Lemme chime in on this CK/race discussion...
1. The least you could do is give
J? promo for posting his article AND using his pics...
2. Of the timing of Crystal's biggest success was also the timing of R&B's success, and with R&B so shamefully tagged with dark skin (HATE that stereotype), she pulls ahead of the other pop girls because her "roots" (per say) are of the R&B nature.
3. There is no three.
4. When she went the more pop/dance route (when artists like Gaga were beginning to chart in Japan) was when her sales went down because she wasn't the same artist (true to her real sound) as she was before, and she wasn't as "pop" as the other artists were!
5. Truthfully, I don't think it's "solely" because of the race thing that she's not achieving the success like Ayumi and Namie. I think it's because her music, wholeheartedly, is much, MUCH more Western than any of the other pop girls in Japan and there are rarely any J-Pop like ballads or cuteness or quickness (or even rock elements) like it is with idol groups, Ayumi, and others. When you don't "appease" to the J-Pop standard is when you begin to fall off. Ask Ami Suzuki!
6. If you respond to my post with a numbered system, as well, I will hunt you down and stab you in the neck.
If I said how much from CK, y'all wouldn't believe me... 
