J-pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki's concerts sold out at record speed, but is loving her bad for Asia's average women?

Last month while I was visiting the beautiful people of Taiwan, my friends cancelled a get together to instead line up for Ayumi Hamasaki concert tickets. To appease my anger, they begged and said, “The scalped tickets are already hiked up to US$600!” I was shocked (and not only because one of my die hard punk rock friends is now a J-pop fan, waiting in line for hours for a ticket).

The Hamasaki heat wave spread to Hong Kong and Shanghai this spring. Tickets for her Hong Kong concert sold out in three hours and in just two hours the Taipei concert tickets were gone. Keeping to form, the upcoming Shanghai concert sold out in a day.

Hamasaki's music style is plain J-pop with splashes of rock, Euro-dance and gospel music featuring her nasal voice and lollipop girl image. But what really gets her Japanese teen fans going are her lyrics. Writing all 40 of her singles herself since her debut in 1998, Hamasaki throws off the themes of love and heartbreak and instead opts for loneliness, self-doubt and hope. Music producer Max Matsuura has more than once praised Hamasaki's gift for writing, saying it is highly unusual for such a young artist to be so articulate and mature in expressing emotions and ideas.

Heavily dyed blonde hair, manga-like giant eyes accentuated by popping eye shadow and her fashion forward (think light years ahead, like the Jetsons) wardrobe made her a style icon in Japan. She was named the “queen of manicure beauty” for the fifth year in a row this year among Japanese stars and also topped the lists of “best jeans wearer” and “Miss Barbie” since 2002. Plus she can now add the title of Asia's Madonna: “Who I really like is Madonna,” Hamasaki told the media. “What I admire is she's made it on her own terms.”

In a way, Hamasaki is really the material girl of Madonna's often karaoked song. During her Taipei trip, she first looted the Louis Vuitton flagship store, buying two short jackets, and then went on to shop at Escada, Miu Miu and Dolce & Gabbana, purchasing one handbag, six pairs of shoes, five hair pins, three belts, two wallets and two pairs of sunglasses—in total spending US$29,600 in just two hours. And then in Hong Kong, Hamasaki went on to sweep through high-end fashion boutiques, buying 30 pairs of high heels and two bikinis, also in about two hours.

So the title of “fashion queen,” actually comes from piles and piles of expensive brands, as well as wanton shopping without any hesitation or abashment. No wonder there is constant news in Taiwan about teenagers and office women stressed out by huge credit card debt. Maybe many of them are Hamasaki fans, who wish to emulate their shinning star and drown in the vanity of endless shopping sprees. Hamasaki's next self-written single should be titled “Cult of Louis Vuitton.”

Money Does Grow on Trees

Divas in the West are no less guilty of gluttony. Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are notorious shopoholics, not to mention Brittany Spears, who was captured on camera the other week raiding a Lisa Kline store, dropping US$4,000 on clothes and a basket for her Chihuahua Bit Bit in under an hour.