- 14 Mar 2002
- 21,053
- 18,905
Ayu gone loco?
And Ayu wanna be anarchy (in Thailand)
She didn't really want to go. "What do I have to go to Thailand for?" she grumbled. Even the prospect of an audience with a royal princess failed to rouse her. Was she herself not royalty? The queen of J-Pop? The mainstay of a sagging music industry? The first, second and last word in teen and post-teen fashion? God herself, to her millions of fans?
Ayumi Hamasaki, at 24, is all these things, and this quasi-diplomatic mission to Bangkok, where she would have to kneel before a mere princess by blood, left her cold. But the Thai-government was keen to host her, and her record company was keen to send her, and so, sullenly resenting that all the worship she commands has not made her mistress of her own fate, she went. It would have been better if she'd stayed home.
Shukan Bunshun recounts the fiasco.
The prime mover, with staunch Thai government backing, was the Thai Gem and Jewelry Traders Association. Thailand's biggest market for its gem exports is Japan. Who better than Hamasaki to implant in Japanese young people a craving for Thai rubies?
The arrangements that took shape called for her to spend four days in Bangkok. On Day Three she would take part in a palace ceremony and present Princess Ubonratana, the eldest daughter of King Rama IX, with the 3.6 million yen collected by the TGJTA for the princess' narcotics eradication program.
Hamasaki left Narita for Bangkok on Nov. 26. Trouble began before the Thai Airways plane was off the ground. Her luggage, with its 100 outfits, took time to load. Her protests over the seating arrangements took time to deal with -- she was not pleased to learn the first-class seat next to hers would be occupied. When the plane finally took off, 40 minutes late, the seat in question was taken -- reports Shukan Bunshun -- by Hamasaki's teddy bear.
At Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, the star snubbed a troupe of Thai dancers on hand to welcome her and brushed past a pack of reporters into a waiting limo, which whisked her along streets cleared of traffic to her $2,600-a-night accommodation at the Peninsula Hotel.
For the next two days she behaved as if her mission entailed offending as many people as possible, giving short shrift to reporters, abruptly canceling a scheduled TV appearance, and indulging in the sort of conspicuous consumption that is an outrage to less privileged members of our species.
Then came the "main event." One of 10 VIP participants, Hamasaki was ushered into a palace waiting room to await a rehearsal. There were formalities to master: the proper bow, the proper deportment (don't look higher than the princess' eyes). The rehearsal duly began -- but where was Hamasaki? When had she slipped out?
The ceremony was over before she reappeared, looking perfectly composed. Adding insult to injury, one of her staffers snapped a photo of the princess.
"It's a rather embarrassing story," a record company spokesperson tells Shukan Bunshun. "Hamasaki simply refused to take part. She said she wouldn't kneel to the princess. Her staff tried to make her see reason, but it was no use. 'I don't want to, and that's that,' she said."
With that she flounced out through a back exit and took refuge, apparently, in a parked bus. Just an over-pampered kid in a bad mood, you might say. True -- but Shukan Bunshun wonders if Hamasaki realizes how close she came to getting herself arrested. The Thai royal family enjoys a quasi-divine status, similar to that of Japan's prewar emperor. An insult to the royals is no laughing matter. On the contrary, it's generally a police matter. Hamasaki got away with it, the magazine speculates, only because Princess Ubonratana has a soft spot for performers.
And Ayu wanna be anarchy (in Thailand)
She didn't really want to go. "What do I have to go to Thailand for?" she grumbled. Even the prospect of an audience with a royal princess failed to rouse her. Was she herself not royalty? The queen of J-Pop? The mainstay of a sagging music industry? The first, second and last word in teen and post-teen fashion? God herself, to her millions of fans?
Ayumi Hamasaki, at 24, is all these things, and this quasi-diplomatic mission to Bangkok, where she would have to kneel before a mere princess by blood, left her cold. But the Thai-government was keen to host her, and her record company was keen to send her, and so, sullenly resenting that all the worship she commands has not made her mistress of her own fate, she went. It would have been better if she'd stayed home.
Shukan Bunshun recounts the fiasco.
The prime mover, with staunch Thai government backing, was the Thai Gem and Jewelry Traders Association. Thailand's biggest market for its gem exports is Japan. Who better than Hamasaki to implant in Japanese young people a craving for Thai rubies?
The arrangements that took shape called for her to spend four days in Bangkok. On Day Three she would take part in a palace ceremony and present Princess Ubonratana, the eldest daughter of King Rama IX, with the 3.6 million yen collected by the TGJTA for the princess' narcotics eradication program.
Hamasaki left Narita for Bangkok on Nov. 26. Trouble began before the Thai Airways plane was off the ground. Her luggage, with its 100 outfits, took time to load. Her protests over the seating arrangements took time to deal with -- she was not pleased to learn the first-class seat next to hers would be occupied. When the plane finally took off, 40 minutes late, the seat in question was taken -- reports Shukan Bunshun -- by Hamasaki's teddy bear.
At Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, the star snubbed a troupe of Thai dancers on hand to welcome her and brushed past a pack of reporters into a waiting limo, which whisked her along streets cleared of traffic to her $2,600-a-night accommodation at the Peninsula Hotel.
For the next two days she behaved as if her mission entailed offending as many people as possible, giving short shrift to reporters, abruptly canceling a scheduled TV appearance, and indulging in the sort of conspicuous consumption that is an outrage to less privileged members of our species.
Then came the "main event." One of 10 VIP participants, Hamasaki was ushered into a palace waiting room to await a rehearsal. There were formalities to master: the proper bow, the proper deportment (don't look higher than the princess' eyes). The rehearsal duly began -- but where was Hamasaki? When had she slipped out?
The ceremony was over before she reappeared, looking perfectly composed. Adding insult to injury, one of her staffers snapped a photo of the princess.
"It's a rather embarrassing story," a record company spokesperson tells Shukan Bunshun. "Hamasaki simply refused to take part. She said she wouldn't kneel to the princess. Her staff tried to make her see reason, but it was no use. 'I don't want to, and that's that,' she said."
With that she flounced out through a back exit and took refuge, apparently, in a parked bus. Just an over-pampered kid in a bad mood, you might say. True -- but Shukan Bunshun wonders if Hamasaki realizes how close she came to getting herself arrested. The Thai royal family enjoys a quasi-divine status, similar to that of Japan's prewar emperor. An insult to the royals is no laughing matter. On the contrary, it's generally a police matter. Hamasaki got away with it, the magazine speculates, only because Princess Ubonratana has a soft spot for performers.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fd20030202tc.htm
