EVEN AS A SEASONED pro in the celebrity stakes, The Peninsula hotel has rarely seen anything like it. For seven days hundreds of fans and media posting a dawn-till-dusk vigil, all waiting for a glimpse of the hottest piece of pop property to come out of Japan since . . . well, pretty much since anyone can remember.
Picture the scene. Well-thumbed autograph books clamped in expectant fingers, long-lenses of the press sneering at the fans' little cameras, trainers on every foot in preparation for the chase. A buzz of expectation, the occasional thrill as rumour spreads that she's coming.
And then she does. Reporters and fans snap into action, craning necks, leaping on to car roofs for a better view, jostling with security guards. Today, Ayumi Hamasaki has decided to go shopping.
The fuss seems out of proportion to the pretty, petite Hamasaki, who appears with bleached blonde hair tied back, her eyes masked with huge, white-framed sunglasses. White is a theme; Hama-saki draws gasps with a style-conscious white coat, three-quarter- length denim trousers and four-inch-heeled white sandals.
She gamely battles her way into a dark green Rolls-Royce but the crowd immediately boxes the limousine in: she's not going to get away that easily. As her handlers attempt to shovel them out of the way for the short drive around the corner to Canton Road, fans still screech for a glimpse of the 23-year-old pop sensation. The car is more for her protection than convenience.
'She is my only idol. This is such a precious chance to be so close to her,' says a fawning Stephen Chan Kam-man, chairman of the Ayumi Hamasaki A Best HK Fan Club. 'I went to see her concert in Tokyo last year and it was superb. Not even the fans in Japan can be this close to her. She's so pretty. Her lyrics about her personal feelings touch my heart.'