Hamasaki Ayumi in tears at Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2018 in Yoyogi Park

Hamasaki Ayumi (39) performed live at the Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2018 held at Yoyogi Park in Tokyo on May 6th.

Hamasaki performed seven songs but during her fifth song “how beautiful you are”, Hamasaki started tearing up and apologized to the audience as she tried to wipe away her tears.

Hamasaki said during her MC, “I have not had opportunities but it was a great honor to be invited this time.  When I lost my way of living 20-years-ago, I didn’t know what to do, so I went to 2-chome for the first time.  Since then, I felt like it was my home.  I have had a lot of emotions and pleasures with my 2-chome colleagues”.

Note: 2-chome is reference to Shinjuku Ni-chome, a gay quarter in East Shinjuku with many bars and nightclubs.

Note 2: Back in the late ’90s, Hamasaki released a rap EP as “Ayumi” and was cut by Nippon Columbia when it failed to chart.  She starred in B-movies and TV dramas but ratings were very low.  She quit school and spent a lot of time at Shibuya and at Avex’s disco club, Velfarre, where she would go to dance.

She would eventually be signed by Avex’s founder & CEO Max Matsuura and make her debut at the age of 19 with the single “Poker Face”.  Her first four singles were not hit singles but her debut album “A Song for xx” would achieve success, topping the Oricon album charts for five weeks and selling over a million copies and she would win the Japan Gold Disc Award for “Best New Artist of the Year”.

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