Ayumi Hamasaki

I don't think you should meet the people you most admire. I don't want reality to interfere with my image.

Of course, my motto is still, 'Work is work, private is private.'

I do what I love to do at the moment. If I wake up tomorrow and decide I want to dance, that's what I'd do. Or design clothes. I think I'd throw myself into whatever I'm doing now. It's not about abandoning what I was doing before, or giving up. It's about knowing that if I die tomorrow, I lived the way I wanted to.

I'm not a professional; I lack even basic knowledge about writing music.

The way I work, typically, I do everything at the very last minute.

It is necessary that I am viewed as a product. I am a product.

I understand it's my role to realize people's dreams. I'm O.K. with that so long as my songs are my own. No one can take my songs away from me.

If there are rules and regulations, I can't help it, I want to break them.

If I write when I'm low, it will be a dark song, but I don't care. I want to be honest with myself at all times.

I read and watch movies. I can't go to the movie theater much anymore, though, because I get recognized. It's worse sometimes if I wear a costume and try not to get recognized. I watch most of my films on airplanes.

I don't set goals. Like, that's what I want to be doing however many years from now. I do what I love to do at the moment. If I wake up tomorrow and decide I want to dance, that's what I'd do. Or design clothes.

I don't have dreams. How can I say it? I myself am a dream.

I always like whatever I did most recently. It's the closest to who I am at the moment.

I have trouble voicing my thoughts... I can't communicate very well that way.

I understand it's my role to realize people's dreams.

In the beginning, I was searching for myself in my music. My music was for me. I didn't have the mental room to be conscious of the listener; I wrote to save myself.

The way I work, typically, I do everything at the very last minute. Even if I was given two months, I'd do it in the last three days.

I'd heard a lot of Asian people were rooting for me, but I had no idea. I was stunned. They were... impassioned, especially compared to Japan. I couldn't even have anticipated that kind of welcome.

It sounds odd coming from me, but I realize what I say and how I look has a great impact.

It's hard to decide how to match words to music. It's not like it's twice the work. It's always difficult for me to explain to the composer what I'm looking for. I'm not a professional; I lack even basic knowledge about writing music.