Ayumi Hamasaki

Ok I am Not trying to start a racial fight. It's been bothering me for a while. I just want to know why Ayumi uses only white people in her music videos. She is wicked famous and I am sure some of her fans already asked her that question before. Do you know why? If I am a Japanese living in Japan I would feel insulted by her videos.

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:32 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

it's her video.. she could strip if she wants..

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:33 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

coz she feels she's elevated beyond typical asians and the next breed up in her opinion are caucasians. Whistling

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:51 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

"You're easy breezey and I'm Japanese-y"
-Utatda Hikaru

I don't know but the answer would be quite interesting though. And I doubt she has any choice in choosing the lead male role. Maybe it's to expand her popularity out of Japan...in the UK/America/etc. Whatever, I don't like her music anyways.

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:54 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Probably the same reason why every clothing ad here in Taipei seems to feature a female asian model and a caucasian male model. She's selling the fantasy to women of having a romantic foreign lover, it's not racism exactly, more like knowing your audience and marketing. As for the people in Japan, most of the people viewing these videos speak no english and will probably never speak to a caucasian in their life except maybe once or twice on vacation. Why should they be upset? The only guys who feel threatened by this sort of thing are young asian males living overseas who actually DO have to compete with caucasian males for mates.

Rob

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:54 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

This is a SWAG*, but I think this is another example of reaching fans of the west using cultural identity.

--- groink

*SWAG - super wild-ass guess

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:18 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Well Jpop has gone to pot since the early 90's when TK started producing for artists under the Avex label and infusing more Western infuences into the music and unfortunately it has
gotten worse year after year to such a point where Jpop has lost it's real identity and is just
a carbon copy of crappy western music.. J-rap, J-hip Hop, J-Soul ,J-Grunge all J-CRAP !!!

Ayumi is on this bandwagon big time !!! The reason there are only white people in her videos
is because the Japanese fans have been emulating Western/White culture to such a point that they forget where they come from....

Anybody under 30 and haven't been into Jpop by 1992' latest will not have any clue where i
am coming from... Long live Nori-P & Miporin !!!

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:32 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:42 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!! I just finished listening to Strawberry Time...for the billionth time since buying it 18 years ago !

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:56 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I'm still waiting for a Shonen Knife video myself....

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:04 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

They think white people are exotic and cool. Hence all the English infused in J-Pop, and why Ayumi's songs all ahve English titles. Well, except like two or three.

There's also black people too! (Walking Proud, Dearest)

She's just cool and all about the culture.

I also wonder if its also easy to get white people, since there's a lot of Models visiting for the fashion scene in Japan, and they jsut pick models who are available.

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:12 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

dun think there's racial issues here.... thinks is all abt marketing ...

1. makes ayumi stand out ...that's for sure...

2. to reach out global market! for westerner...thinks that;s why hikki's album titled exodus is all in english....

dun u think so??? well, that's what i think... Cool

other explanation...they're cheaper??? not so sure abt this...anyone could advice me on this matter???

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:41 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Probably for the same reason when I was in Japan (for a couple of weeks a few years ago), every car ad I saw had a mixed Japanese/Caucasian couple in it. I rather wondered about the implications of that at the time.

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:44 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Ummmm. she doesn't? I mean, sure, there are caucasians and other races in some of her pvs.. possibly more than other musicians use. But not all of her PVs do. Humming 7/4, Fairyland, About You... they feature asians.

Ayu has said that she has no intentions of trying to make it in America or elsewhere.. she knows what the Japanese fans want, so that's where she's comfortable and going to stay. What makes sense to me, though, is that these days many Japanese youths feel trapped by Japan, and want to explore beyond their country. Thus, Ayu using people of different race in her videos makes her seem more wordly, as sticking to Japanese people may now seem boring to teenagers there.

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 5:32 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hmmm... I've noticed that Gackt does the same thing too. Maybe it's an expression of their popularity?