Best fiction went pass the 1 million mark i believe!
Charts: Namie Amuro's popularity still strongThu, December 24, 2009 (5:56am EST)Namie Amuro's "PAST < FUTURE" was the top selling album this past week, with close to 331,000 units sold. At the age of 32, she has now become the first female solo artist to achieve #1 with an original album in her 10s, 20s, and 30s. She had three of them before her 20th birthday in 1997, followed by a couple more in 2000 and 2007. Yusuke Kamiji had to settle for #2 on the charts with 167,000 copies, a little more than half of Amuro's sales. MISIA, Rina Aiuchi, and Thee Michelle Gun Elephant broke the top ten as well. In singles, Masaharu Fukuyama's new song "Hatsukoi" captured first place with 151,000 in sales. The rest of the top ten was filled with fresh releases, from THE ALFEE, abingdon boys school, Buono!, Megumi Nakajima (as Macross Frontier character Ranka Lee), Yukari Tamura, The Birthday, and a sub-unit of Idoling!!!
Amuro dating Lonboo's TamuraWed, January 6, 2010 (1:37am EST)According to the latest issue of Josei Seven, singer Namie Amuro (32) and comedian Atsushi Tamura (36) are currently a couple. The two were apparently seen taking a trip together in the U.S. this past week. The magazine reports that Amuro flew from Narita to Los Angeles on December 28, and Tamura followed on the next day. The pair met up there, then took a flight together to Phoenix, Arizona. On the plane, they sat in adjacent seats, and Amuro was seen sleeping with her head on Tamura's shoulder. Throughout their trip, which lasted 9 days and 7 nights, Amuro and Tamura were often seen cuddling up to each other or holding hands. In Arizona, they visited the scenic Sedona area and checked into a hidden resort hotel.The pair reportedly met for the first time last summer at a house party of a mutual friend. Tamura, who is one half of the popular duo London Boots 1go 2go (commonly known as just London Boots or Lonboo), has been romantically linked in the past to celebrities such as Nanako Fujisaki (32), Chinatsu Wakatsuki (25), and Noriko Nakagoshi (30). His most recent girlfriend was a non-celebrity, but he revealed last September that they had broken up, apparently around the time that he and Amuro had met. Amuro was previously married to SAM (47) of TRF from 1997 to 2002, and since then she has raised their 11-year-old son by herself. Although she has normally celebrated New Year's Day with her son, she had someone else taking care of him this time while she went on her trip with Tamura. The management agencies of both Amuro and Tamura have declined to comment on the matter.
PAST < FUTURE Goes #1 in 5 CountriesAfter claiming #1 in Japan, Amuro’s 9th studio album, “PAST < FUTURE” has now topped the charts in 4 other Asian territories including South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. It marks the first time that a Japanese female artist has accomplished such a feat. “PAST < FUTURE” had a six week run on top in Hong Kong and a four week run in Singapore. Amuro previously held the record with 2008’s “BEST FICTION” which topped the charts in four countries. The record for men is currently held by Arashi who scored #1 in five countries as well.
TV commercial offends N.Z. MaoriA Japanese television commercial featuring pop diva Namie Amuro and a group of men performing an indigenous Maori dance has drawn criticism in New Zealand, the Australian Associated Press has reported.The ad for Coke Zero involves a dance between Amuro and a group of actors dressed in rugby jerseys apparently doing the ceremonial Ka Mate Haka dance.Te Ariki Wi Neera, a spokesman for the Ngati Toa tribe, the traditional custodians of the Ka Mate Haka, said the ad "sounds like crap." Te Ariki Wi Neera earlier told the New Zealand Herald that the advertising agency had contacted the New Zealand Embassy in Japan to inquire about using the Ka Mate Haka."We told them if they wanted to use Ka Mate they needed to talk to us first," the Herald reported him as saying. "They declined to engage when they saw we were serious about protecting it."
AI and Namie Amuro back in hot R&B comboWednesday 10th March, 04:33 AM JSTTOKYO — The best combination in Japanese female R&B is back for the first time in seven years, with singers AI, 28, and Namie Amuro, 32, set to release their single “FAKE feat. Namie Amuro.” The sexy pair performed together as part of SUITE CHIC in 2003 and ZEEBRA in 2006, but this is the first time for a song to be released under AI’ s name. 2010 also marks AI’s 10th anniversary on the music scene, and word is that she sounded Amuro out for her participation both publicly and privately.“FAKE” is about a girl who has just been dumped by her man, and her talking about it with one of her girl friends. AI said: “This kind of thing would never happen to a girl like Namie, right? For that reason I thought it’d be interesting to have her on it.” Amuro flashed a wry smile and said “I got more nervous than during my own recordings.” “FAKE feat. Namie Amuro” goes on sale March 31.