Hamasaki Ayumi enjoys shopping with JUNO

[Misa-chan]

Originally Posted by Mintkisses

Btw, what is up with Ayu and JUNO? Yea, they're just friends.. but seeing it's Japan, is holding hands just part of their close relationship? I hope Ayu and Mannie are okay..

Actually, from what I heard from my Japanese friends, holding hands in public is the ultimate relationship level. It's even higher than kissing on the intimacy scale, and to hold hands in public means you're probably in a sexual relationship with your partner. So yeah, you never hold hands in public. Of course, this is purely in a couple context between one girl and one guy, so if, say, a group of people are holding hands, it doesn't mean anything.

So yep, not sure where this article was taken from, but what I read from the original Japanese articles state that they are linked arm-in-arm, not hand in hand. I did a translation of the article from Biglobe News here.

Hopefully that clears up some misunderstandings.