[/floatl]Electric New Paper: Ayumi - We've broken up
IT'S official - the seven-year romance between J-pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki and actor-singer Tomoya Nagase is over. Ayumi posted a message on her website last Friday evening, saying: 'It's sudden, but I've already broken up with my lover.' Describing Tomoya as her 'nakama' (literally: comrade or buddy), she said it was impossible for them to become strangers overnight after seven years of being together. They will continue to keep in touch and meet for meals, she said. Tomoya's management agency confirmed the break-up. The couple, both 29, met in school when they were 14, but started dating only after entering showbiz. In August 2001, their budding relationship was exposed by the media after they were seen wearing identical bottlecap pendants engraved with each other's birth dates. Since then, rumours of their break-up have alternated with talks of marriage. Insiders said problems began after they moved in together last year. Fans first spotted signs of trouble when Ayumi was seen last Friday without the ring which symbolised her love for Tomoya. Apparently, she decided to make the announcement after hearing that tabloid magazine Flash would expose their break-up this week.
This news will fuel the rumours that the relationship was largely a sham affair arranged by the artists' management companies.
