On Monday, newspapers reported on some of the more notable additions to the lineup of this year's Kohaku Uta Gassen, such as Yutaka Mizutani (appearing for the first time in his 32-year career), the recently reunited SPEED, and enka newcomer Jero. Those waiting for the complete roster didn't have to wait long, as NHK unveiled the teams on Tuesday. 53 acts will be participating this year, almost evenly split between the teams. 14 of them will be making their Kohaku debuts, including the aforementioned Mizutani and Jero, as well as Mr.Children, Perfume, TVXQ, Shuchishin, Thelma Aoyama, Ikimono Gakari, and GIRL NEXT DOOR. COMPLETE LIST: Red Team * aiko * Thelma Aoyama * Junko Akimoto * Ayaka * Angela Aki * Ikimono Gakari * Sayuri Ishikawa * Ai Otsuka * Miyuki Kawanaka * GIRL NEXT DOOR * Kumi Koda * Natsuko Godai * Sachiko Kobayashi * Fuyumi Sakamoto * SPEED * Yoshimi Tendo * Mika Nakashima * Mitsuko Nakamura * Ayumi Hamasaki * Perfume * Yo Hitoto * Ayaka Hirahara * Ayako Fuji * Fujioka Fujimaki and Nozomi Ohashi * Kaori Mizumori * Akiko Wada White Team * Masafumi Akikawa * Aqua Timez * Hiroshi Itsuki * EXILE * Saburo Kitajima * Takeshi Kitayama * Kimaguren * Yusaku Kiyama * Kobukuro * Jero * Shuchishin (with Pabo) * SMAP * TVXQ * TOKIO * Hideaki Tokunaga * Kiyoshi Hikawa * Ken Hirai * Akira Fuse * Porno Graffiti * Kiyoshi Maekawa * Kenichi Mikawa * Mr.Children * Yutaka Mizutani * Shinichi Mori * Naotaro Moriyama * WaT Source: Yomiuri Hochi + Japan Yahoo! Headlines Credit: DBSKer Credit: Tokyograph TVXQ invited to Kohaku: Japan's Most-Watched Music Concert In many interviews, the boys had mentioned that it was their dream to be invited to Kohaku, the biggest annual Japanese end-of-the-year music show, boardcasted on New Year's Eve by NKH on radio and TV. Lots of big entertainers are invited to this concert and split into teams. In the end, viewers can vote for the team they believe should win. Sounds pretty exicting! According to Wikipedia: Literally "Red and White Song Battle," the program divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing teams of red and white. The "red" team made up of all female artists , while the "white" team is all male. The honor of performing on Kōhaku is strictly by invitation, so only the most successful J-Pop artists and enka singers can perform. In addition to the actual music performances, the costumes, hair-styles, makeup, dancing, and lighting are also important. Even today, a performance on Kōhaku is said to be a big highlight in a singer's career because of the show's large reach.
where did kattun and news go? i thought they were very popular. is it just my eyes. im disappointed the MM is not there.
