As expected, Ayu will be appearing in the 61st Kouhaku Utagassen on New Year's Eve.
UPDATE (11/25): As posted by
tokyoxjapanxfan,
this article states Ayu will be the "top batter" (act who performs first) for the third year in a row. She performed "Mirrorcle World" and "Rule", so a speculation could be a faster song, such as "blossom" or "Last Angel".
Artist List
This year's theme is 「歌でつなごう」, translating as "Connect By Music (Song)".
A total of 44 acts, 22 for each team, has been invited. There are 5 new acts: 3 for the Red (including Nishino Kana), and 2 for the White (including AAA).
Numbers in parentheses represent their number of appearances, including this show. A （初） represents their first time, which I denoted in the Romaji names with a bold (1).
Artist lists are alphabetized by Japanese kana order (vowels, "ka" column, "sa" column, etc.).
I will post a song list as soon as news comes out.
Artist List as seen on site
Red Team
White Team
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Thanks to
Polyrhythm for the romanized names.
For a more open chat thread in the Asian Music Discussion forum, click
here.