Ayu's Childhood Career

[PrismaticTears]

Now that I think about it, you never hear much of anything about Ayumi's roles in the dramas she played in when she was younger. MDN Mainichi just put up an article about it:

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/face/index.html

Hamasaki keeps lid on bubbly teen era

By Ryann Connell
Staff Writer

May 14, 2004
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A movie director's arrest last month for using a 12-year-old prostitute has opened up a can of worms exposing sordid details of the past of Ayumi Hamasaki, the undisputed queen of Japanese pop, according to Shukan Gendai (5/22).

Hamasaki got her first big break in the Japanese showbiz world as a support actor in the 1995 film "Sumomomomomo," directed by Akiyoshi Imazeki, the over-amorous auteur nabbed because of his preponderance for the pre-pubescent.

"Sumomomomomo" was one of Imazeki's most highly regarded works. The large number of teenage girls in the cast, including then 16-year-old Hamasaki, earned Imazeki the moniker of "Maestro of Cute Little Girl Movies."

Hamasaki played a central role in "Sumomomomomo," acting as star Maki Mochida's younger sister. One scene in the movie features Hamasaki's character sniffing her sister's skirt, then advising her older sister to refrain from sex with her boyfriend, or at the very least insisting that he wear a condom.

During her mid-teens, Hamasaki played several brazen hussy roles, such as in "Nagisa no Sinbad," where she played a schoolgirl who taunted a boy she despised by slowly rubbing a vibrator across his face and neck.

"At a time when most teen idols would strive to present a pristine image, Ayumi stood out because of her willingness to play tough girl roles," Idol watcher Fuminori Takakura tells Shukan Gendai. "She was the type you could imagine really see roaming the streets of Shibuya. She was a cute girl and had a realism that was sexy."

Takakura says she was a natural choice for Imazeki, the maestro of cute little girl movies.

Never short of hawking herself, Hamasaki, according to the teenybopper expert, is not quite as keen to flog her wares when it comes to this part of her career.

"What she did then doesn't really go with the charismatic pop diva image she presents nowadays," Takakura tells Shukan Gendai. "All the details of her time as a teen idol have been eliminated from the bio she's put up on her official site."

Now believe what you will (tabloid, rumors, blah blah), it's your right to do so, but does anyone else have any info that could shed a light on this subject? I never heard any details pertaining to her acting career before and I'm curious if anyone else has some tidbits to bring to the table. Any takers?

(discussion please, not just random comments @_@ Or at least make your comments meaty =P)