Talk:Ayumi Hamasaki/Archive 1

Debut single in 1998?

If she released an album in 1995, how could she debut in 1998? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.149.196.17 (talk) 17:32, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

WHATS UP?

Why do you all, try it on, you're not japanese (i apologise if you are.) so stop trying to figure out her name in japanese and the symbols,i have a boy at my school like that,he thinks because he has access to the internet,he thinks he can just look at the japanese language and say he knows japanese (he's american), and this is actually saddening to me, that people think like that.And why are people on other sites trying to translate their english name into japanese...argh, (not trying to sound racist), but why do people beg it?????? I realise that everyone in project is trying to make wikipedia more concisive, but calm down on oh,'this is her name' and 'oh about these symbols', i'm going to get my friend on this project,who is actually japanese!When people know about language they have to feel the essence of the language. (I know i'm going to get a telling off for this-contact me if you wish to dislay your opinions about my negativeness) Wongdai 10:05 13 April 2007 (UTC)

What the hell are you on about?CFCF 11:11, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

"Figure out" her name in Japanese? New Flash: Her name IS Japanese! Wanting to know about the Japanese culture involves *gasp* learning about the Japanese culture!? It is possible to learn Japanese and NOT be Japanese. What makes you think your friend doesn't actually know some Japanese? Why are you criticizing people who want to? Sounds like your jealous because you can't grasp a culture other than your own. Maselphie 02:17, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Excuse me?? What the hell is this? What do you mean "figure out her name in Japanese and the symbols"? The Kanji associated with her name?! She's Hamasaki Ayumi, born in Japan, and is totally, completely 100% bona fide Japanese, so deal with it! Maselphie is absolutely right. You obviously have some jealousy, hate, or just oughtright intolerance to the Japanese... Your little friend seems to be what we call a Japanophile, and there's nothing wrong with it. In fact, many wikipedians, including myself, are Japanophiles. I don't know what the hell your problem is, but there is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with being of Western decent and speaking Japanese, writing Japanese, having a liking for Japanese culture, folklore, music, and Anime and Manga, like I do. Mizu onna sango15 22:32, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Platinum?

this article seems to indicate platinum status in Japan is 1,000,000 sold...i thought it was 250,000(see gold record)--LaotianBoy1991

album names

I have changed the album name pages to fix with the naming standarsd set in Wikipedia policy. gren 09:27, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

profile

Her profile just kinda... sits there. I don't know... do we really need to know about her height and weight? It's not like she is unusually tall or anything.. although she is petite... And is her Chinese name her real name? I don't think ayu's really active in China. If that's not her real name it doesn't really seem necessary, in my opinion. By the way she's 5'1 not 5'4. Iloveayu 02:40, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

I think it's fine to have the profile sitting there. People wanna know these things... Bty, her name is not chinese. The name Ayumi Hamasaki is her real name, she just changed the character she uses for her real name, to something more celerity like. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.188.40.222 (talk • contribs) .

In Japan, it's quite popular for celebrities to have measurement listings. (Or something like that). 24.126.199.129 20:02, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

I think its quite fine the way it is, I don't know, maybe some people like to know their favorite singer's measurments. Haha, that's amusing. Unforgotten 19:59, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

main picture

i changed the picture from her A BEST cover to the cover of Popteen. I think she looks better in that picture.

i think we should update the main picture everytime a new image comes out. like if its from a magazine, or her website, or whatever. i think then people can see what Ayu looks like now, but then can look down and see other pics too.

• Stzr3 02:27, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

i hope you guys don't mind- i updated the main picture. this magazine cover is the latest magazine Ayu has been in. --Stzr3 05:50, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

I think magazine covers doesn't look so cute in the article, I think it should be better to put official pictures of Ayumi without those Japanese letters on it, it's just an opinion but I think it looks awful. Clouded 02:50, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

I've been noticing the changing Ayu images, and I think it's a good idea to keep them recent (latest publicity shots, magazine covers, album covers...) because she likes to play round with her look alot. Calicore 20:48, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

I edited the main image down to a smaller size so you can see Ayu better --Stzr3 06:37, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Stzr3! I think this image looks much better X2RADialbomber 09:37, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

i thought this girl was weird... not a fan of her. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pureofsoul (talk • contribs) .

Going to take the Ayu Best black version and make it into her main image cause right now there is no image.CFCF 11:12, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Or not, didn't work out. Someone has to get a good free image of Ayu soon..CFCF 11:38, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I am working on that, hopefully will have a good one by next week. -- ReyBrujo 13:34, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Font fix

I removed the HTML font sizing, there was NO reason it needed to be that big. --Hersch 06:29, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

I reverted a lot since that IP seemed to delete a lot of content... gren 09:24, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Symbol?

Could someone explain her symbol? Is it a kanji? Has it something to do with her name? http://www.ayu.no/images/photoalbum/17.jpg Here's a photo of it. Salleman 21:07, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

That is just a symbol of A... meaning Ayumi

In fact it is not just a symbol of A. Avex took both roman letters A and H and morphed them together creating the image. So actually it is A+H meaning Ayumi Hamasaki. : )

Discography

Should her discography become a seperate page? I think it's becoming too big with the growing number of her singles, albums, DVDs, and whatnot.

OH MY GOD. Who deleted the discography section? Too many false numbers? They were ALL correct!

I changed the discography to its original status. Please don't delete the discography. They all come from a reliable source. Iloveayu 19:54, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

I fixed some errors which occured while I tried to revert the Discography. Iloveayu 19:58, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Whoa, someone put the discography section back to this article. What's going to happen to the Discography page, which is a seperate article? Iloveayu 23:22, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

The discography goes in a separate article, as it is too long for this page. You can't have two discographies, as it would be too hard to keep synchronized. -- ReyBrujo 01:55, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

I love how you always seem to make the rules. So you're the one who gets to say whether an article is to long right? And you're the one who has the authority to say you can't have two discographies. Man, you are so cool.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 77.161.60.71 (talk)

The DVD section on Ayumi Hamasaki's main page should be taken off. It's already in her discography page; that section is redundant. I will remove if no one objects to it...It's just too cluttered. If there's already a discography page, why are the dvd sales still there? They seem insignificant to be on her main article page. ––Utadahikaru1259 06:25, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't see any reason why we should make the main page any longer than absolutely necessary... It is already quite long, so I think all duplicated information should be removed from main page. Monni 06:32, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

What the heck!?

I just entered to see the Ayumi Hamasaki to see why she's popular on the Minitokyo boards and look what I've found! Seems like the entire HTML code got jumbled up or the formatting got screwed. I can't read a thing on that page! - Acoyani Garrido Sandoval.

Umm, it was vandalized and then the editor after that did something incorrect with the code, I am not sure what happened. If you read the help guide it will teach you how to revert to fix such errors. gren 17:11, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

what's with these flamers? I had some crazed loon messing up the Kumi Koda page :-S I bet there are more of them running around. Chsf 20:27, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

if i wasnt so nice, i think i;d mess with the koda kumi page. byt yeah, people bette rnever mess with my ayu =] —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Impracticable (talk • contribs) 17:15, 29 December 2006 (UTC).

Please Help AYumi !!!!!!!!!!!

As a big fan of Ayumi Hamasaki I hope everyone who loves her will contribute bunches of her information to this page also it would be nice if the were more pictures of her albumes when you click ont he link. ArigatoFullmetal Alchemist 23:27, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

Yer, there are many liks on slide.com, wow thanks everybody,for work on the article, Ayumi is so great! (whoops sorry for not following talk page regulations) Wongdai 10:27 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Edited Bold & Delicious/pride

I updated Bold & Delicious/Pride Single no someone has to put in the live performances and Chart update. Fullmetal Alchemist 05:15 pm, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

I usually am the one who posts the charts and the performance schedule so i will get on that :) i'm thinking about changing the set up of the chart, though. i think it's too big on the HEAVEN page, so i'm thinking about doing something like this:

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Release	Chart	Peak Position	Sales Total	Chart Run
30 November 2005	Oricon Daily Singles Chart	1
30 November 2005	Oricon Weekly Singles Chart
30 November 2005	Oricon Yearly Singles Chart

i stole it from the Namie Amuro page, but i really like the layout. because you can get a lot of info without having a huge chart. what do you think? right now i put it in the HEAVEN and Bold & Delicious/Pride pages, but I think i'm going to modify it a little more. I want to have a spot for 1st week sales and 1st week position, then do total sales and weeks on charts. or something lol

• --Stzr3 02:09, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

I like it it gives everyone more info on How Ayumi's songs are doing. Fullmetal Alchemist 05:15 pm, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Yep. I like it. -- Winterkill

(miss)understood

(miss)understood shouldn't be a redirect back to Ayumi Hamasaki. Someone should actually put up some information about it, because they've at least said some things about it on her official website. -- Winterkill

Ok i worked a little on the (miss)understood page. Somebody will probably come in and finish it when the complete info is released. --Stzr3 20:56, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Added the articles.

Added the articles and tracklists for every single up to Voyage, which has already been done, along with all singles after it. The articles only contain "blahblah is the ##th single released by Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released blahblah ##, ####." So, if you want to add any more information, you can. The articles don't have pictures, either, and I'm not going to upload them. Someone else can do that. Strangely enough, someone's done the SURREAL article already without doing any of the others. Also, there's actually a real article for her "vogue" single, not just a disambiguation page that doesn't even lead to an Ayu article anyway. -- Winterkill 10:15 pm, 15 December 2005 (EST)

Various stuff ...

like plastic surgery. Well I had a small chat with a Japanese girl on one of the numerous P2P networks, and she told me that the way Ayumi looks now was not the way she looked before her ... plastic surgery. Literally "you do not want to know how she looked before that!" Is this just another unconfirmed legend or is this the truth? Japanese guys might know this better, as they can read local yellow press :D -andy 80.129.82.245 14:04, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

Well, when I first saw her picture before plastic surgery she seemed like a completely different person at first, but you will realize that she still looks relatively similar after plastic surgery. And she was still pretty even before plastic surgery! I saw one of her pictures when she used to go to school which is like more than 10 yrs ago and she looked pretty good, although platic surgery did enhance her look. Iloveayu 07:12, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Ayu has NOT had plastic surgery!! the only stuff she probably has gotten done is her teeth, and that is dental work, not plastic surgery. Look: http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/1787/ayu21jx.jpg Ayu looks the same as she did as a little girl. The only thing different is that she matured and now wears a lot more makeup. Her eyes and face still looks the same. --Stzr3 04:55, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Well actually it's never been confirmed if it has or not. Sorry i was rude earlier :-( But Ayu never said herself and neither has her company that she has ever had any work done. Though it is definetly possible, but i think it is just the makeup and how shes matured. --Stzr3 04:22, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

Judge for yourself: http://celebrity.com.ne.kr/yup/ko-girls2/yumi-ah.jpg --ISK 6:26 PM, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Somehow she looks different on every picture-_-.. Well, until we have reliable sources regarding this, we will simply have to wait. mirageinred 20:11, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

She obviously had dental work, and (based on her unusually round eyes - which is rare for an asian person) that she's undergone an asian blepharoplasty. Calicore 19:54, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree on the dental work. However, I disagree with the blepharoplasty comment. There are plenty of pictures of her youth floating around in which her eyes seem to be as round as they are now. Also, if she were to have had that kind of surgery, it would, at the very least, have been before her days as an actress under the pseudonym Kurumi Hamazaki which would make her kind of young for plastic surgery (around the age of 15/16/17). example of how she looked when she was working as an actress: http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=922901&postcount=35 4nGeLuS 01:44, 30 October 2006 (GMT+1)

Guys. It doesn't matter how "OBVIOUS" it is unless it's been officially confirmed. And since it hasn't been officially confirmed, it should be left out of her wikipedia article-- considering wikipedia thrives on verifiable information. Amber 18:58, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

External links

Here, too, are too many sites. Remember, Wikipedia is not a mirror or a repository of links. Although the external links aren't ruled by web notability, it gives an idea of whether the sites they point to are notable or not.

• http://pinkangelayu.free.fr/index.php?page=news 100 (site)
• http://www.ayumygoddess.free.fr 100 (site)
• http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ayu 3,207 (site)
• http://www.asiafinest.com/japanese/ayumi.htm 37,185
• http://ayumi.primenova.com 61,978
• http://www.teamayu.com 88,289
• http://www.eneabba.net/ayu 209,068 (site)
• http://www.ayunite.net 312,854
• http://www.ayumi-hamasaki.org 364,886
• http://ayudynasty.inc.md 626,825
• http://www.ahsforum.com 627,079
• http://peach-arrow.net/ayu/ 750,612
• http://www.overstuffed-closet.net/ayumi 1,688,223
• http://www.love-ayu.com No data
• http://www.ayufreak.com No data
• http://www.ayu.no No data
• http://www.freewebs.com/ayumi-hamasaki-es No data
• http://www.freewebs.com/jewel1993 No data
• http://www.jpopsubs.com No data
• http://www.ayu-hamasaki.tk No data
• http://www.freewebs.com/everywherenowhere No data

Now, I suggest removing all sites with Alexa ranking over 300,000 or no data at all, unless they have been used in the article as references (in which case they should go in the References section). Also, I believe http://www.teamayu.com should be removed because, even though it is an official fan club, it requires Flash, something it is not appreciated.

Opinions? -- ReyBrujo 02:50, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

I think it's good you're removing some sites. There are way too many. But I have a question, what exactly is Alexa ranking? --Stzr3 05:33, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

Alexa calculates a pseudo "ranking" for many sites. The more important the site (more visited, linked, etc), the highest the Alexa ranking is (1 being the highest). Wikipedia uses it as a way of determining if a web site is notable or not. Sites that are not notable (Alexa ranking over 10,000) don't usually have a Wikipedia article about them (unless they have probed themselves notables in other ways, in example, being used by notable sources as references, etc). Since external links don't work with Alexa to define if an external link is suitable or not, I must note that Wikipedia is not a web directory. Thus, the external link section should have only "enough" links, not just too many. And I would prefer to have those with a high ranking (that is, that are more likely to be visited by people than unknown ones). -- ReyBrujo 16:47, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

I think it is good to remove SOME sites, but not 98% of them. Some of the sites that were removed were excellent sources of information concerning Miss Hamasaki and should not have been removed.--Haley 01:01, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

Nobody did the cleaning, so I did it. People just add external links, sometimes with spam or to non notable sites that add nothing to the article. In the end, all fan sites except the official one were removed until someone would determine which were the best ones. Per the guides, a couple of fan sites are fine, but you get to listen to everyone shouting "Mine! Mine!". Unluckily, it is hard to make people understand only a couple should be included, and in the end it is easier to keep the area clean. -- ReyBrujo 01:13, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

I think http://www.ahsforum.com should be added. That community has roughly 12,000 users, is very active and has some interesting forums that contain alot of information (Check out the "News", "Enquiries" and "Ayu library" forums).

Doesn't matter, it's a forum, so I think it shouldn't be added Amber 18:56, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Your argument doesn't make sense to me. Please explain why it should be excluded because it is a forum. I'm not for or against listing this particular forum, but your argument, in itself, doesn't justify it's exclusion from the list. 4nGeLuS 22:12, March 9 2007 (GMT+1)

I personally am fed up with this link editing junk. Putting it bluntly, Divine AYU is the only site that gets to be listed? AHS Forum is just a forum, but a good one, and I do understand why it's not listed. Divine AYU is also a great site, but why not ayumi-hamasaki.net (I've been reading their news a lot since they got a news reporter that is doing their job) or even Ayu's own OFFICIAL fan club site, Team AYU being listed? There are too many good sites for me to list. -- There is one person obviously thinking he/she is the definitive source on what is good in the world of Ayu, This person NEEDS TO STOP, and we should have a discussion on what should and should be there. Divine AYU has no right to be the ONLY site listed. -- Perhaps we should start a thread in this area about what sites should be listed, so one site doesn't constantly get plugged and other sites get totally ignored? I don't believe that the discussion area gets looked at by the majority of people. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.19.229.202 (talk)

agreed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.161.60.71 (talk)

To me, this is how I see it. There are many various Hamasaki fansites, all with basically the same information. They all house the same Hamasaki news, pictures, videos etc, so I don't see the need for there to be more than one site. Does it really matter if more sites are put on the External Links list? Will there be anything to gain from it? AHS is a forum, not a concise news source like Divine Ayu. Hamasaki's fansite shouldn't be listed as it is in Japanese and this is the English Wikipedia, and most users cannot even get into Team Ayu so there is really no use. X2RADialbomber 08:39, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Ayu's Award

I was looking at BoA page and shows a list of awards shes won can some one please add that to Ayu's page 'cause I can't find it. Alot of Ayu fans I know are asking about it. you can IM me my Screen names are AIM: Naraku AKA Hell and MSN: McFadden828@msn.com IM me if you wan to discuss the AYu page please.Fullmetal Alchemist 05:04, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

I added all her awards ^_^ Maxker 13:20, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

album pictures

can we keep the album pictures in the front, causee now the page looks too plain Tomba

The Biography was full of all the album covers, and it looked really bad, now it looks better. If people want to see all her album covers, they will go to her discography ^_^ Clouded 02:48, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

I've added some little pictures to try to add some interest to the page --Stzr3 04:16, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Ayumi's real name

I'm getting sick changing her real name over and over, PLEASE STOP CHANGING HER NAME TO 浜崎 あゆみ, her real name is with Kanji.Clouded 16:40, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

accually thats not her real name you can choose if you want to write her name in Kanji. Buy AYu prefered to write the way everyone else is known to.

It's obvious that you don't know Japanese law... The legal names of every japanese people legally MUST be written in Kanji. Just for you to know. If people keeps changing her real name I might talk with a moderator about vandalism. Clouded 16:46, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

It is not the case that Japanese law requires legal names to be written in kanji; there are a great many native Japanese with no kanji in their given names (a few in my own family). Also, gaijin becoming naturalized citizens indeed have the option of writing their name in katakana.

theres no need to get so serious about it sheesh.......

just a note- everywhere that I have seen her name (music videos, performances, tv shows, online text, oricon, magazines, commercials, and the list goes on) her name is given as : 浜崎 あゆみ, so I really don't see what the problem is... Yajimari21 21:04, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

That's because her stage name is 浜崎あゆみ, her name in the industry. But legally (by law) her name is 濱崎歩, and it's not spelled Bin Vi Qu like someone wrote in here, is just Hamasaki Ayumi. Clouded 21:55, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

One more proof found in the japanese entry for this article: 本名は、濱崎歩（読みは同じ） which means : real name is 濱崎歩 (reading is the same (implied: as 浜崎あゆみ))

浜崎 - I think this is usually pronounced Hamazaki but she prefers it as Hamasaki. Should the pronunciation of her name should be the way she prefers it? mirageinred 22:38, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Mediation request

In response to the mediation request by Clouded, can I request that both Clouded and the anon editor provide references to support their view of what the name should be written as. Whatever the references say, is what should be in the article. Please refrain from edit-warring on the article over the presence or absence of the legal name, and discuss the matter here. Once a solution is reached the resulting text can be placed in the article. Kcordina ^Talk 11:34, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Hello:

I recently read about this argument and this is what I can gather:

According to Ayu!love!ayu! (http://www.ayuloveayu.com/) fan site, the official profile released during the time of her debut listed her name as 浜崎歩. According to AYUMIHAMASAKIFAN (http://ayu.mints.ne.jp/profile.html) her name is 浜崎歩. According to AYU*SYSTEM (http://hp.kutikomi.net/ayusystem/?n=page1), her real name is 濱崎歩.

According to avex, her name is thus 浜崎歩。The reports of other names are not cited on the websites given. If someone would like to look around on Japanese fansites and gleen what information they are able, I suspect one could decide this once and for all. There is certainly possibility that she uses "浜" despite the fact that it is not the original kanji in her name. Nevertheless, the usage of "濱" is only found on her released goods in Chinese-speaking areas. So could it be a misunderstanding? I'm not certain. tsubasa Good luck to everyone: it's a bit of a mystery.

Actually...

Real information based on this: 浜崎歩 is her "legal" name, 浜崎あゆみ is her "stage" name. Since this article pertains to her as an artist and not as anything else, it should be written 浜崎あゆみ. Everything she's ever released has been under the name 浜崎あゆみ and no one knows her as 浜崎歩, so I believe it should be kept 浜崎あゆみ. Thank you. Amber 18:54, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

• AFAIK most templates have specific fields for "birth" name and the name artist/person is known in public. Even if a person changes his/her "legal" name, I do think "birth" name says the same (I know there is one exception but I don't think it is relevant with Ayumi Hamasaki). Monni 19:00, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Biography

I think the Biography needs a clean-up, it's full of non-biographical facts, only matters about her discography.... I've removed the GEO of SWEETBOX compositions information from the "(Miss)understood Era" part and I've put that info on the article of the "(miss)understood" album. Clouded 03:58, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I support this. I think the biography is full of a lot fo information that is unneccesary and could be removed --Stzr3 02:57, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

I will try to take the un-biography info of some singles/albums and take that info to their respective single/album article. Clouded 21:27, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Important Titles Note for ALL artists (please copy this on other asian artist talk pages)

I must note something very important for future editors of this page (also try to observe this for any non English speaking band or author... etc): If you see a single, album, dvd, concert, or book title that contains poor grammar, please consider that even though the English spelling or grammar may be incorrect, that it still may actually be the official title. If someone is searching for the single, and cannot find it the official way... then what good is wiki? Please do not tamper with titles unless you have found hard evidence that the title has been written incorrectly from the official spelling. also note, some OFFICIAL japanese titles are titled in all CAPS (or with stars and hearts or other "non-letter/number characters) this is NOT a mistake, please leave them like this. All one must do is observe the picture or written info of the single/album/book on the official page which is linked in the article at the bottom. Please help keep wikipedia encyclopedic and correct! Thank you. -- NatsukiGirl\^talk 04:15, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, can you provide arguments on why should we break the convention? why not putting redirects in the all uppercase titles? The article text could use uppercase, but I don't see compelling arguments for changing the convention of the title. Also, for the "people wil lsearch for the upper case title", well, that's what the redirects solve. So far I haven't seen a discussion (perhaps you can point it to me) and since there's no consensus yet, I suggest not to change albums titles to uppercase (as in AROUND THE WORLD from the existing titles). -- ( drini's page ☎ ) 04:16, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

I think we should leave the names how they were intended to be (i.e. No way to say, INSPIRE, CAROLS, forgiveness, etc.) --Stzr3 03:51, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree. I think it is weird to differ from the official notation. Artists often clearly have some artistic intention with their titles.

I agree too. For instance, the articles for such topics as t.A.T.u and iPod feature notes that the article title should begin in lowercase, precisely because their subjects' official names are begun in lowercase. Grammar should of course be corrected in all other instances - but not in direct quotes or official song/album names. After all, the infamous videogame quote is NOT "All of your bases belong to us", it is "All your base are belong to us", t.A.T.u is not T.A.T.U., and it's spelled eBay, not Ebay or EBay or E-Bay. ;) 63.21.6.27 08:04, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

heeey

someone rewrote the (miss) understood era and the 2006 events and left out a lot of things so STOP!

So I fixed some stuff about the article but somebody please ACCURATELY rewrite it or restore it to the old one. It sounds like a english second language person rewrote the article. JEEEEEEEEEZ.

I've edited the biography in the article, sorry for not write perfectly native english though, but her biography is full of non-biography things; in fact all the information is about her discography, so please just put the relevant information in the biography, not only "she released her #th single and reached the #? spot in the charts, then she released another single that reached the #? spot in the charts, and then she released her #th album that reached the #? spot in the charts" If you want to put that info go to the articles of those albums and singles. Thanks --- Clouded 17:42, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Blood Type???

Why is her blood type listed? That is a very strange thing to list and could cause problems for Miss Hamasaki.

Japanese like to categorize people by blood type. Monni 04:04, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Think of it as like Zodiac signs. See, Japan blood type theory of personality.Calicore 04:11, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Everyone responded before I could. ;) I just read about Japanese beliefs about blood types and found it very interesting. I did not know asking or knowing one's blood type in Japan was common practice. As an American, I was at first alarmed to see this information in Miss Hamasaki's bio page but, I am glad I read it because I just learned something about Japan and her culture. I was going to delete my question but decided to leave it so others could learn as well. :)

citations

I think ayu's official site can be used as a source of citation since it contains extensive information about her releases. Perhaps Oricon will serve as another reliable source? mirageinred 01:53, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes i think both of those are reliable sources. --Stzr3 03:49, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

I cited them. I'll look for more sources if I can find any. mirageinred 22:35, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Main picture again

The current image Image:Ayupopteen.jpg cannot be used in the infobox of the artist. The Fair use policy forbids this kind of use. In example, it is fine to add the image to a section of the article if the section talks about her presence in the magazine, but not to describe her. -- ReyBrujo 06:07, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Ladies Night ~another night~

I changed it from "A remix of "Ladies Night" to "A rearrangement of "Ladies Night", since it is a rearrangement, not a remix. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.59.222.22 (talk • contribs) .

INSIRE Japan Record Award

Ayu, apparently vitoed this song getting a Japan Record Award. Where is a source for this information? I am having trouble believing this. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.12.227.208 (talk • contribs) .

Well, she chose not to accept any awards due to the scandal way back in 2004 when Max Matsuura was going to resign. Max Matsuura is pretty important to her since he helped her become a superstar she is today. So she said that she was going to move out of the record label along with him causing the Avex stocks to plummet resulting in a lot of chaos. mirageinred 20:56, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I guess her refusal was her own way to apologize for the brief ruckus. mirageinred 20:56, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Sources?? Clouded 20:54, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

(miss)understood

Ok. THis comes from me and my friend debating. He is a bigger Ayu fan, but you can sort this out for your self. Excluding all of her singles, (Miss)Understood came after My Story,right? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.105.204.232 (talk • contribs) .

Yes, of course. mirageinred 18:05, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

What else could it be?

(miss)understood came out after My Story..........

of course it came out after My Story came out in in December 2004 and (miss)understood came out in January 2006..........................its in the disc................

What's with the symbols?

I was looking at the symbols section in the article, and I noticed that the picture of one of the symbol all the way on the right is... black? Clearly, she wouldn't just use the color black, right? mirageinred 18:08, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

And I also noticed that the "first A" as in the symbol of her 10th single A is gone too. There should be three A's: one for her single, one for her initials, and one for the one used during her (miss)understood tour. mirageinred 18:11, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Um. The one all the way on the right is dark brown with a black background, taken from her A single. And the (miss)understood symbol IS on there. 22:51, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Awards

Since when is getting a highest selling single considered an award? We should only put ACTUAL awards and not records. Start a different section for that. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Evolution7931 (talk • contribs) .

愛美です。亜佑美ちゃんです。あなたの二番目に好きな人は誰ですか？

亜佑美　米沢　です。　あなたはTOKIOのJESSICAになってください。 愛美はじつは亜佑美です。EVERY　LITTLE THING　のファンです。 あたしは今全身が癌です。でも舞と言う親友と智衣と麻衣子と咲と沙貴子と智子と美弥子と亜佑美、そして、優と室井裕喜という愛する心友を救うためにあたしは世界で一番の絆という曲をあなたに作曲を頼みたい。小百合と詩織を捜しに石川に来てあたしの居場所を聞いて下さい。

PS、長瀬智也と結婚今すぐしてほしいです。　亜佑美は瀬古伸哉と結婚して幸せになります。 　　媛という子を授かっています。２１歳の１９８５年５月１１日生まれの丑年のおうし座です。 　　TIME　GOES　BY　をあなたに瀬古伸哉と亜佑美たちが咲たちと一緒にあなたに歌います。 　　瀬古はあなたの一番のファンであなたを愛しています。あたしよりあなたと結婚したいくらい 　　好きだそうです。亜佑美はまだSEXしたことがありません。でも、今は幸せです。 　　　堀田大貴が亜佑美のためにバイオテロを造ったからです。亜佑美はゴマを愛している。 　　ゴマちゃんを救ってください。亜佑美の大親友ゴマを救えるのはあなたと長瀬率いるTOKIOだけで　　　す。では、紅白歌合戦で対決しましょう。私たちJAYROCK　WHITE　は世界を制覇する。 　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　YONEAYUより —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.103.73.83 (talk) 01:06, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

残念、しかしこれAyu に関連していないがない。また、これは英国のWikipedia である。Why sigh, cutie pie? 01:35, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

• Guys, this is the English Wikipedia. The Japanese one is here. 75.153.221.227 08:15, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I know that. I told him that in Japanese. <3 ― Sturr ★彡 ^Refill/lol 04:05, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

(miss)understood sales

"So far in the year, it's the first best selling original studio album by a female artist selling total world wide (includes Japan) over 925,226 copies."

I took this off, because Christina Aguilera released her new album three weeks ago and it has already sold over a million copies worldwide, what unables (miss)understood to be considered the best-selling original studio album by a female artist worlwide of 2006.--Gihad 00:25, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

(miss)understood was never the highest selling orginal studio album by a female in Japan either, Koda Kumi's BEST ~ Second Session sold 1 million copies in its first 2 weeks.... but whether Second Session is an "Orginal Studio Album" what I dont know about xD Banzai777 10:27, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Her Best of album is not a studio album. mirageinred 23:28, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Geez. Kumi's BEST ~second session~ is NOT an original album. 22:54, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I don't understand how Second Session is not an original album, Have ANY of the tracks been on an album before? Whats the definition of an original album anyway....... Banzai777 08:08, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Because its a "Best of" album... yet at the same time they have never been on an album before, so it's kinda open to debate. mirageinred 23:40, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Profile

Is informing the readers her height, weight, and blood type going to enrich the article in any way? They're cute, but they are better off in fansites. mirageinred 02:43, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Nah... Just keep them... Not many actually want to visit all those fansites, especially if we don't allow so many links to them. For some people those details mean a lot. Monni 08:11, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

The bloodtype thing was covered here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ayumi_Hamasaki#Blood_Type.3F.3F.3F —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4nGeLuS (talk • contribs) .

Respetively

'Commonly known just as Ayu(or respetively called Ayu-sama by much of her Japanese fan base),'

Is respetively some specialized english form of a Japanese word or just an error in the opening few sentences? --BHC 22:09, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but I'm going to erase this "sama" thing. Sama is just a way to show respect, appliable to each and every adult Japanese, not only for a huge superstar like Hamasaki. If anyone lives in Japan and/or has a strong argument to rewrite this, please say it here and include the "Ayu-sama" in her "known as" line again.Gihad 18:28, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Um, WHAT? The honorific -sama is NOT just "a way to show respect", and certainly not "appliable to each and every adult Japanese". Leaving aside the fact that I believe the word you're looking for is actually "applicable" in that sentence, you're wrong. Well, not completely wrong, but still wrong in a very important way - -san is the usual, normal level of respect to show "each and every adult Japanese". -sama, however, shows EXTREME respect. You do NOT call your co-workers "[name]-sama", you would use -san, which is the equivalent of Mr., Ms. or Mrs. in English; -sama, in contrast, translates more (as a form of deferment more than actual dictionary definition, of course) as "Lord/Lady", the kind of thing you use to people you really REALLY respect/want to suck up to, such as the Emperor. So, they are NOT just "showing respect... [in the way you would] to each and every adult Japanese" if they use "Ayu-sama", they are literally calling her something more along the lines of "Lady Ayu", though of course, it does not directly translate as such per se (they have some more specific terms that are used for specific profressions or statures, such as -hime for "Princess", -sempai for one who has seniority, or -sensei for teachers and, I'm told, occasionally artists), but that is more the right context. You must not be as familiar with Japanese honorifics as you think, if you think "-sama" is used in the general, common way you describe. It's true that it has some "general" uses in Japanese culture, which tends to confuse the matter for some, but even then, it's supposed to be a sign of extreme respect - an example would be using it with a customer's name, this may seem like a general usage of simple respect, but it's really still a sign of great respect (the Japanese, suffice it to say, are well-known for having some of the best customer service in the world). To quote Wikipedia's own page on the matter:

Sama (様, Sama?) is the formal version of san. This honorific is used primarily in addressing persons much higher in rank than oneself and in commercial and business settings to address and refer to customers. It also appears in words used to address or speak of persons or objects for which the speaker wishes to show respect or deference, such as okyaku-sama (customer) or Tateishi-sama (a stone revered as a deity). Additionally, Japanese Christians will refer to God in prayer as Kami-sama. People will also affix sama to the names of personages who have a special talent or are considered particularly attractive, though this usage can also be tongue-in-cheek, exaggerated, or even ironic. Examples include "Tanaka-sama" to refer to a young man named Tanaka who is considered rather handsome by his admirers and the "Leo-Sama" (or "Reo-sama") that has become the media's pet name for Leonardo DiCaprio. Further, sama can be used to express arrogance (or self-effacing irony), such as in the arrogant male pronoun ore-sama ("my esteemed self") for "I". Referring to oneself with -sama is considered to be highly egotistical.

Bolding mine, of course. As you can see, the fact that she's called "Ayu-sama" by some is quite different from someone referring to her with the normal, everyday level of respect that you'd expect to be shown to a stranger in Japanese. I say there's no harm in letting it stay in, as it seems that that usage is common when the person is considered attractive and respected and/or extremely popular and well-liked, in Japanese; additionally, some of her American fans quite likely would use the -sama with her name because they interpret -sama as simply meaning "great respect/deferment" to a person. That would be a common type of thing that happens with American fans of Japanese pop culture, for instance, see otaku and how it's often used somewhat differently in the U.S. than it is in Japan...

...however, that said, it would be nice if someone could point to a source that uses it first, just to be sure it's an actual nickname of hers. ;) 63.21.6.27 09:17, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

If I had to guess I'd say what he meant was the -sama prefix can be used with any person's name. It's not so much a nickname; rabid fanboys will do this with just about any name, and as far as grammar goes there's nothing wrong with it. 75.153.221.227 08:21, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

CD+DVD covers (for Album and Single pages)

I've noticed that most people probably don't know how to do this. so everyone knows when you add a single box to the page you put an added section at the bottom for additional covers. well to make it all the same color instead of something like this (notice the bright yellow color on the CD + DVD part below on the 1st one):

"Ayumi Hamasaki/Archive 1"
Song

do the following- change the part where it says:

• | Background = Yellow

to

• | Type = [[Single]]

then it will look like this (notice its all gold on the second one):

"Ayumi Hamasaki/Archive 1"
Song

ALSO, the same thing can be done for albums. But instead of writing:

• | Type = [[Single]]

write:

• | Type = [[Album]]

and then the whole thing will be that one blue color used for albums.

any questions just ask

Typo?

I've replaced "Surreaö" with "Surreal", because it looks like a typo. If it isn't, please change the l back to an o-umlaut. Shinobu 01:02, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Original research

This article contains a lot of original research. It needs to be either sourced or removed, making the article more reliable and/or cutting down the size. ― Sturr ★彡 ^Refill/lol 04:04, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Please make your comment more precise. What exactly is it that needs to be 'sourced'. Furthermore I don't agree on the idea of cutting down the size. As an encyclopedia, isn't it important to have as much information on a particular subject as possible? If it's readability you're after, that can be just a matter of making proper segments and paragraphs. 4nGeLuS 23:06, 24 January 2007 (GMT+1)

Image

The image is a great idea - using more free use images and less fair use images! Unfortunately, that's the only image Wikimedia Commons have, maybe take a picture of her if you can and upload to there... Bigtop 04:44, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

I have contacted someone who owns a picture, and although he promised to send the high resolution version of the image to be uploaded at Commons, he hasn't yet done that. As for this image, I have used it because it is in Commons, but I am not really sure it is free. I have contacted the site from where it was picked and the user who uploaded it to clarify its license. In any case, until the image is put into deletion, this image has a higher priority than any new promotional image, even though it was taken almost two years ago, so new images will be reverted (this is not aimed at you, but instead to anyone who may be wanting to upload a new photo). -- ReyBrujo 05:19, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, we're trying to find free-use images (PD and GFDL images) of Ayu because she's popular. Bigtop 17:51, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Ayumi's father

Why was that section is her biography removed and by who? I think it is vital, becuase many people debate that she wouldnt even be a famouse artist if her father had never 'walked out/commit suicide' —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Impracticable (talk • contribs).

Are there reliable references for that information? Without them, it may be offensive. -- ReyBrujo 17:45, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

whhaaaaat? isaid debate, not many people know for sure. im just saying because i think it important since she has songs that are written for her father. Also i think the information on GEO of SWEETBOX should hav ebeen removed. also, if someone has any information on Wataru Takeishi you should go updat his page xD (Impracticable 18:18, 29 December 2006 (UTC))

I added a {{unreferenced}} tag to that article. Wikipedia focus in verifiability. We write information that can be verifiable. When writing, you must provide references to reliable sources, not GeoCities pages. Otherwise, anyone could write stuff like Ayumi Hamasaki has been selected as the most talented musician in Asia by a prestigious magazine. without having to point from where the information comes from. When that information is biographical or may be considered offensive, we are encouraged to delete it if not referenced. Note that, even when referenced, it may be necessary to remove it due legal concerns (as it happened with Natalie Merchant information about her marriage. -- ReyBrujo 18:42, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

I .. dont think you should need a reference for debate? that dosent make too much sense. well, so be it. Anyway, do oyu kow where to get Wataru Takeishi information so i can update his page? also, im not sure how to reference, so can you tell me how? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Impracticable (talk • contribs) 18:51, 29 December 2006 (UTC).

Various sites say Ayu's father "walked out". Some sites say when she was three, some say five. This article says five. Fans suspect that certain songs, like Teddy bear and the Memorial address album (in a photo in the booklet, June 30 is written in lipstick in a mirror -- this is supposedly the day her father died, or walked out) were written for her father, but she's never actually confirmed it: there's no sources for all of this, just fansites. ― Sturr ★彡 ^Refill/lol 17:31, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Exactly, knowbody is sure that its true or not. Some people dabate that its just a rumor, and some say its the truth because they "Know" her. Yeah, right. Unforgotten 20:06, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

2007 Happening / A BEST 2 Era

I thin it should be titled 'A BEST 2 Era' not 2007 Happening. A BEST 2 is likely the only Album to be realesed this year, (Original Studio, Compilation, Remix or otherwise). Miht as well make use of tht now, and i mean hey, its not like if there is an album going to be ralesed, the Article is going to be 'A BEST 2 and New Ablum Era' ... so why dont we put it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.239.236.226 (talk) 03:33, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

I agree. It should be 'A BEST 2 Era'. 4nGeLuS 23:10, 24 January 2007 (GMT+1)

A quick note: A Best 2 Era, not A BEST 2 Era. Our guidelines are clear, we should not use uppercase in song or album names. -- ReyBrujo 22:14, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree, its more known as A Best 2 Era. Plus, I prefer it that way. lol Unforgotten 20:03, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Image problem

Currently, the image you are showing (right) is nominated for deletion on Wikimedia Commons.

If this image is deleted, then we're missing an image of her for free use images!

If you see her, and if you have a camera, could you try to take a picture of her and possibly do upload it at Wikimedia Commons? Thanks. Bigtop 07:25, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

correct capitalization of song titles

Wikipedia says trademarks don't have to be capitalized but should the titles be considered trademarks? They are the actual TITLEs of the songs colloquially and officially. Sony's logo is all in uppercase but on Wikipedia it is "Sony". This applies correctly because it is an actual trademark. Justin Timberlake's songs "SexyBack" or "FutureSex/LoveSound" has unique capitalization and it isn't spelled "Sexyback" or "Futuresex/lovesounds". This should apply to Ayu's songs also. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.107.157.243 (talk) 02:27, 15 January 2007 (UTC).

That discussion is covered here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ayumi_Hamasaki#Important_Titles_Note_for_ALL_artists_.28please_copy_this_on_other_asian_artist_talk_pages.29 . I feel that the titles should be the way the artist intended them. 4nGeLuS 24 January 2007, 23:15 (GMT+1)

Check here. In short: No. -- ReyBrujo 22:43, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Namie Amuro's songs have unique capitalization. ― Sturr ★彡 ^Refill/lol 16:58, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Every J-pop article, no matter the singer, should be created following Wikipedia naming conventions. -- ReyBrujo 17:23, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

So now do I rename all of Amuro's song articles, or what? ― Sturr ★彡 ^Refill/lol 16:27, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Not only Amuro's, but Glay, Morning Musume and any other japanese artist, including band name, song, albums, photobooks, etc. -- ReyBrujo 17:39, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

I think they should stay as the proper capitalization. It pisses me off when it's capitalized wrong. The songs are capitalized the way they are obviously for a REASON, and to change them is a little anal. If someone changes them, I DO intend to change them back, or at least put a capitalization notice at the top of the page. Wiki information should be more focused on being accurate rather than more focused on being "correct by the normal standards". Amber 18:16, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

The capitalization is used to show english, if these arent capitalized how will people tell the difference between "are" and "ARE", and other japanese words that when romanised are the same as any english word Banzai777 21:24, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Use the {{nihongo}} template. -- ReyBrujo 05:16, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

years active

we should include the years active with Columbia Records and whenever she made the song 'A' with m.c.A.T. because she obviously was not only with avex trax —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Impracticable (talk • contribs).

Indeed. If we can get that information, it may be good to put in the infobox. -- ReyBrujo 19:52, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

It's good information to have, but it should be added to the article's text, not the infobox (see Template:Infobox musical artist). ShadowHalo 05:58, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

No, i mean look at namie amuro. the way it has the dates when she went from band to solo, like, do that with Ayumi, going from Label to Label, or however it must be done =] (Impracticable 04:36, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Images

I'm kind of unsure why we can't get free use images of her very much. Could anybody (especially if you're going on tour later this spring) take a picture of her if you can? Bigtop 23:23, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

If I recall correctly, you aren't allowed to take photos of Ayu in concert, and if you try to, a security guard will ask you to turn off the camera (Or phone) or they will take it off you. X2RADialbomber 05:11, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Every public photo of Ayumi is licenced in Japan. You won't find any public domain pictures. Not only this, Avex owns her likeness rights. There is no fair use in Japan. What I don't get is why they think they can tell us not to put pictures up on the English Wikipedia. We have fair use here.

TofS and A BEST 2

I cahnge the name of A BEST 2 era to "A Best 2 and Tour of Secret Era" because i think TofS is pretty huge event, since it is her first time out of japan for shows. and, once its over, we should start expecting music anyway. [And i mean, hey, A BEST 2 era is over really ... where would we put all the new informaton?!?! on TofS]

also im making a page on Tour of Secret but i would really like some help with it ///

(Impracticable 14:41, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Discography (Ranking Weekly or Daily)

What do you think the ranking should be based on? I think it should be weekly. Personnally, I think people want it to be daily so it can seem like all Ayu's albums have ranked #1. A BEST 2 ~BLACK~ only ranked #1 on ONE day and the difference in sales on that day with A BEST 2 ~WHITE~ was very small. Any opinions? Icaazn614 23:10, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

I prefer weekly or monthly, however please add the source! Even if it is in a magazine, put the name, publisher, page and date. Sometimes I wonder if people just throw numbers at random. -- ReyBrujo 04:00, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I think best compromise would be weekly. Monni 05:34, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I think it should be daily. i mean, technically, it DID rank number 1, did it not? (Impracticable 23:34, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

It was for one day and it was only by a few hundreds. Personally, I think having #1 gives a false impression that Ayu's had all #1 albums, not daily but weekly. Right now, we know the facts, but what about five years later. The fact that A BEST 2 ~BLACK~ was #1 for daily vs weekly might get fuzzier in the future. People might start thinking that daily #1 = weekly #1. Plus, most charts seem to care more about weekly ranking than daily ranking.Icaazn614 20:02, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

I guess people have very different opions which one of the charts is more important, so I think it would be best to put up rankings for both. It makes it a little more crowded but pretty much ends this constant reverting. Monni 20:56, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

i agree with monni1995 (Impracticable 02:04, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree too. Icaazn614 02:32, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Early Life, Showbusiness in Tokyo, As an Artist colums

I edited the first sections of the article concerning her early life some time ago, as they were a bit incorrect in the light of an interview that can be found here: http://homepage2.nifty.com/morimasa/rockin.html

It's an interview from a magazine Rockin' On Japan, translation done by MASA.

I understand that citing sources is very welcome and I will try to provide with exact quotes from the article as soon as I can (it's a pretty long article, so I will need to go through it again). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.31.200.165 (talk) 21:56, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

Covers/Promotional Pictures not relating to the article

Is it really necessary for promotional pictures of her various albums to just be placed in articles... It seems they have no relevance. Shouldn't the album covers of those albums that are important, or critically acclaimed be added? X2RADialbomber 10:38, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

In this article, not really. In articles about the albums they have a better chance of being accepted. Currently, the paragraphs are illustrated decoratively by covers, but those paragraphs do not examine the cover in a way that could be said "Fair use is justified because there is a critical appraisal of the cover". -- ReyBrujo 12:02, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Deleting Images?

Who is deleting the pictures of all the J-pop stars? I know Japan doesn't have fair use, but this is the the U.S. Wikipedia. She is a public figure and for the use of education, so any photo would fall into the "Fair use" terratory here... Or should I go around stripping the photos from every American singer I find on Wikipedia? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.97.122.193 (talk • contribs).

Either way, you still have to follow the Wikipedia Guidelines, even though you may not believe they are right. We know it is very hard to take an image of a Japanese/Eastern Singer, seeing as though most of us fans live in the Western World. You aren't allowed to take images of singers at concerts in Japan, and even if you could, I don't believe the picture would be particularly good enough. X2RADialbomber 11:00, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Even if the free picture is not particularly good, it should be used. As for Japanese singers, I am guessing it is an Avex Trax restriction because their artist have personality rights. I will see if I can investigate further. -- ReyBrujo 11:35, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

References

I have added the Unreferenced banner again because I still believe that some of the statements we have put in our article need backing up by sources. I have put the Citation-Needed tag on the references I believe need sources the most, and we still need to cite many references for Ayu's early career. X2RADialbomber 00:49, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

The unreferenced thing is pissing me off, to tell the truth. Not every article has to be as referenced as Final Fantasy X, and to think that an overabundance of references (or lack thereof) changes an article's quality is foolish. abarry^✓ 19:19, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Biographies of living persons need as many references as possible, because information without reference can be considered libel. In example, the sentence because the chief of SOS felt she would not do well because of her short height and would do much better in other activities, such as appearing on television is dangerous because we are putting thoughts in the chief of SOS that we cannot reference. However, I kind of agree with abarry that the tag is not correct. We should use the {{more sources}} tag instead, because we have references, but not as many as we should. -- ReyBrujo 03:52, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Well if you think that is the case, I'll add the more sources banner. I put some citation-needed tags for some statements, but many people just simply deleted them. X2RADialbomber 04:29, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

why was this link deleted?

The link previously under the Discography section which led to the article "List of songs by Ayumi Hamasaki" is gone. Was there a reason for this? It was a pretty relevant and helpful article. If it was deleted on the grounds of being irrelevant or something, that's going a little too far. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hiiroshii (talk • contribs).

I think it was deleted after a deletion discussion. -- ReyBrujo 12:06, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

The article was filled with errors too, that no one really fixed. X2RADialbomber 12:30, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

What do you guys think about the new image?

I asked someone if they could put their picture of Ayu in concert on Wikipedia Commons. Is it alright for this article, since they did in fact take it? X2RADialbomber 22:46, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

It should be fine enough. We are discussing if we need a new policy regarding pics of Japanese people in Commons, since it appears that Japanese law are more restrictive with them. I should be close to get another free image, hopefully this time they will answer me :-) -- ReyBrujo 02:36, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Months passed, but finally got the new free image :) -- ReyBrujo 19:30, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Images in the article

We're not allowed to put in CD/DVD Covers, or promotional images... So then, what type of images are we allowed to put? What makes a picture a promotional picture of that album/single? I remember a few days before the Secret album was announced, there was an image of one the Secret booklet scans on the frontpage. Do images such as these classify themselves to be "promotional"? X2RADialbomber 02:12, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

I think that promotional images are ok. However, some of those pictures which were recently removed were just scans of the CD booklet that someone labelled as a promotional image on Wikipedia; or, video screen caps. It's obvious that not everyone pays close attention to the usage section of the various fair use licenses on the image upload page; but, for example, for identification and critical commentary on the music video in question means that video caps should not be used gratuitously to illustrate the artist's article. This image claims to be a promotional release, but its online source is a questionable website which has the rest of the CD booklet scanned in as well. If there is proof that someone released that photo in a press kit on Hamasaki's behalf, then, I think it would be borderline-acceptable for reaching the inclusion criteria here. Neier 11:48, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Right. Well thanks. I'll try to find some real promotional images in the future. X2RADialbomber 06:27, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Editing links

Hi, I've noticed that any page other then Divine AYU has their page links deleted. I would love for this to stop. There are other fan run sites that deserve to be listed, and are not listing themselves for the forum, but for the entire site.

Please be fair. Divine AYU is a great site, but there are others.

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.189.102.175 (talk)

To whoever considers adding in only Divine AYU to the links list, please, enough is enough. If you are not going to allow other sites to be listed, Divine AYU has no right to be there either, and I will edit it out every time until someone either allows other sites to be listed, or simply stops listing that one site, and that one site alone.

Simply put, it is not fair to anyone, and is giving only that one site the chance to be listed. I do understand that Wikipedia is not a link site, and I have no problem with keeping any other Ayumi Hamasaki site off the list, provided that all sites are run by the same rules.

I would love to know why that one site is allowed to be listed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.19.229.202 (talk)

Please read #External links for rationale and previous discussion. Monni 20:26, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

It is unfair, PERIOD. You do not right the rules to this, this is a community project. I will complain to the authorities who run the Wikipedia, and have ALL links taken out. I have read external links previously, and I think it's rotten, mean, elitist, and simply unfair. I will do everything legal within my power to stop you from being the one source who thinks they know what's good for the Ayu entry in Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.19.229.202 (talk)

Divine Ayu is the only extensive fan-site of Ayumi Hamasaki. Plus all the other fansites have exactly the same information, so why bother with more than one? There's no use having more fansites on Wikipedia, because you're not going to get more 'hits' because of it, plus what's the point? X2RADialbomber 08:30, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Divine Ayu is the only extensive fan-site? All other fansites have exactly the same information? That's simply not true. It's not about getting more hits or whatever, it's about overestimating the authority of Divine Ayu. I opt to take out ALL links to fansites since clearly some people here think that they are the ones who can select which sites are worthy and which aren't and that's just not what Wikipedia is about.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.161.60.71 (talk)

Number of #1 singles

This is contradictory: The single debuted at #1 on the Oricon chart with sales of 116,000, and thus broke the record of most #1 singles in Japan for a solo (female) artist previously held by Seiko Matsuda. It was her 26th #1 single. However, Seiko still holds the record of the most consecutive No.1 singles for a female artist, a record that she has been holding for two decades and not likely to be broken anytime soon (Ayumi has 15 consecutive number 1 singles as of March 2007). Huh? Is it Matsuda who has 26 consecutive #1s? Jpatokal 11:59, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

It's not contradictory; but, badly worded. Of Seiko's 25 #1 hits, 24 of them came in a row. Of Ayumi's 26 hits, her current streak is 15. Neier 12:29, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

It's neither contradictory nor badly worded. The word "consecutive" is there for a reason. --Anzuru 03:02, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Bio and Cleanup

A lot of the biography needs to be reworded. Some of it is sloppily worded and a lot of it reads a bit like propoganda or at least NPOV. Cwilli201 16:13, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Maybe you should edit it then ;) X2RADialbomber 00:14, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

This needs to be fixed.

"...broke up with her 7 year boyfriend..."

it makes it sound like Ayumi Hamasaki's boyfriend was 7 years old. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.27.181.231 (talk • contribs).

Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. -- ReyBrujo 18:09, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Her awards section is getting too long

She has had a long career so her list of awards will only get longer. How about we create a separate page for her awards to shorten the article? mirageinred 22:04, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Third Chapter

There are TWO Third Chapter. I've deleted the second one twice, but it keeps being put back. 206.40.103.107 20:57, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Why is it even call "Third Chapter"? Since the events in that section are happening AFTER her "A Best 2" era, it should be known as "Post-A Best 2 era" instead of "Third Chapter," which isn't making any sense at all considering the fact that all of her "eras" are named after a certain album.Too peachy 18:31, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

wait what

"This article or section may contain excessive or improper use of copyrighted images and/or audio files."

Where? Last time I checked, CD covers were "public domain" as promotional images, and I don't know about PV screencaps. Considering it has promotional built into the name I'd assume these were public domain as well. Wintertwilight 18:21, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Being "public domain" (which is not in fact) promotional images, they are not fine. We focus on free media, not promotional one. Album covers should go in the article about the album, not in the article about the artist, not even in a discography list. This article alone has 12 fair use images, when it should have one or two at most (and only if the images are backed up by text, decorative images are not accepted). -- ReyBrujo 20:15, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Notable Songs of Ayumi? What?

No offense intended, but none of those songs enclosed in the "Notable tracks" section are notable. Just because they contain English lyrics doesn't even make them notable. Shouldn't we include songs such as "First #1 Single", "Highest Selling Single", "Highest Downloaded Single", and "Songs which won awards"?

X2RADialbomber 08:41, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Bias in "Lyrics"

It says she is well known for her "deep and poetic lyrics". That sounds an awful lot like opinion to me.Magicallydajesus 10:19, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

PV?

The article makes mention of PV several times, but fails to explain what PV stands for. Can someone correct this? Thanks. ++Arx Fortis 21:56, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

From the article - "The backstage footage of her Best of Countdown Live 2006–2007 A can be found on the DVD for the Black edition, as well the PVs or promotional clips for the songs included." Pandacomics 00:36, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Formatting of the titles of albums and singles

According to Wikipedia style guidelines, shouldn't the names of her singles be in quotation marks, and the titles of her albums be italicized?

Thanatous 21:04, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

I’ll have to check again. My recollection is that singles are italicized since they are self-standing (i.e., discrete) works, as are albums. The names of the songs should be set in quotation marks, though; the confusion could stem from single names and song names usually coinciding. If enclosure in quotation marks is the preferred format, I’ll go back and fix them.

By the way, thanks for your help in editing this. There’s so much that needs to be fixed that, after getting into it a little, it felt a bit overwhelming. Please note, however, that I disagree with your use of "#1" for "No. 1", since I believe this is a peg below the degree of formality preferred in an encyclopedia (it my be acceptable in music magazines and such, but not in relatively formal prose—even "No. 1" instead of "number-one" is stretching things a bit). Further, I strongly object to the use of a tilde (~) where em or en dashes belong in English, even when the original titles use them: Though rendered in roman letters to look like English, those original titles are still essentially Japanese titles following Japanese preferences/conventions and intended to catch the eye of Japanese consumers. Though original spellings—and, to some extent, capitalization preferences—should be maintained, use of symbols that have different meanings to Japanese readers and English readers should not, with English conventions preferred in English prose. Since this is common practice for terms and titles originating in other languages, such as German or French, I see no reason why variance should be allowed for Japanese. Best regards, Jim_Lockhart 01:55, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, Jim. My English classes never covered that...I thought her titles were English. But I guess I'll leave that up to you. However, according to Wikipedia's style manual, songs and singles are put in quotes, whereas albums are italicized. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thanatous (talk • contribs) 21:30, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Indeed on the singles titles—my bad. As soon as I have time, I’ll fix them (unless someone beats me to it). Thanks. Jim_Lockhart 00:11, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Categories

What do you guys think of the new categories? I kind of liked it better when it was divided by albums; "rise to fame" and "continuous success" are somewhat relative.

Thanatous (talk) 04:20, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

I agree with you, I liked it better when it was divided by albums too. ― LADY GALAXY ★彡 ^Refill/lol 19:40, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Like grains of sand

It certianly isn't a b-movie, it is one of the most highly regarded art house movies of the ninties in Japan —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.226.7.221 (talk) 22:11, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I fixed that. ― LADY GALAXY ★彡 ^Refill/lol 02:12, 28 November 2007 (UTC)