Ayu wishes good luck to Mao Asada in Vancouver with an autographed CD!

[AngelSenshi]

I think Ayu is just so sweet!! Knowing Mao Asada is a fan of hers and then sending that as a form of good luck, I think that's a lovely thing to do. It really shows that she keeps track of a lot of things and is ready to send a gift to them to show them she supports them. I think that's wonderful.

[VRGRK]

Originally Posted by Mai82Go

^Why? I mean, it's a gift and avex shouldn't care about presents that Ayu gives to others. You make it sound like she's property of avex and cannot do even the simplest things on her own without asking them first.

Giving out free cds doesn't bring any income towards the company. I'm not saying that it isn't a gesture of good whill because it certainly is.. but Avex is a record label, the only thing they care about is how to increase their profits at the cheapest costs possible.

[chloeM]

that's sweet of ayu~~~

[Misa-chan]

The news of figureskater Asada Mao (19) winning the silver medal at the Vancouver Olympics has excited even the enetertainment world. Singer Hamasaki Ayumi (31), who knew Mao to be a big fan of hers, sent an autographed CD to her just before the games, with the words of appreciation "Thank you for your courage and passion".

The presence of her love for ayu helped Mao to achieve the silver medal.

According to insiders, Mao received an autographed copy of ayu's new "You were.../BALLAD" CD just before the games from an ayu staff. On it was the message "Mao-chan, good luck for Vancouver". Mao was said to have treated the CD as a good-luck charm.

Hearing the excited crowd's thundering after Kim Yuna's performance, Mao listened to the tunes ayu gave her just before her own performance to calm herself down.

ayu, who was watching the games on TV, showed her appreciation with the words "With no end in sight, just like a lasting forever, these 4 years have passed by like a dream in just the blink of an eye". She also added "Mao-chan, who has accomplished such big things in the past, what is she thinking of right now?"

The 2 share a strong bond. They met in August in 2005, at the a-nation event in Nagoya. Ever since visiting ayu backstage then, Mao has attended more of ayu's lives countless times. When ayu lost the ability to hear in her left ear in January of 2008, Mao's personal words of encouragement were leaked and managed to reach ayu herself, "I wish for her to stand strong, and continue singing".

During the same year, on 9th April, 10th anniversary live performance, 12,000 audience members sang "Who..." as a surprise for ayu, moving her to tears. Mao was in the audience as well.

This time, ayu's support has helped Mao win her silver medal. ayu, who is looking forward to meeting up with Mao after her return, says "I really really look forward to the day when she comes back to Japan, with a brilliant smile on her face". She also added, "I thank Mao for her deep passion and courage to not give up!!"

The random article says the same thing in summarized form.

[truehappiness]

Thank you! Added to the first post.

[ayumisrael]

Awww ayu is really sweet for doing that! =D

So nice of her. ^^

[~X2RADialbomber~]

Mao was absolutely beautiful... I was totally enthralled by her performance. :O She's sooooooooo good!

[Midori-chan]

How sweet! That's really, really nice of Ayu! *.*

Good luck to Asada-san!!

[noisy_harmony]

So sweet that she's Ayu fan *.* I couldn't watch that figure skating competition, so big time difference between Canada and central Europe, damn >,<

[Lizzyboo]

that almost made me cry..its so nice to see them being so supportive of eachother

[AyuWorld]

reading the article posted by Misa chan,i'm so touching by the strong bond between Ayu and mao chan,how she's really supporting Ayu,and that we know our Ayu is very down to earth person indeed! she's really really nice! <333

i envy you Mao chan lol,

[Ianieee]

Thanks for the translations Misa-chan! And the thread itself TrueHappiness.

Wow reading this was really cool, such a nice thing. I wonder how Mao-chan got to meet Ayu back stage at A Nation? Nevertheless Winning a silver medal is a big grats to Mao-chan =D, but to also get a signed CD from Ayu too =], must have been very unexpected. After reading this, it seems like Ayu treats Mao-chan more as a friend than a fan, this article is really sweet.

If anyone did miss this clip or wanted to watch Mao-chan's Performance. Someone has posted a short 3 minute clip on youtube, Thought I'd share with you all.
The youtube "audio" is added onto the video though, wish it wasn't there.


Little bit off topic

Sports News, Reporter posted an article about Mao-chans results. I thought it was quite a harsh title… Don’t you think? In this article it says about how Mao-chan said herself that:

I'm not satisfied with my performance because I couldn't do it perfectly,

Sources : http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/sport...sp005000c.html

[Kazeyomi]

Awww that's so sweet :3 she's really kind to support Asada!
Thanks for sharing & translation

[zellyx]

wow, that's so sweet of her! @_@

[aura~]

wow so sweet!! They have to be good friends!! After a-nation 2005, Mao appeared in Ayu's "born to be..." PV so they already had a nice friendship by then ^^

[AyuWorld]

Originally Posted by walking.proud

wow so sweet!! They have to be good friends!! After a-nation 2005, Mao appeared in Ayu's "born to be..." PV so they already had a nice friendship by then ^^

ah,that girl was her?? i didnt know that and she was still young at that time

@ Ayu_ready that's what i thought too XD

[Ayu_Ready]

It's cute =3 she could dance on you were or ballad x3

[yoshino]

ooooh that is so touching!! being a Ayu fan now progressed to friendship.. n with that autographed CD as an encouragement.. aww~~

[noisy_harmony]

She really was in BTB PV? OMG I must re-watch it XD

[C+R+E+AYUMI]

sweetie