There is a simple dream many Japanese would like to achieve in their lifetime, attend Kouhaku in person. Kouhaku is an annual music show that airs on television every New Years Eve at night with performances by some of the most popular and famous artists that year. Kouhaku is known to connect families. In a typical Japanese household, everyone sits in their kotatsu, eating their "toshikoshi" (year-ending) soba while watching Kouhaku. By the time the show ends, there are roughly 15 minutes before the new year. You start hearing bells ringing at the nearby shrines at 12 midnight and everyone is praying their New Year goals before heading to sleep. It is simple to say that Kouhaku is deeply embedded into the Japanese New Year tradition.
Unfortunately, it is not easy to attend this event. You must first randomly be selected to attend. Each year NHK receives more than billions of postcard entries. The NHK Hall only fits roughly 3,400 people. The probability of getting chosen is minuscule. There is a saying that it is a miracle if you get chosen. This Kouhaku dream was also mine and my mother's. We send at least five postcards every year to attend, but we have never been lucky. That is why when I arrived in front of the NHK Hall, it was like a dream come true.
On January 29th, 2013, all the reporters and photographers were led inside and given a schedule for that day. The schedule consisted of the times the artists were rehearsing and whether we could photos of them or not. For the first time in my life, I walked inside the NHK Hall to see the ginormous glittering stage. Countless staff were running up and down the aisles talking into their microphones to get the right directions for each of the performances. Each artist rehearsed for about five to ten minutes on stage, checking their earpieces, sound levels, and audio. After each artist finished, they would walk off stage and head to the red carpet outside of the hall. Once on the red carpet, they took about three minutes to get their photos taken and about ten minutes for a group interview.
Arashi and Haruka Ayase appeared around noon on the red carpet as this year's host for the show. This is Arashi's fourth time as a presenter and Haruka Ayase's first. Arashi a five-member boy idol group from Johnny's Entertainment is quite infamous for imposing strict photo guidelines for their artists. There is never a day that you will not see Arashi since they are everywhere in Japan, from television shows to advertisements on billboards and posters in subway stations. Haruka Ayase is an actress and her recent work includes NHK's history drama, Yae no Sakura.
For the rehearsal itself on the first day, we were able to see Nana Mizuki and TM Revolution perform together who are both well known for their music featured in anime series. With all the different artists rehearsing, the first and second days were roughly around 8 to 11 hours long.
The next day, on the 30th, was dress rehearsals for the artists performing in the second half of the show. Since this was a dress rehearsal, the artists looked as if it was already the show. The first to rehearse was EXILE. This year's Kouhaku was very special for both the artist as well as their fans because this was going to be the last performance by their group leader, HIRO. Earlier this year HIRO had announced his withdrawal from the group and Kouhaku was going to be his last performance. Their outfits were very unique this year. The base was a black suit, but it was embedded with LED lights that flickered white and red with the rhythm of the song.
Around noon, SMAP came around to have their special red carpet time since they were not able to make it the day before. They gave us about five minutes to take their photographs as well as fifteen minutes to get their interviews taken. As a fan, since I was three years old, another dream was accomplished to see them in front of me in person.
AKB48 also made their appearance this year singing "Koisuru Fortune Cookie" in one outfit and quickly took off their tops to reveal a different outfit which they sang in for "Heavy Rotation." Notable this year were also the backup performances from their sister groups NMB48 and SKE48 who lined the aisles. Both groups also had their own respective performances.
Even if it was just rehearsals, Arashi's performance was just too amazing for me. This year they sang the songs "Endless Game" (theme song for Sho Sakurai's drama Kazoku Game) and "Breathless" (theme song for Kazunari Ninomiya's movie Platinum Data). Their Endless Game performance was a collaboration with new computer graphic techniques projected on a clear screen and it was as if the green shards were wrapping around the members. After the song ended, the screen turned black and a graphic show started, it was very colorful and very entertaining then a crashing noise and there was Arashi on the top stage and their outfits had changed from red to white. The stage moved forward and Arashi came towards the front middle stage. A collaboration of analog stage moving techniques as well as new computer graphic skills was just eye-opening for me.
The last day of rehearsals on the 31st was very short compared to the last two days, but it was very understandable since it was the actual day of the show as well. The rehearsals consisted of the artists who were scheduled to perform for the first half of the show.
E-girls and miwa were there to rehearse that morning. Since it was their first time performing at Kouhaku they all looked very nervous. Their facial expressions were very stiff compared to the sound check rehearsals that occurred just a couple of days ago. The tension on their faces could tell you the pressure that they might be feeling once on stage.
That night at 7:15 pm, I was sitting in the kotatsu eating my toshikoshi soba with my grandparents when the real live Kouhaku started. This year Kouhaku is celebrating their 64th show. The presenters Arashi and Haruka Ayase stood next to the computer graphics that lighted up the walls of the NHK Hall. They each explained that there were 25 artists on the Red Team and 26 artists on the White Team, totaling 51 groups that would be performing that night. The guest judges for this year were: Masahiro Tanaka (pro baseball player), Crystal Takigawa (free announcer/reporter), Kankurou Kudo (movie director, actor, screenwriter), Yoshiko Miyamoto (actress), Ryoutarou Sugi (actor, singer), Jun Fubuki (actress), Junichi Okada (singer, actor, V6 member), An (actress, fashion model), Ainosuke Kataoka (Kabuki actor), and Sawako Agawa (author, essayist).
The first performance for the Red Team was Ayumi Hamasaki with her song "Inspire." She and her back dancers were all dressed in gold, the theme looked as if it was a little Egyptian. The first performance for White Team was Sexy Zone with their medley titled "Sexy Heiwa Zone Kumi Kyoku." Their performance was designed to look as if it was a magic show. They would change their outfits for each song performance and their back dancers consisted of 100 Johnny's Juniors.
Some performances were not in the NHK Hall, but in different locations as well. Masaharu Fukuyama performed his songs overseas. He was in Taiwan having his Countdown Live Concert when they connected the airings. Dreams Come True were also not at the NHK hall, but were at Rikuzentakata having their free concert for those who lost their homes during the 2011 tsunami. Their performance consisted of high school students from that area singing their chorus in the background. Seiko Matsuda and Chris Hart were also at their Countdown concert when NHK broadcast them during their performance.
I also noticed the facial expressions that the artists had during rehearsals had changed once they were on television. I could see the lightened-up faces of E-girls and miwa when they performed their songs. No more of the tension in their eyes, but you could tell that they were actually enjoying themselves.
AKB48's performance was something that many could not miss as well. I was surprised to see that AKB48 were not in the outfits that they were wearing during their dress rehearsals. This also was the same for their sister groups SKE48 and NMB48. They all looked adorable in their outfits, but it surprised me that they did not use the same ones. But this was not the surprising news that occurred. Yuko Oshima, who has been the center for AKB48 in Senbatsu before, announced that she would be leaving AKB48 in 2014. Many gasped in the hall, as well as I. I dropped my chopsticks because I was in so much shock.
The last performance of the show was Saburo Kitajima with his hit song "Matsuri." Saburo Kitajima had announced that this year's Kouhaku was going to be his last since it was his 50th time performing. His stage was the most dynamic out of all the performances. Saburo Kitajima came on a very gorgeous stage with himself sitting on top of a white dragon's head. The dragon was in the middle of the stage when it started to move toward the front of the stage. Once the body of the stage was in the front, the neck started to stretch out toward the guest judges. I was very scared that he was going to fall off or something since during the rehearsals there were a few technical hiccups of getting him off the head, but he safely got off and finished his song.
After Saburo Kitajima's performance, it was time to announce the winning team. This year they brought back the ball system as well as utilized new technology allowing viewers to vote over their smartphones. The score was 235,669 to 431,783. The winning team was the White Team! This was their 35th win.
It may be because I was able to follow Kouhaku for three days straight, but I feel as if this Kouhaku was very special and related to me. A memory I will never forget.
Please make sure to check out all our photos with the amazing performers including Dan Mitsu, SKE48, NMB48, Kyary Kyary Pamyu, Porno Graffitti, and more in our gallery by clicking on any of the images below.
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