[JAPAN] KOUHAKU UTAGASSEN IS TODAY

The highly anticipated Kouhaku Utagassen Crimson vs. White Battle starts in two hours and for will feature a lot of firsts.  Enka king Saburo Kitajima (70) will captain the White Team (men) and Kawanaka Miyuki (51) will captain the red team (Women).

The popular NHK New Year’s Eve show had one of its worse years in ratings last year and they hope that this year will bring people back.

Part of the ratings decline has been other networks now countering the special with their own New Year’s special (typically concerts of a well-known artist) but this year, NHK has managed to get Imai Miki and her husband Tomoyasu Hotei to perform as husband and wife and also Imai’s first time performing at Kohaku since debuting back in the mid-80’s and other artists who make their first debut on the special.

Rival FUJI TV will be airing figure skating and has been a thorn on NHK’s side, especially with Gorie’s performance last year when she performed with the FUJI TV symbol on his/her clothing.

For a list of the performers for Red vs. White and also their order of performance, click here for the following article from Suponichi.