Original Japanese article here.

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Hamasaki Ayumi: Mutual tweets of “I miss you”
17 January 2012.

On the 16th, artiste Hamasaki Ayumi annouced her decision to divorce Austrian actor Manuel Schwarz on her fanclub site “TeamAyu”.

Schwarz released a solo photobook titled “SUPER MANUEL” on 25 November 2011. In the days leading up to and following this release, hints of the two’s wavering feelings could be discerned from their tweets.

This photobook was shot by photographer Leslie Kee, who had undertaken many of Hamasaki’s projects, such as CD jacket photos and calendar photoshoots.

◆ “WE LOVE AYU”

On 23 November 2011, Kee tweeted about “SUPER MANUEL”, attaching a 「dedicate to Ayumi Hamasaki」 message to the tweet. He also added that this was “our LOVE & surprise to you” and “WE LOVE AYU”, indicating that he had done a private photoshoot with Schwarz.

Seeing this photo, Hamasaki exclaimed “My heart was gonna almost STOP! LOL” in English, expressing total shock.

◆ “I miss you” Tweets

On 27 November 2011, Hamasaki updated her own Twitter with the message “That’s a wrap on 1 of our videos!!! But it was very sad story…my hubby was on my mind all day..Miss my hubby;(((“.

To this, Schwarz tweeted the reply, “I miss you”.

From this, we can tell that in November, even though they were apart, their feelings for each other were still strong.

◆ “Preparing for my journey”

However, on the 14th of this month, Hamasaki tweeted that she was “preparing for my journey. I’m on my way to future…”, and that “How much we are apart is how far away we are, how much we are together is how close we are… Right?” These comments worried fans, who suspected that she might be hinting at a divorce.

The two met in August 2010 during the filming of “Virgin Road” PV (directed by Komuro Tetsuya) at Los Angeles. Hamasaki got to know Schwarz, who was acting as the husband, and the two started to deepen their relationship. They announced their marriage on New Year’s Day in 2011. Although the initial plan was for Hamasaki to migrate to the US, she felt a strong reluctance to leave Japan after the Tohoku Earthquake Disaster, and the marriage became a long-distance relationship. On 17 January 2012, Hamasaki announced her decision to divorce.

Original Japanese article here.

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Hamasaki Ayumi Lightning Divorce 1 Year After Marriage, Disaster an Excuse for Reluctance to Leave Japan
17 January 2012.

Late at night on the 16th, singer Hamasaki Ayumi (33) announced her decision to divorce Austrian-born actor Manuel Shwarz (31) on her fanclub site. The two of them registered their marriage in Las Vegas, America, on New Year’s Day last year. The divorce came just one year after their marriage.

According to comments on her site, Hamasaki’s first step will be to file for divorce on the 16th (17th in Japan Time). “I alone was the cause for this. When we got married, we decided together that we were going to stay in the US, but when the Tohoku Earthquake Disaster happened 2 months later, a strong feeling of reluctance to leave Japan grew inside me, and I could not imagine myself living in the US. In the end, my husband was left by himself as the days went by,” she explained.

On top of that, she also added, “We often talked to each other and compromised, thinking we could just breach the physical distance by travelling to see each other, but before we knew it, the emotional distance had grown too large. When I think of the future now, I can’t return to the person I used to be, the one who decided to migrate to the US. My future is to do something for Japan, and since I cannot see a future in the US with my husband, we have come to this decision.”

During August of 2010, the two met at Los Angeles, when they starred together in the PV for “Virgin Road” from “Love songs” album, and immediately hit it off. They announced their marriage on New Year’s Day last year. At that time, Hamasaki happily announced, “We are truly at the closest place to forever right now. Mannie, who acted as my hubby in Virgin Road, is going to become my real-life hubby!!!!!”