Thesis About Ayu
 

(lol I'm a mod and even I'm not exactly sure where this should go)

So, yes, as the title implies, I plan on writing my 20-page senior thesis this next semester about Ayu. Specifically, perhaps (although I haven't gotten the okay for it yet so it is subject to change) about what it is about Japanese culture that allowed Ayu to become so famous. I will be taking it from a "Queen of Pop" angle, and will mostly focus on her "peak" from the 2000-2003 era.

What I guess I'm getting at here is...if any of you know of any interviews, (official) writings, even cultural studies that may help, I'd be very grateful. I'm starting to get some sources together before I start in a couple weeks, but more help is appreciated! Also, if you can think of aany other angles this could go from if the original angle doesn't pan out, I'd appreciate it as well!

^ First of all, what is the class? I'd like to know what class would allow a thesis on Ayumi. :) Also, what the class is predetermines a lot about the paper.

It's my senior thesis as a Japanese Studies Major. We're allowed to pretty much write about whatever we want.

Do your best!! I'd like to do my thesis abou Ayu if I had the chance! To get information you should check the 2004 NTV interview as it tells a lot about Ayu's life and career

Yeah I definitely have that one already, mostly looking for magazine interviews I may not be aware of and the like. (Or some obscure documentaries) I've got NTV and CNN on hand already.

You can find some stuff here:
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=52

^ :laugh

I'm pretty sure she knew about that, considering she's a mod and all. I think she wants to know if anyone happens to have something that isn't here? :) Just in case...

EDIT:

http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84766
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89980
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61408

Don't know if they're going to be helpful to you, but they're not in library, so I figured I'd link them here. :heart

If you haven't seen it already, Ayu's interview with Rockin' on Japan might be helpful. Though it focuses mostly on the personal aspect of Ayu's artistry, I think her responses are commentary not only on her personal life but on Japanese society at the time. Also, when writing her Wikipedia article, I found this New Paper article really useful (it's about her "merchandise empire".) In addition to the TIME article, this Web Japan one also provides some insight to her influence outside of music.

And there's always Wikipedia. (It's a featured article, so it's not a repository of junk dumped there by a rabid fan/anti-fan. You can see the sources for yourself.) *cough*

@taskinillusion

Really?
Didn't notice she was a mod! xD Just posted it cuz it took me a long time to realiese how much good stuff is on there xD

^Thanks! That's the kind of stuff I am looking for. <3

What about the 21 Light and Shadow Interviw?
it talked about her early influence on Japanese GIRLS.

Anyway, Im looking forward to reading your paper and goodluck/!

I would definitely read Masa's essays on Ayu on his website. They're very insightful!!

I was going to post a similar thread today Calico :). I'm in the process of writing a research paper for my English senior class. It's basically a free write, so my teacher said we could write about anything we wanted, so long as there's a lot of juicy information :D. I chose to write about Ayu <3 I'll look to this thread for reference too :).

Any of you who may have been wondering what's going on with this, perhaps you will be happy to know I am officially writing my thesis on Ayu? Department's approval and everything. =)

I will be focusing on how Ayu's life (it will be a 25 page + bio thesis) and style affects the average Japanese person...psychologically. I have all my sources (thanks to many of you!) and am in the process of outlining. It's gonna be interesting and hopefully I will do well on it! If anybody wants to read it at the end of the term when all is said and done I will be more than glad to share it. I can only imagine what my public presentation is going to be like for the 120+ Japanese students we have here, haha.

ooo good luck!!!! :D I would very much love to read it when you are ready to share. I think if I had to write a 25 page essay I'd want to write it on something I love!!!

Good luck Calico! :D

So you changed your topic, then? I think your new topic is much easier. :yes I also don't think that Japan's culture allowed her to be successful so much as she used Japanese culture and took it to a highly level to MAKE her image and then MADE Japanese urban culture at one point. But you're not even doing that anymore, anyways. :laugh

At any rate, goooood luck with it all! :D

Figured out today from my teacher that I can't write on Ayu :(. I have to have some sort of opinion based research paper, with a topic that has a lot of info. Oh well, instead I ended up choosing Child and teen prostitution.

I'm not sure if someone already post this but how about her TIME interview?

lol it's essentially the same topic.