Wow. We've already reached thread #25 of a series that goes
all the way back to the end of 2012. Almost six years!
Anyways, with the end of the year coming up, does it really make sense for me to watch multi-hour televised J-pop specials (Kouhaku, MSte Super Live, Japan Record Award, FNS, NTV Best Artist) if we don't even expect Ayu to be in any one of these anymore? It's getting a little bit too boring (we're tired of Johnny's and AKB48 material, and the latter, plus sister group Nogizaka46, we've had some key departures that have taken the lust away from those groups)...