Ayu to appear in 61st Kouhaku for 12th time

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

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

Spoiler:

Red Team

Spoiler:

aiko (9)
Angela Aki (5)
Ikimonogakari (3)
Sayuri Ishikawa (33)
Kana Uemura (1)
AKB48 (3)
Miyuki Kawanaka (23)
Kumiko (1)
Kumi Koda (6)
Natsuko Godai (17)
Sachiko Kobayashi (32)
Fuyumi Sakamoto (22)
Yoshimi Tendo (15)
DREAMS COME TRUE (14)
Mitsuko Nakamura (15)
Kana Nishino (1)
Ayumi Hamasaki (12)
Perfume (3)
Ayaka Hirahara (7)
Nana Mizuki (2)
Kaori Mizumori (8)
Akiko Wada (34)

White Team

Spoiler:

Arashi (2)
Hiroshi Itsuki (40)
HY (1)
EXILE (6)
NYC (2)
Yuzo Kayama (17)
Saburo Kitajima (47)
Hiromi Go (23)
Kobukuro (6)
SMAP (18)
TOKIO (17)
Hideaki Tokunaga (5)
AAA (1)
Kiyoshi Hikawa (11)
FUNKY MONKEY BABYS (2)
Masaharu Fukuyama (3)
flumpool (2)
Takashi Hosokawa (34)
Porno Graffitti (9)
Shinichi Mori (43)
Yuusuke (2)
L'Arc~en~Ciel (4)

-----

Thanks to Polyrhythm for the romanized names.

For a more open chat thread in the Asian Music Discussion forum, click here.

[Tasked]

Does anyone know how to attend this event? ^_^ And where is it being held?

[Aderianu]

is it list of all artists who attend Kouhaku??

[ohsixthirty]

can't wait to see what she'll sing! maybe a new song from Love songs...but probably crossroad or something.

[truehappiness]

I think it's held at the NHK Hall in Shibuya.

Apparently you apply for tickets?

From Wikipedia:

Audience participants at NHK Hall were restricted to those whose subscription fees with Hōsō Hō (Japan's Broadcasting Act) were in good standing. Whether or not this restriction was placed on previous events is unknown. NHK used this criterion as an indicator, to see if the scandals at NHK had an effect on whether or not people were paying the fee. Based on NHK statistics, 365,970 applications for tickets to the NHK Hall event were received, down from 503,721 in 2005.[7]

[Tasked]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I think it's held at the NHK Hall in Shibuya.

Apparently you apply for tickets?

From Wikipedia:

Shibuya? Oh that's a good location! Hmm but a LOT of people wanting tickets, lol.. I wonder how expensive they will be in the harajuku ticket-stores~.. I kind wanna go =)

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by Rody!

Shibuya? Oh that's a good location! Hmm but a LOT of people wanting tickets, lol.. I wonder how expensive they will be in the harajuku ticket-stores~.. I kind wanna go =)

Do they actually resell those tickets? I mean I don't think there are more than 4,000 or so seats in the hall, so if you get a ticket, you're probably going to keep it, haha.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Rody!

Shibuya? Oh that's a good location! Hmm but a LOT of people wanting tickets, lol.. I wonder how expensive they will be in the harajuku ticket-stores~.. I kind wanna go =)

You are not likely to ever find them in ticket stores. It is not a very large venue, so tickets are exceedingly rare and if one did show up in a ticket shop, I'm sure it would be over $1,000.00.

[Tasked]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

You are not likely to ever find them in ticket stores. It is not a very large venue, so tickets are exceedingly rare and if one did show up in a ticket shop, I'm sure it would be over $1,000.00.

whoah~ ok... I'll just settle for CDL10'11 then~

[Yoake]

I wonder which song she'll perform?^^
thanks for info

[sanzo2011]

So excited !i think she'll sing crossroad or moon ^^!

[Polyrhythm]

I hope she sings You were.... *get's murdered*

[amorphose]

Originally Posted by Polyrhythm

I hope she sings You were.... *get's murdered*

No, I agree! I really hope she does You were... too! I don't want to hear Virgin Road... x.x I hope it's at least crossroad or MOON, but You were... would make me happiest! Or dare I say, Last angel!

[kiseki89]

Oh ayu is not first to perform this means that I need to glue myself to the tv for the entire 3-4 hrs

[Oniisan]

Originally Posted by Polyrhythm

I hope she sings You were.... *get's murdered*

No You were.... this year, I hope. I wanna see her performing Last angel!

[Bigtop]

Oh...Ayu's going to the Kouhaku, huh?

Now I only see 44 artists - WHAT!?
This has got to be the least-crowded Kouhaku we are about to ever see in a long time!

Some notes:

• Am I seeing 4, 5 or 6 Johnny's artists?
• Motohiro Hata was predicted to be but he's NOT in...
• YUI's still NOT interested in the Kouhaku...
• And if you thought the rumo(u)rs about Masahiko Kondo going to the Kouhaku as part of an agreement with Johnny's, FORGET IT - he's not coming to the Kouhaku!
• With the fact that Ai Otsuka is pregnant earlier this year after the marriage with RIP SLYME's SU, she's not going to be able to perform for a while as she awaits for her baby in April.
• AAA was part of the red team last year, but they're in the WHITE team this year.
• Now why in the world there is 44 when in 2006 there was 56, in 2007 and 2008 roughly 54, and last year 50? Either the count is right, or there may be some surprises...[/b]

[thangkhung91]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

Oh...Ayu's going to the Kouhaku, huh?

Now I only see 44 artists - WHAT!?
This has got to be the least-crowded Kouhaku we are about to ever see in a long time!

Some notes:

• Am I seeing 4, 5 or 6 Johnny's artists?
• Motohiro Hata was predicted to be but he's NOT in...
• YUI's still NOT interested in the Kouhaku...
• And if you thought the rumo(u)rs about Masahiko Kondo going to the Kouhaku as part of an agreement with Johnny's, FORGET IT - he's not coming to the Kouhaku!
• With the fact that Ai Otsuka is pregnant earlier this year after the marriage with RIP SLYME's SU, she's not going to be able to perform for a while as she awaits for her baby in April.
• AAA was part of the red team last year, but they're in the WHITE team this year.
• Now why in the world there is 44 when in 2006 there was 56, in 2007 and 2008 roughly 54, and last year 50? Either the count is right, or there may be some surprises...[/b]

To answer your question why there are less performers, one reason is that NHK invited Korean groups this year; KARA, Shoujo Jidai (SNSD) and Big Bang. They are however not attending because of Korea's own end-of-the-year music festivals between the 29th and the 31st.

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by thangkhung91

To answer your question why there are less performers, one reason is that NHK invited Korean groups this year; KARA, Shoujo Jidai (SNSD) and Big Bang. They are however not attending because of Korea's own end-of-the-year music festivals between the 29th and the 31st.

Oh dear. NHK might have attempted something risky - attempting to invite Korean gropus - except that Korea also have their own end-of-the-year music festivals, and I think NHK could be the loser - and to blame - why there's fewer artists this year than the past.

Maybe they should also make supplemental nominations in the event an artist declines their invitation or could not attend unexpectedly...

[AyUmIXx]

Originally Posted by thangkhung91

To answer your question why there are less performers, one reason is that NHK invited Korean groups this year; KARA, Shoujo Jidai (SNSD) and Big Bang. They are however not attending because of Korea's own end-of-the-year music festivals between the 29th and the 31st.

oh really?
they were actually invited, but turned down the offer because they need to attend their own year-end shows?
i'm reading from some fans said that they were not invited, because they have not yet made BIG achievements in Japan...so they have not yet qualified to be in Kouhaku~

that's why i thought why this year's artists for Kouhaku are not as many as the previous years.. hmm~~
but Happy that Ayu finally make an appearance!

[thangkhung91]

Originally Posted by AyUmIXx

oh really?
they were actually invited, but turned down the offer because they need to attend their own year-end shows?
i'm reading from some fans said that they were not invited, because they have not yet made BIG achievements in Japan...so they have not yet qualified to be in Kouhaku~

that's why i thought why this year's artists for Kouhaku are not as many as the previous years.. hmm~~
but Happy that Ayu finally make an appearance!

Well, Shoujo Jidai has been very succesfull this fall. They've only released two singles and both have reached the 100.000 mark, and both singles debuted in the top 3 on Oricon. KARA's first single debuted in the top 5 with their release of the Japanese version of Mister, and Big Bang have been active in Japan since 2008 and their singles this year have been pretty high up n the Oricon, don't remember the exact positions but it's in the top 5.

I don't think it's because they haven't been succesdfull and not been invited but that they have obligations with the broadcasting stations over in Korea. The whole drama with the MAMA awards that is organized by Mnet has made a couple of Korean brodcastin staions mad since the award show is scheduled on a weekend meaning many artist have to cancel their appearances on the weekly music programs. This has lead to many artists actually not attendning the MAMA awards in fear of being "punished" by the broadcasting stations later on. It's a mess, really, and there are many sides to a story and this is one version some believe is the reason.