J-Canuck's Thoughts on the 76th Edition of the Kohaku Utagassen（第76回NHK紅白歌合戦）

 

Well, another year has gone by which means that another Kohaku Utagassen has gone by which means that another article on my own thoughts, opinions and observations (and they are my own only) on the latest NHK New Year's Eve special will go by. As it was the case with the 2024 75th edition, No. 76 in 2025 did its job. I think that it entertained the viewers who dedicated themselves to it (and yep, I woke up at 5 am to watch it live) and at a fairly brisk pace. There were no distractions to slog things down; it was all about the music. And the average rating was around 33.0% which was actually not too bad for the Kohaku considering that there is usually a whole lot of other things to do outside such as visiting the temple or going out to a restaurant for toshikoshi soba.

I was discussing the Kohaku results with KKP contributor and good friend JTM on Sunday night and we agreed that there were certain acts that brought spikes into those ratings:

1.  Seiko Matsuda                    39.9%

2.  Mrs. Green Apple               39.4

3.  AKB48                               37.1

4.  Misia                                  36.7

5.  TUBE                                 36.4

6.  Hiromi Iwasaki                  36.3

7.  Eikichi Yazawa                  36.0

     Kenshi Yonezu                   36.0

9.  Koji Tamaki                       35.7

     Masaharu Fukuyama         35.7

In all likelihood, most if not all of these videos will end up being taken down by NHK by next month but at least we can enjoy them for a few weeks perhaps. Anyways, to start off, it seems like the hosting pattern has been set with comedian Hiroiki Ariyoshi（有吉弘行）and then the main actress from a previous NHK morning serial drama, in this case actress/model Mio Imada（今田美桜）followed by another actress who has had NHK experience, the adorably awkward  Haruka Ayase（綾瀬はるか）, and finally a veteran NHK announcer in the form of Naoko Suzuki（鈴木奈穂子）.

1) It was nice of the organizers to bring back an opening medley of some of the old kayo kyoku including the evergreen "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう). And then we were off to the races with the first two Red team entries including aidoru group Fruits Zipper. The old style of Red, White, Red, White, etc. went out the window years ago. It's just unfortunate that the Jme gremlins had to block out "YMCA" due to copyright restrictions but at least those situations weren't as prevalent as they were in past Kohaku.

2) The relatively few enka performances were fine and it appears that for at least some of them, the gimmicks are here to say. Hiroshi Miyama（三山ひろし）brought back the gang for another chance to achieve the kendama world record. Plus, Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）had her dominoes back.

3) This Kohaku also seems to be the one which had a couple of final performances. I knew about Perfume's intention to go on hiatus as of 2026 but I was surprised to hear that Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）was calling it a day as a Kohaku participant. I have mixed feelings here and I did mention about this on my observations for last year's Kohaku as well. Frankly, I was no fan of the decision for him to keep on singing "Ni-oku-yon-sen-man no Hitomi"（２億４千万の瞳）year after year and in the first few seconds after his declaration of "graduation", I instinctively thought "Ah...it finally ends" but then again, it'll be too bad that he won't show up again to sing some of his other hits...which were perfectly fine as Kohaku kayo.

4) There was also a bigger chunk of participants celebrating their anniversaries in the music business such as AKB48, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, Perfume, Akira Fuse（布施明）, TUBE and R&B artist Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）. Again, this is just my own observation but while the rest of the anniversary-celebrating group got their accolades onscreen before their performances, for some reason, it seems as if Kubota wasn't accorded the same treatment; he had to state that 2025 was his 40th anniversary which had host Ariyoshi looking a little sweaty for a few seconds. Spontaneity is always fun to watch. It was good to watch TK perform "LA・LA・LA LOVE SONG"...without Naomi Campbell, though.

5) The coolest senior citizen on stage though was Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）, who at 76 years old, showed that he certainly didn't act his age. He also provided the "Kohaku B'z" moment for the 76th edition when he pulled off a surprise by finishing his scheduled song "Shinjitsu"（真実...The Truth） and then nonchalantly making his way to the main stage to sing a couple of his big hits.

6) The Otori final stage consisting of the final singers from the Red and White teams to provide that final snap and gravitas was changed for the first time in a few years. Misia was back for the Red team but this time, Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）had his moment somewhat earlier. In his place was Mrs. Green Apple with "Good Day" which was a rousing pop number that I'll have to cover. It was a good place to end the official competition.

7) Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）was the final touch to the extra additions and according to those NHK ratings, it was a winning one. From what I've read so far, her appearance was much lauded, and for me, I had no problems with her being included in the festivities and certainly no argument with the song which is one of my favourites by the Eternal Aidoru. However, I have to disagree slightly and say that I think it would have been better if she had been inserted somewhere in the middle of the broadcast. Her appearance and the arrangement of "Aoi Sangoshou"（青い珊瑚礁）struck me as being anticlimactic and took some of the air out of the supremely cheerful atmosphere that Mrs. Green Apple had built up.

To wrap up, the performances that stuck with me were by Vaundy, Mrs. Green Apple, Humbert Humbert, Sakanaction, Eikichi Yazawa and Toshinobu Kubota. If any of you have your own opinions and insights into Edition No. 76, let me know below.