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Kohaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Song Contest) has been a New Year's staple since it debuted in 1951 on NHK radio. The show, first broadcast on January 3 and later upped to New Year’s Eve, moved to TV in 1954 and has been a top ratings winner ever since. Japan’s most popular singers are assembled and divided into two teams, with celebrity judges deciding the winners, although the main focus is more on the parade of stars and family atmosphere than who actually “wins”.
Who gets invited each year is highly political and often controversial. Given that it is a show deep in tradition, older stars, often those singing enka, are sometimes invited back year after year. This year’s show, billed as the 55h Annual Kohaku Uta Gassen, will feature enka singers Saburo Kitajima’s 41st and Chiyoko Shimakura’s 35th appearances.
Usually the ratings for the show have been incredibly high. However the 49th year’s show lost ground to a World Cup soccer match, and the show has yet to regain its former glory. After this, some adjustments were made in the ratio of types of singers invited, resulting in more young stars appearing. A number of rock artists object to the format, which even some fans find dated and corny, and some have declined to take part, including superstars Southern All Stars, Hikaru Utada and Mr. Children. However refusing to perform is not without risk, the program is run by the powerful government-controlled NHK, making it something like the Japanese equivalent of the UK’s BBC. When Pink Lady chose to appear on a competing show (after having appeared four times) in 1978 it sparked a huge controversy, and some mark this as the beginning of their decline.
This year has already had generated a number of stories related to Kohaku Uta Gassen. SMAP, who last year took the prestigious ending slot, declined an offer to appear this year, later explaining that they didn’t have a new single prepared. Some, however, have taken this as a slap in the face for NHK, and fans of the super idol group will likely be looking for them at the Johnny’s Entertainment 7th annual Countdown Concert at Tokyo Dome, which will feature Tokio, V6, Arashi, and a “Big Surprise” guest. Johnny’s Entertainment is the powerful management company that manages SMAP, as well as the artists announced for their countdown show.
Also Korean acting star Bae Yong Joon, the heartthrob star of TV drama “Winter Sonata”, has also politely declined. He is not a singer, but is much in demand these days, largely because of his exposure through the NHK-licensed soap opera. Word is that NHK is still trying to land him despite his initial refusal.
Also Morning Musume’s Abe Natsumi will be missing from the line-up, as she is in the entertainment biz penalty box after getting caught plagiarizing poems for her photo book Nacchi. She was originally scheduled to appear as a member of the trio Nochiura Natsumi with Matsuura Aya and Goto Maki, but the latter two will now appear as a duo.
NHK itself is also enduring a scandal of its own, with producer Katsumi Isono being accused of embezzlement, and reports are that over 100,000 angry citizens are protesting the scandal by refusing to pay NHK viewer fees. However, Kohaku Uta Gassen is well-established as a centerpiece of the New Year holiday and this year, as before, huge viewership is a given.
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