Original Article from asahi.com here.

Thanks to miskiq@AHS for sharing.

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ayu unable to return due to flu… Misses MSta 25th Anniversary performance

On the 16th, singer Hamasaki Ayumi (32) missed her live appearance on TV Asahi’s “Music Station”‘s 25th Anniversary Special Programme. On her website, Hamasaki stated that she “could not board flights due to an illness”.

Following this, an aplogy message was also posted onto her fanclub site. She wrote “I’m really regretful, pained, and sorry for causing such trouble. I’m really sorry.”, a message meant for the music programme staff, other performing artists, her band members and fans.

According to staff, Hamasaki travelled to New York earlier this month for work, after a brief stop in Hong Kong. Due to a delay in her calendar photoshoot schedule, she changed her flight back. After that, she caught a cold and developed acute pharyngitis, and was unable to board her new flight home. On Twitter, she tweeted about her mad rush to get flight tickets, and also revealed how her staff mixed up flight times by an hour.

Hamasaki’s performance had been announced on newspaper TV listings, and it was revealed that she was going to perform 「beloved」 from her new mini-album 「FIVE」. During the music programme’s opening, hosts Takeuchi Yoshie gave an explanation and apologized for Hamasaki’s absence. During December 2008, Hamasaki also suddenly cancelled an appearance on MSta due to a wrist injury.