularity to me (it's nice to see high sales though). As long as she's still making music I'm happy =D

well, i think the article has good points and bad points. on the one hand it seems to inform of facts, on the other hand, it leaves way to gossip...

thanks for posting

I'm going to refrain from taking jabs at your reading comprehension (or that shallow generalization you so casually made), but that isn't what I said at all. It's not the fact that they don't like Ayu. It's the fact that they don't seem to like anyone at all.

We all have no problem passing off tabloids as garbage, and sry2say, but Mainichi Daily's Entertainment section oftentimes resembles an internet tabloid (IMO anyway, which is a shame because the main paper itself is fine). I've noticed lately that their level of journalistic integrity has gone down when it comes to Entertainment news, for anyone. Not just Ayu. Regardless of celebrity status I think they should treat the subjects of their writing with more respect.

^ as I said, the article has a good and a bad side - let's take that good side!

Well, actually, they were a lot more professional in that article than even BBC. Yeah, because BBC quickly assumed her deafness to be caused by sound exposure just like Beethoven. First of all, Beethoven didn't become deaf because of sound, he most likely had some other illness that affected his ears. Second, ayu most likely doesn't have deafness because of sound exposure, because only one ear was affected ANd she didn't retire (we all know she doesn't have an IQ of 90 do be stubborn to still go on with something that caused damage to her ears, which proves it wasn't sound). BBC which is extremely respected worlwide, showed a extreme lack of knowledge on journalism when they wrote that article on ayu, assuming wrong things without further research.

On the other hand, Mainichi actually cared/bothered to ask a real ear specialist on what would it most likely be the cause based on symptoms ayu has been hinting us with over the years (tinnitus, gradual hearing loss to permanent hearing loss only affecting one ear, trips, etc). This is what journalism should be about. If the writer doesn't understand a subject (they don't have to know everything in this world 100%), they have to interview a professional who understands. This show that I'm not the one making generalizations here, when you just assumed everyone there have IQs lower than 90.

They don't own anything to these celebrities, so they can criticize them as much as they want, as long as they don't resort to batlant lies such as saying ayumi has STDs or was found on an abortion clinics and the likes. I don't understand why people get so angry when they read something that doesn't praise ayu. They don't have to. They were blunt, yeah, and maybe exaggerated a little, but ayu's popularity surely is declining and there are other younger JPOP stars on the rise, and GUILTY did "only" reach #2, because by ayu standards most people do indeed expect only #1s from the JPOP queen. We can't help that.

Mainichi Daily's Entertainment WaiWai section actually is articles collected from japanese tabloids. there's a little disclaimer at the bottom of this ayu article too, indicating it's not from the original Mainichi , which is a respectable newspaper.

Wow i want to be like her closest friend now so that she doenst have to keep things bottled up anymore!! I hop she's not too lonely....

Well, I think we don't need to discuss her illness and the sales of her album.Why don't we just take as she is? She shares her feelings with the world around though it's hard and she opens her heart with her songs.So let's just be grateful to her for her being and support her somehow ,but I don't know in what way we can do it.