[bulmasman]

It's a tough one to call. I'd love to see Ayu take a break and rest up, then come back in 6 months or so... the problem is, however, that this could effectively kill her career. It's a much harder business in Japan (at least that's how it seems) and once you're out of the spotlight for any extended period of time, it's ridiculously hard to claw your way back. Sure, a few artists HAVE been successful (Namie, Onitsuka Chihiro etc...) but on the whole they're not as big as they once were.