Prepping her image for her 20th anniversary promotions next year, chanteuse Ayumi Hamasaki has been doing a string of variety show appearances to remind the public she’s a relatable, hardworking queen.

Last night, Hamasaki guested on NTV variety show “Konya Kurabete Mimashita” with Yoshimi Tokui, Terumoto Goto, SHELLY and HKT48 Rino Sashihara. Filled with your typical variety shenanigans, the episode also featured photos of Hamasaki’s luxury home (which was filmed ahead of her house photo drama earlier this week).

Throughout her career, Hamasaki has appeared on music programs many times, but she has never been this active in the variety circuit. Hochi reports that it was revealed that 25 staff members came with her for this appearance, including:

• 7 Managers
• 5 Record Company Officials
• 4 Stylists
• 4 Hair & Makeup Staff
• 2 Trainers
• 1 Costume Designer
• 1 Eyelash Extension Specialist
• 1 Esthetician

Of course, with all this material to feed off of, popular Japanese forum Girls Channel had a field day.

For reference, here’s a clip of how she looked on the episode. In the clip, she blindly touches the bald head of Saito-san from the comic duo Trendy Angel, who we previously saw on stage with her on tour for her latest album “M(A)DE IN JAPAN“.

Select comments from Girls Channels thread about this topic:

• [+1902, -3] “But… her makeup was terrible.”
• [+1176, -4] “She does Eyelash Extensions?”
• [+476, -8] “I wonder if that’s less than when she was in her ‘golden age'”
• [+1370,-4] “Four people each styled her and did her hair/makeup , and that’s the end result?”
• [+1914, -18] “Her face looks terrible”
  
• [+1141, -6] “She doesn’t need 7 managers, don’t you agree!?”
• [+32, -90] “The topic picture is cute, isn’t it?”
• [+1002, -4] “‘4 stylists’ This is the result of 4 people. This… (waterfall sweat)”
• [+639, -2] “I wonder what those 7 managers do”
• [+655, -14] Presented without comment:
  
• [+343, -1] “Her staff is incompetent if that many are needed.”
• [+443, -99] “She would definitely be considered a legend if she married [Tomoya] Nagase and retired. Knowing her from her peak, I don’t want to see Ayu this way.”
• [+403, -2] “Her stylists and makeup artists should be fired. Her look doesn’t suit her at all. I think she would look better if she dressed her age.”
• [+248, -2] “Her managers must have a lot of free time. I want to be one too.”
• [+374, -14] “With such strong makeup, my daughter asked, ‘Who is this lady?‘ She’s a first-year high school student so it’s understandable.”
• [+572, -6] “In the past, this Ralph Lauren shirt [that she’s wearing] would have probably sold out the next day.”
• [+22, -44] “It’s hard for anyone over the age of 30 to lose weight. I’d like to see the people here that are over 30 criticizing her.”
• [+240, -0] “Now it seems like Ayu has a warped sense of reality. It’s embarrassing to see.”
• [+154, -2] “Her makeup and the size of her eyes are ridiculous.”
• [+584, -9] “You don’t need this many bags. Such a waste of money”
  
• [+168, -2] “If you think about it, her staff probably doesn’t want to criticize her at the risk of getting fired. Instead, it’s better to be a ‘yes man’ and keep pampering her for as long as possible.”
• [+208, -2] “I was confused when she said her yoga teacher lived on a different floor [on her previous variety appearance], but on the show she said her yoga teacher came to her house every day. She lied saying they lived on a different floor. A chorus of people, her so-called friends, telling her the ‘truth’ are not good people to have around.”
• [+22, -30] “No wonder she keeps her staff so close. In the past, her influence was all of Japan. Now it’s only 3 meters in radius.”
• [+220,-1] “When I saw the picture of her staff show up on-screen, Ayu’s hairdresser is 50-year-old guy that owned an exclusively gyaru salon, so Ayu’s Hairstyle and hair color are still stuck in the gyaru era. I think she would look better with dark hair and a different hairstyle.”
• [+161, -0] “I remember Utada Hikaru saying she didn’t want to become an ‘old woman who can’t do anything for herself‘ before going into her hiatus. Hamasaki today is the exact image of that.”
• [+107, -1] “Namie and Utada were able to survive at the forefront as singers, but Hamasaki feels like she needs to go the variety show/talent route.”
• [+74, -1] “Her makeup reminded me of this”
  
• [+77, -2] “I think she tried to improve her image by doing variety appearances, but it’s having a tremendous reverse effect. It left the impression with me that she’s over.”