credit:jOwy
"Despite being constantly viewed as rivals, hitomi shares a close friendship with fellow Avex performer Ayumi Hamasaki, the reigning queen of Japanese pop, which dates back to 2000. The two often get together during breaks in TV performances (like the NHK Red And White Song Festivals), and Hamasaki often goes on joyrides with hitomi through hitomi's native Kanagawa countryside, where Hamasaki often enjoys a certain degree of anonymity, either in a car or on motorbike (hitomi is qualified to drive both, while Hamasaki is not allowed to possess any driving licenses because she suffers from a form of night blindness). Hamasaki attended hitomi's wedding, as well as a family function to celebrate the first month of the birth of hitomi's twin children (a ceremony known as the 'Full Moon Celebration'), and is an unofficial 'godmother' to hitomi's children, Toru and Sumire. hitomi and Hamasaki had attempted in the past to write songs together, but the results were unsatisfactory because the two women have very different musical inclinations and directions. Interestingly, it was hitomi's ideas that led to the popular pre-concert video segments in Hamasaki's 'My Story Concert Tour' in 2005, and Hamasaki has often credited hitomi as 'the director ahead of the director'. Also, both hitomi and Hamasaki are Christians, a religious group that is in the minority in Japan where Shinto and Buddhism are dominant.
Despite being forced by injuries to quit soccer in high school, hitomi is still passionate about the game, and reserves a soft spot for central midfielders (having been one herself). In a February 2005 interview, she surprised many with the depth of her knowledge of the European soccer leagues. Her favourite team is English Premier League club Chelsea, which went on to become the champions of England at the end of that season. hitomi's favourite players are Chelsea players Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba, Joe Cole, Claude Makelele, Damien Duff, and Eidur Gudjohnsen, and Spanish clubs Real Madrid's French midfielder Zinedine Zidane, FC Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder Ronaldinho, Manchester United's Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, Arsenal FC's French forward Thierry Henry, Villareal's Argentinian midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme, and AC Milan's Brazilian midfielder Kaka.
In a separate interview, Ayumi Hamasaki made a reference to her close friend's obsession with all things Chelsea. "I don't know much about football or for sports in general, but Hitomi's simply crazy about this team in England, Chelsea, who wear blue. Just a few days ago they lost to this team who wear red, and Hitomi couldn't eat or sleep properly for a couple of days." hitomi and Hamasaki later confirmed that Hamasaki was referring to Chelsea's 1-0 defeat to Manchester United on November 6, 2005; according to hitomi, all she consumed, for 48 hours after the end of the match, were three cans of beer and a peanut.
The Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami mentioned, in an interview granted to the American journal "Upstairs" in December 2004, that hitomi is the only Japanese pop personality he pays attention to because of her combination of self-confidence, no-getting-away-from-it sexiness, and the rare, unique honesty she projects to her supporters. hitomi responded by thanking Murakami, adding that Murakami's novels Norwegian Wood and Sputnik Sweetheart are high on her list of all-time favourite reading material. The Japanese media drew parallels between the incident and another, probably better-known incident in the West, when the Colombian Nobel Prize-winning writer Gabriel García Márquez commented positively on his countrywoman, the pop idol Shakira.
hitomi's own idol is the American 'Material Girl', Madonna, whom she has admired since watching a Madonna performance in 1987, when hitomi was eleven years old. Coincidentally, Madonna is also an idol of Hamasaki's, and hitomi has conceded that Hamasaki is more like Madonna than herself, in terms of musical and vocal style and even physical appearance.
hitomi is one of the few Japanese pop entertainers who play his or her own instruments during live performances. She plays the guitar. Her concerts are generally lively, high-tempo affairs with specifically-tailored themes, and hitomi is regarded as, despite her advanced age compared to other female Japanese singers, one of the fittest and most athletic of female Japanese performers.
hitomi owns an expensive Spanish-made classical guitar, which was a gift from Hamasaki. Hamasaki had, apparently inspired by reading the novel The Master Of Go by Yasunari Kawabata, challenged hitomi to a game of Go, of which she was usually the superior player. If Hamasaki won, hitomi would have to buy her a German-made piano that had caught Hamasaki's fancy; hitomi did not specify Hamasaki's forfeit. hitomi won the game, but bought Hamasaki the piano anyway. Two months later, hitomi and Hamasaki were surfing the Internet when hitomi expressed a fondness for a classical guitar. Hamasaki bought the guitar immediately and gave it to hitomi, who now rarely goes two days without playing at least one full-length piece on it."
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YUP Ayumi is Christian !!!!!!!!!!