An Alert Reader has just alerted me with the following alert message:

"Did you know that the most famous J-pop star of all time was having a post concert bite accompanied by no less than 12 body guards and another ten strong entourage at the Rainbow Seafood restaurant in Sok Kwu Wan last Easter Sunday night?

Didn't have a phone to photo with and the table next to me was prevented from taking pictures anyway.

Ayumi Hamasaki is one of the most popular and influential Japanese pop singers in Japanese music history, and is dubbed "The Empress of J-Pop". She has sold more than 50 million records, being the top selling solo and female artist and the fourth top selling Japanese artist in the history of Japan.

With the release of her 39th single "Startin' / Born to be... " in 2006, Hamasaki became the first female singer to have 27 #1 singles (the most #1 singles a Japanese female artist has ever achieved) and 38 singles in the Top 10 of the Japanese Oricon charts. She has 15 consecutive #1 singles to date.

Ayumi has also won the Grand Prix at the Japan Record Taishou (the Japanese equivalent of the Grammys) three times in a row, from 2001–2003."

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For those not-so-familiar with the Japanese pronunciations, the mentioned J-pop celeb is 濱崎步！

The correct Japanese spelling of Ayu's name - for all Japanese-speaking Lammaites (there are quite a few!) - is something like this:

浜崎あゆみ

P.S. Hey, I didn't know that our forum can display Japanese characters, without any upgrade. We should try some other non-Western characters...

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Well... thanks to Ayu, we're making waves across the world... From the Taipei Times: Ayumi Hamasaki makes scene with bodyguards in restaurant!

Nice story in the Taipei Times! Their primary source for the story seems to have been this forum and it quotes several of our posted messages! Let's re-publish it here before they make it hard to find:

Japanese pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki upset locals in a Hong Kong fishing village when she made a surprise visit for a seafood meal with 22 aggressive bodyguards and flunkies, witnesses said.

Hamasaki, known as "Ayu" to her fans and the biggest-selling solo pop star in Japan, was cocooned by her entourage who prevented locals from getting near her table or fans from taking photographs.

She popped over to Sok Kwu Wan village on Lamma Island, about 3km from downtown Hong Kong after she had completed a series of sold-out concerts at the city's Coliseum arena.

Contributors to local Website forums complained that the diminutive singer, whose unusually large round eyes and fair hair are believed to have sparked a fad for eye-lid cosmetic surgery among Japanese girls, had upset locals.

"The most famous J-pop star of all time was having a post-concert bite accompanied by no less than 12 bodyguards and another 10 strong entourage," wrote one anonymous subscriber to Lamma.com.hk, the blog for island residents.

"(I) didn't have a phone to photo with and the table next to me was prevented from taking pictures anyway," the writer added.

A spokesman for the Rainbow Restaurant, where Hamasaki ate, confirmed the singer had dined at the eatery but wouldn't comment on her entourage's behavior.

"She had lots of bodyguards with her," he said. "She came over on her own chartered boat."

According to her Website, Hamasaki has had 27 number one hits in Japan, more than any other solo artist.

Leafy Lamma Island's seafood restaurants regularly attract celebrities including Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat. (AFP)

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