Queen of J-Pop
TalkAsia Exclusive Interview with Japanese Singing Idol Ayumi Hamasaki
I’m Atika Shubert in Tokyo, part of our special Japan Now series, and my guest today is Japan’s biggest pop star and teen idol, Ayumi Hamasaki. This is TalkAsia.
To her fans Ayumi Hamasaki is better known as just plain Ayu. But there’s nothing ordinary about this petit wide-eyed singer. She’s had more number-one hit singles than any Japanese female artist. She’s won every music and style award in the country several times over.
＂If the people think I’m doing very well and being very successful, I think that’s because I’m sincere about everything.＂
She is the ultimate icon of Tokyo pop. Her unique style triggers fashion trends instantly copied on the streets of Tokyo.
＂My job is to simply be myself. To be Ayumi Hamasaki.＂
－So what inspired you to become an artist and a musician?
＂I originally did not have any ambition to become famous or to become an artist like this. I have not at all expected in any way that I would become famous in this way. But at the very beginning when I started to sing at the age of 19, I prepared myself and made myself ready to accept many different things that would happen, such as the responsibility that comes with fame, the lack of freedom that I would experience and my role as a performer and as an artist. So at that point, I was finally ready to take on all those things and I began my singing career.＂
－You’re also known for your unique, frequently changing style. Why do you change your style so often? And when you do change your style, are you changing your identity or your character each time?
＂The media talks about my fashion sense quite often, but in reality I simply like clothes and shoes. There’s really no more to it than that. I never made an effort to be particularly extraordinary or completely different from others when it comes to what I wear. I just put on the clothes that I want to wear at the time. The most important thing for me is, like you said in your question, not to change my character with fashion, but to remain true to who I am. Whatever I wear, wherever I am or whatever I do, it is most important to be myself. Whether I happen to wearing a patchy sweat suit or dressed up in a pretty dress like I am today, I think it’s most important that I’m just myself.＂
（中文翻譯）
百變天后濱崎步
《亞洲名人聊天室》與日本偶像歌手濱崎步的獨家專訪
我是艾緹卡．舒伯特，我在東京，這是《日本現況》特輯的一部分。我今天的來賓是日本最紅的流行音樂巨星和青少年偶像—濱崎步。歡迎收看《亞洲名人聊天室》。
對她的歌迷來說，濱崎步為人所知的稱號就單純叫做「小步」，不過這位個頭嬌小的大眼歌手可一點都不尋常。她是日本史上擁有最多暢銷單曲的女性藝人，她已經贏得日本各項音樂及造型大獎好幾次了。
「如果大家認為我表現得很好而且非常成功的話，我想那是因為我對每件事都很用心。」
她是東京流行樂壇的終極偶像人物，她獨特的風格引領時尚潮流，讓東京街頭立即爭相模仿。
「我的工作就是作我自己，作濱崎步。」
－是什麼啟發妳成為藝人和歌手的念頭？
「我本來根本沒有成名或進演藝圈的企圖，或變成這樣的藝人。我壓根兒都沒想過自己會變得這麼出名。但最初從我十九歲開始唱歌的時候，我就要自己做好準備，去接受許多各種將會發生的事物，像是伴隨名氣而來的責任、失去自由，以及我身為表演者和藝人的角色。所以在那一刻，我終於準備好接受這一切，開始了我的歌唱事業。」
－妳也以獨特多變的風格著稱。為什麼妳要經常改變風格？在每次改變風格的同時，妳的身分和個性也隨之改變嗎？
「媒體常會討論我的時尚感，但是在現實生活中我只是喜歡衣服和鞋子，真的就是這樣而已。在穿著方面，我從來沒有刻意顯得獨特或完全與眾不同。我只是穿上我當時想穿的衣服。對我來說，最重要的是，就像你的問題中所提到的，不要因流行而改變了我的個性，而是要保有真我。不管我穿什麼、人在何處或做任何事，最重要的就是做自己。不管我是穿著破舊的運動服，還是像今天這樣盛裝穿著美麗的禮服，我想最重要的是，我就是我。」
﹡以上內容節錄自博客來網路書店
﹡博客來網路書店介紹頁面
http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/magazine/mag_retail.php?item=R030007968
