"I always like whatever I did most recently. It's the closest to who I am at the moment." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"I didn't understand my loneliness until I moved to Tokyo. I moved at 14. I came alone, without Mommy. She came later." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"I don't have dreams. How can I say it? I myself am a dream." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"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." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"I don't think you should meet the people you most admire. I don't want reality to interfere with my image." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"I have trouble voicing my thoughts... I can't communicate very well that way." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"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." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"I understand it's my role to realize people's dreams." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"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." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"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." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"It sounds odd coming from me, but I realize what I say and how I look has a great impact." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"It was written in some newspaper that I'm a Japanese Britney Spears. I like her, and she's fun to watch, but I don't get the sense that she's her own creation. Who I really like is Madonna. What I admire is she's made it on her own terms." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"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." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"New York was a relief - not all hierarchical and rule-bound." - Ayumi Hamasaki
"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." - Ayumi Hamasaki
