J-Canuck's Thoughts on the 75th Edition of the Kohaku Utagassen（第75回NHK紅白歌合戦）

 

URU

TORA

SOUL!

HEY!!

Yeah, well that just happened. Forgive me, but if I can get this variation of a North American sports punchline out of the way: I was watching the Kohaku Utagassen when a B'z concert broke out. Indeed, Tak Matsumoto（松本孝弘）and Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）saw, came and conquered NHK Hall in the latter half of the 2024 edition of the Kohaku through something I had never seen before in previous editions. Almost everyone went bonkers on seeing the two nonchalantly leave one stage, after performing the theme song for the current NHK morning serial drama "Omusubi"（おむすび）, and then enter the main stage to perform "Love Phantom" and "Ultra Soul". Twitter and YouTube lit up like a Christmas tree and I wouldn't be exaggerating too much if I posited that B'z pretty much stole the show.

Another unprecedented thing regarding the Kohaku is wholly upon me. For the first time in my life, I actually caught an entire Kohaku Utagassen from beginning to end live. Never did that in the early years and never did that in recent years. But I decided to wake up at the eye-blearingly early hour of 5 am to catch the show at 5:20 EST and watch the hosts and most of the participants get up on the stage to sing some cornball kayo-style number created just for the broadcast. And to be honest, the four-hour-and-change show zipped by fairly quickly for me.

Just some other thoughts that stood out:

1) I was disappointed that the big dance-off between Kocchi no Kento（こっちのけんと）and Creepy Nuts for their respective dance-happy songs never occurred. The former had everyone on stage doing his catchy two-step but for some reason, Creepy Nuts did their "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" with only the hosts doing their famous dance. I had been expecting a big group of folks on stage to do that one. Maybe Tokyo MX and the producers of the source anime "Mashle" put a kibosh on NHK being allowed to have folks dance up a storm.

2) In commemoration of NHK's one hundred years of service this year, there was a tribute to all of the kids' songs' programming throughout the decades. One of the KKP guys considered it to be cringeworthy but I was OK with it, especially because "Computer Obaachan"（コンピューターおばあちゃん）was performed. The late Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）composed that catchy technopop kids piece and with his ex-wife Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）helping out at the end, I was happy to see him represented.

3) It was sweet seeing kayo vocal group Junretsu（純烈）doing their number "Yume Mita Kajitsu"（夢みた果実）inside the home of one of their most ardent fans in Gunma Prefecture as a "surprise". Considering how microscopically shows are planned on Japanese TV, though, I'm not sure how much of a real surprise it was and that goes with the B'z appearance as well...at least where the hosts were concerned although I think the audience was truly blown (or Blowin'...sorry, inside B'z joke) away.

4) Enka singer Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）performed her song "Tottori Sakyuu"（鳥取砂丘）alongside the spectacle of domino art once more, and along with fellow enka singer Hiroshi Miyama（三山ひろし）and his continuing Guinness Book of Records kendama schtick and yet another Disney medley, the Kohaku producers really do love milking the cow dry.

5) Speaking of that Disney medley, I was pleasantly surprised that NHK didn't put up the Muzak or blue screen of death when all of those songs came on. Maybe it was the fact that all of the songs were performed in Japanese instead of English.

6) Vaundy was back with another groovy song "Odoriko"（踊り子）which I'll have to search for.

7) Maybe Ringo Shiina's（椎名林檎）brand of music is a little too avant-garde for some but seeing her performance of "Hobo Mizu no Awa"（ほぼ水の泡）was never boring with the jazz and kayo in there. I'll have to search for that one. Plus, it was nice to see at least one-half of Charan-Po-Rantan（チャランポランタン）, Momo, actually show up on the Kohaku stage to perform the song with her.

8) It was wonderful to hear and see The Alfee, Iruka（イルカ）, Kousetsu Minami（南こうせつ）and Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）appear to do their songs which represented my earliest ventures into Japanese popular music.

9) It was also very poignant seeing and hearing that tribute to the late Toshiyuki Nishida（西田敏行）with the song "Moshi mo Piano ga Hiketanara"（もしもピアノが弾けたなら）through his friends. At the same time, I was also a little disappointed that there was no tribute to Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）after her sudden and tragic passing on December 6th.

10) Memo to Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）: You're a nice guy and I've loved your music ever since I started my path on kayo kyoku back in 1981. You will always be welcome on the show BUT is there any way that we can officially retire "Ni-oku-yon-sen-man no Hitomi"（２億４千万の瞳）like a beloved hockey jersey? Cute thing with the Forrest Gump/Zelig effects, though.

11) Nice to see the former Prince of Enka, Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）, make his return to singing through a very brio-laden performance. Welcome back!

As for the ratings, the B'z effect was enough that the 75th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen ended up as the 2nd-least viewed show in NHK history. That may have come off as a bit snarky but let me emphasize that this is significant. This edition didn't break any bad records of viewership. So, in a "You mean...there's still a chance" way, there will probably be a 76th edition at the end of this year...and that's worth a rousing HEY!