Chang Miharu
July 2, 2000

J-POP Queen Namie Amuro just doesn’t look like a mother. With her pixie face, slight build and perpetual bad-girl image, she doesn’t even look grown up. But truth is, the 22-year-old has a two-year-old son. The proud mum isn’t ashamed of donning an apron, though it’s probably a Versace. She doesn’t mind the smell of cooking oil seeping into her salon-dyed hair.

HAPPIEST

“The happiest time of my day is to have dinner with my husband and son,” she told UDNnews.com.

“I’ll even whip up a decent meal for the three of us.”

No signs of regret from her. In 1997, she shocked her fans by getting married to TRF band member Sam. Then she bowed out for one year to have a baby. Haruto – his name means warm and big in Japanese – was born in May the next year. The boy’s kuchi-koo name signals Namie’s change from a wild sex kitten into a caring mum. She has definitely mellowed. Her signature tan – from countless hours under an ultraviolet tanning lamp – has faded.

UNCLE’S MYSTERY SUICIDE

She and her hubby even went out of their way to avoid the media for some time. Maybe it’s the influence of her mother, who was brutally killed last year. The murderer turned out to be Namie’s step-uncle, who then committed suicide, leaving behind a mystery yet to be solved. It was a huge blow to Namie, who thought of quitting showbiz

“After mum died, I felt so bitter,” she wrote on her official website a year after her mother’s death, when she could finally talk about it

“I seriously considered giving up singing, because every word in my songs reminded me of my mum.

“But then I remembered how happy my mum was when we watched my TV shows together.

“I realised working hard is the best way for me to be filial to my mum, so I decided not to give up singing.”

Still, it took her several months to recover from the emotional scar, out of the limelight. In her absence, new stars were born, like Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada.

GOING DOWNHILL?

Talk was rife that Namie was going downhill after having disappeared for so long. But the Queen would not be dethroned. Her new album, Genius 2000, launched early this year, has sold close to four million copies in Asia. All 170,000 tickets to her March concert, the first in three years, were snapped up within an hour. Though a busy career mum, Namie has still found time for a new hobby – Internet surfing. She also got hooked on cyber chatting, she told Colour magazine early this year.

“Once I used the nickname NA to enter the chatroom set up by my fans. Suddenly, they asked if I was Amuro, but refused to believe me when I admitted it.

“The next day, I found that they had barred me from entering the chatroom. Seems like they called my agent, who said that I don’t surf the Net at night.

“I was so upset. Next time I’ll set up my own website so that I can chat with my fans.”

Let’s hope it won’t turn out to be yet another surprise.