TA Blog 「Happy New Year☆」(2.1.22)
 

An auto-translation of Ayu's most recent blog post.

TA Blog, 2.1.22
Happy New Year☆

She’s speaking like it will be her last live before announcing she is retiring…

There isn't a hint of mystery or vagueness here in this TA post.
The post on IG is sounding so dire and here she is being "yeah , all is cool , DM me what song would you like to hear in April.
Girl, you just started a timer for who knows what.
Oh, well, I guess we will know come April.
Damn.

Omg it sounds like retiring… what could it be if not?
I haven’t seen her live yet. I was thinking about going to that concert but i was hoping for a tour this year and going to a later date so I can save a bit more of money. But maybe there wont be any more lives this year…

no way she announces the retirement :vsad my heart's broken

why would she say "the last big news"?!

Totally, I haven’t seen her live yet. Omg, my heart stopped! :(

Well, shit. I guess all good things come to an end, but wow, I was just saying the other day that Ayu will go on making music and playing shows until she’s 90 years old. I didn’t think she’d retire. It’s the “first and last big news” part she posted in English on Instagram that’s really throwing me. Guess we’ll have to see in a few months.

If she does retire, though, I hope she plays a dome or stadium because those shows will sell out and she’ll need a lot of seats for people who want to see her, myself included.

It’d be really lonely if she retires, but if it’s what she wants, then I fully support it. She’s a mom now, so much has changed in the world, she’s done more than enough in terms of her impact on Japanese popular music. Ayu, you don’t owe anybody anything—love you always!

I'll be sad if Ayu retires, but also extremely happy for her - she's been working a long time, and I am in awe of how she has maintained her passion for music and performance for twenty-five years, especially with all the hardships she has endured.

I'll be interested to see how she words her retirement message though - I think she'll leave room for a comeback someday. I think it's more likely she will announce an "indefinite hiatus" than an absolute retirement, but we will see!

I don’t know, part of me doesn’t think Ayu would dangle that possibility of news over her fans for 4 months.

It could simply be the Asia tour being set up again.

Maybe. But wonder how possible could it be?

The part about not having finished discussing the “method and timing properly with various parties yet” leads me to believe it has something to do with venues for a tour internationally.

A Japanese fan on Twitter said if it’s positive news (and not full/semi-retirement related) it could be related to an addition to a tour or the commencement of a new one.

I’m gonna go way out and say it’s the first and last time she will include tour dates outside of Asia (which would mean the “globe” she sang upon during her last tour would come to serve as a bit of foreshadowing).

I would prefer this kind of news, Imagine she's doing a world tour, I would do everything to see her live once again (had the chance to see her in Tokyo back in 2010)

Wait and See...

Let’s hope an Asia tour. Instead of retirement

Apparently her word choice for "浜崎あゆみからの報告" is uncharacteristic for most of these announcements?

Oh my, I just read her instagram post... Is this really happening ? =(
This post screams "RETIREMENT" to me, no matter how hard I can try to deny it...
Wait & see but prepare yourself...

No way she's going to retire before going on her supposed "Asia" Tour :tired
but her using the word "first and last" big news makes everyone anxious...

Yes:no

Because Namie Amuro announced retire before a few day，she use two word "the first and the last". "good bye" in her goods with 25th anniversary live:no

I woke up to her Instagram post and panicked a bit with that "first and last big announcement" thing :(

retirement doesn't seem like something she would do, but people change so she may feel differently now. I'm gonna hold out hope that this announcement is something positive.

Namie was different tho, you should stop comparing. She wanted to retire for her 20th Anni already kept going for another 5 years to have that live. Also, all signs pointers towards it.
Also she always said she wants to stop someday.

Namie did seem like she wanted to stop at some point while Ayu was like "If without the stage, I'd die" and such... but still, it's odd.