7 posts tagged “kouhaku”

Well, most of you will have already watched the Kouhaku by the time you read this so you may be interested to know that ratings were down by about 3-4%. The first half of the show pulled in 30.6% (4.8 down from 2005) of Kantou viewers, while 39.8% (3.1 down from 2005) tuned in for the second half. (Via nikkansports.com.) Another interesting bit of information found at Mainichi Daily News is something I've always wondered about: what are the artists taking home for  appearing at this annual event? I mean, I've always believed it was an honor for an artist to be asked to perform at the Kouhaku less than a money thing but music is about business too. Here's a little snippet from the article (click here to read the full article):

For decades, kohaku -- or the Red and White Singing Contest on New Year's Eve -- has been the biggest show for national broadcaster NHK, but the stars who appear on it are starting to grumble because it's such a poor paying job, according to Shukan Bunshun (12/22).

Entertainment beat reporter Kozo Inoue revealed NHK pays a mere pittance, by showbiz standards at least, to appear on its marquee program.

[...]

"When Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi agreed in 2003 to show up for the first time in 13 years and Miyuki Nakajima ended her longtime refusal to appear on the show in 2002, they were cases where NHK desperately wanted them to appear," an NHK insider says. "Of course, they paid the decent wages you'd expect at those times.

This may answer the question of why we don't see artists who we'd otherwise think are a shoo-in to be in a particular year's Kouhaku lineup. For instance, Hikki has never appeared on the show so can it be more a matter of money in the end? Something to think about when the Kouhaku returns at the end of the year.

My feel good moment of the program was Miki Imai singing "Pride" with her husband, guitar god Tomoyasu Hotei backing her up. That was beautiful.

[Updated!] Links to pictures at Japan Probe.

Via Mainichi Daily News (Link)

NHK viewers up in arms over "naked" dancer

Public broadcaster NHK was flooded with hundreds of complaints from viewers about a costume worn by a dancer in a popular annual year-end show on Sunday, which made her look like she was gyrating in the nude, NHK officials said.

Announcer Tamio Miyake apologized for the costume during the program, saying: "We ended up causing misunderstanding to viewers. We're sorry."

NHK received over 250 complaints from viewers about the costume, worn by a female dancer dancing behind musician DJ OZMA during the annual "Kohaku Song Contest" program aired Sunday night. The costume was a body suit designed to resemble a woman's naked body.

"Is she dancing naked?" one of the viewers said in a phone call to NHK.

"It's inappropriate as children are viewing the program," another viewer complained. (Mainichi)

Well, they want high ratings -- enough to bring on big bust gravure idol Aki Hoshino this year. I recorded the show but have yet to watch it in its entirety. But rather than see some dancer for DJ OZMA (I would've skipped over his performance anyway), this year's NHK announcer, Yuka Kubota, is very cute.

Links: DJ OZMA, Kouhaku (Wikipedia), NHK's official site (which has an announcement about the controversy).

This'll be pretty cool as they're husband and wife which will also mean that the song Miki sings has to be one that Tomoyasu penned. According to nikkansports.com, that song will be "PRIDE" (from 1996).

On the other side of the wings, will there be fireworks (of the bad kind) between former couple Shinichi Mori and Masako Mori?

It's here! As is with every year the Kouhaku comes around, you may be disappointed to find (or is it not find) your favorite artist on their list of performers. (It was reported by nikkansports.com that Cocco—one of my favorite J-pop artists—would be making her initial appearance on the show but she's nowhere to be found!) Be sure to check out Wikipedia's Kouhaku entry if you're unfamiliar or wish to reacquaint yourself with the annual music battle. Artists I'm looking forward to for this year's show are ayaka, Angela Aki, IMAI Miki, ŌTSUKA Ai, DCT, NAKASHIMA Mika, NAGAYAMA Yōko, NATSUKAWA Rimi, BONNIE PINK, WADA Akiko, SUGA Shikao, and Smap. If it's any indication, majority of them are from the Aka-gumi who I'm predicting will take it all this year too. (The above image is of the artists who'll be making their first appearance on the show.)

Note: Number of appearances are in () with "0" being an artist's debut on the show. If available, I decided to link to the artist's (English or Japanese) Wikipedia entry which should also have a link to the artist's official website.

赤組 Aka-gumi (Red Team) Female Artists

aiko (5) J-pop
絢香 ayaka (0) J-pop
アンジェラ・アキ Angela Aki (0) J-pop
石川さゆり ISHIKAWA Sayuri (29) Enka
今井美樹 IMAI Miki (0) J-pop
大塚 愛 ŌTSUKA Ai (3) J-pop
川中美幸 KAWANAKA Miyuki (19) Enka
GAM (0) J-pop
& モーニング娘。Morning Musume. (9) J-pop
香西かおり KOZAI Kaori (14) Enka
倖田來未 KODA Kumi (2) J-pop
伍代夏子 GODAI Natsuko (13) Enka
小林幸子 KOBAYASHI Satsuko (28) Enka
坂本冬美 SAKAMOTO Fuyumi (18) Enka
天童よしみ TENDOU Yoshimi (11) Enka
DREAMS COME TRUE (11) J-pop
中島美嘉 NAKASHIMA Mika (5) J-pop
長山洋子 NAGAYAMA Yōko (13) Enka
夏川りみ NATSUKAWA Rimi (5) J-pop
浜崎あゆみ HAMASAKI Ayumi (8) J-pop
平原綾香 HIRAHARA Ayaka (3) J-pop
藤 あや子 FUJI Ayako (15) Enka
BoA (5) J-pop
BONNIE PINK (0) J-pop
水森かおり MIZUMORI Kaori (4) Enka
mihimaru GT (0) J-pop
森 昌子 MORI Masako (15) Enka
和田アキ子 WADA Aiko (30) Vocals

Check out the previous year's Red Team lineup.

白組 Shiro-gumi (White Team) Male Artists

秋川雅史 AKIKAWA Masafumi (0) Vocals
Aqua Timez (0) J-pop
五木ひろし ITSUKI Hiroshi (36) Enka
w-inds. (5) J-pop
ORANGE RANGE (2) J-pop
北島三郎 KITAJIMA Saburou (43) Enka
北山たけし KITAYAMA Takeshi (2) Enka
ゴスペラーズ Gospellers (6) J-pop
コブクロ Kobukuro (2) J-pop
さだまさし SADA Masashi (18) Folk
SEAMO (0) J-pop
スガシカオ SUGA Shikao (0) J-pop
スキマスイッチ Sukima Switch (2) J-pop
SMAP (14) J-pop
DJ OZMA (0) J-pop
TOKIO (13) J-pop
徳永英明 TOKUNAGA Hideaki (0) J-pop
鳥羽一郎 TOBA Ichirou (19) Enka
氷川きよし HIKAWA Kiyoshi (7) Enka
布施明 FUSE Akira (22) Vocals
細川たかし HOSOKAWA Takashi (32) Enka
堀内孝雄 HORIUCHI Takao (17) Vocals
ポルノグラフィティ Porno Graffitti (5) J-pop
前川 清 MAEKAWA Kiyoshi (16) Enka
美川憲一 MIKAWA Kenichi (23) Vocals
森 進一 MORI Shinichi(39) Enka
WaT (2) J-pop

Check out the previous year's White Team lineup.

[Via NHK's special Kouhaku website.]

Nikkan Sports reports that J-pop singer Miki Imai (43) will make her Kouhaku (NHK's annual song battle) debut this year! This year marks the singer's 20th year in the biz so the only question that remains is which song is she going to sing? She could do a medley of her hit songs but I'm rooting for "Piece of My Wish" (from 1991). The Kouhaku airs live in Japan on December 31st.

In related news, J-rocker Cocco (from Okinawa) will also be making her Kouhaku debut!

[Update: Added "Piece of My Wish" to my Audio links.]

Dude, I so love this song by ayaka. I hope she performs it for this year's Kouhaku.