Hamasaki Ayumi (25) wrapped up her national tour with a show at the National Stadium No.1 Gymnasium in Yoyogi, Tokyo on Sunday. The “Arena Tour 2003-2004” took in 12 venues and 31 shows, and was attended by a total of 230,000 fans. The media saw this as a huge number, which together with the elaborate staging had them crowning her “Queen of J-pop”. But her recent failure to dominate the charts as she did a couple of years back suggests that the title more rightly belongs to Utada Hikaru (21). This week, Utada became the first artist in 16 years to reach No.1 in both the single and album charts with titles not released on the same day (Ayu achieved the feat in 2000 and 2001 for same-day releases). Her “Single Collection” album is in its 3rd week in the top spot. The single is the title track of her husband’s movie-directing debut, “Casshern”.
• TV personality Kawashima Amiru (26) is pregnant with her second child. She is the daughter of the late singer Kawashima Eigo, who died in 2001 at the age of 48. The pregnancy was announced during a charity concert held to support those affected by the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake of 1995. It was the tenth and final concert in a series started in 1995 by the late singer.