J-Canuck's Own Thoughts on the 71st Kohaku Utagassen for 2020（第71回NHK紅白歌合戦）

 

I've mentioned in past articles that the Kohaku Utagassen editions that I was really keyed into were the first three that were actually broadcast here in Toronto, namely the ones for 1981, 1982 and 1983. And then, the annual New Year's Eve NHK special became that program that our family would watch and tape on VHS but not really pay much attention afterwards. Then, heading to Japan for all those years, it was often the case that I didn't even bother watching the show since I was actually out with friends enjoying the coming of the new year at places like Zojoji Temple in downtown Tokyo. Coming back to Canada a decade ago, I got re-acquainted with the Kohaku again since my parents were still taping the show with the usual customs of them griping about the quality of the participants and then my brother quickly fast-forwarding through the vast majority of stuff until he stopped at places where he wanted to confirm someone's identity.

(February 3, 2021: Sorry to interrupt but should let you know that not surprisingly, much of the YouTube footage of the actual Kohaku has been taken down so I've tried to replace them with some of the participants' songs from other shows. Otherwise I'll just have to use my apple pie placeholder.)

Of course, I'm not one to talk either since I haven't really put up anything regarding the Kohaku Utagassen in terms of my reactions over the past several years, and that's because there wasn't really much for me to talk about the show as a whole, although I have noted singers and songs that I got to know for the first time because they were invited to come onto the program. That hasn't changed for the 2020 edition either if you've noticed my articles on Kohaku newbies milet and Eito（瑛人）. The Kohaku followed the same pattern year after year: NHK Shibuya Hall, a full audience, a gaggle of hosts, the mix of new songs and old favourites, comedic sideshows and then the final announcement of which team won followed by the standard rendition of "Hotaru no Hikari" (蛍の光）.

Well, things were quite different this year and that was known pretty early on in 2020 when NHK announced that due to the pandemic, the Kohaku would be held without an audience for the first time in its long history. Now, people including me started to wonder how a mid-pandemic Kohaku was going to come off in the age of social distancing and daily mask usage. And just a week before showtime, there came the news that the group Snow Man had to pull out of the Kohaku since one of them tested positive for the virus.

However, the national broadcaster basically said, "The show must go on!" and it did. It started up at 7:30 pm December 31st on schedule and despite the lack of an audience, the four hosts showed up in their finest clothing. The overall hosts arrived in the form of comedian Teruyoshi Uchimura（内村光良）and NHK announcer Maho Kuwako（桑子真帆）along with Red Captain, actress Fumi Nikaido（二階戸ふみ）, and White Captain, actor Yo Oizumi（大泉洋）. Ucchan, who's now a veteran of the show, was fine, Nikaido was charming and even provided some of her own singing during the Disney bit, and Kuwako wasn't seen all that much. As for Oizumi, well, I think there have been captains in the history of the Kohaku who've been more exuberant, but going into the latter half of the show especially, I started fearing that the guy may have been hitting the caffeine a little too hard. It wouldn't have surprised me if some of the other hosts may have wanted to grab the Visine since they were rolling their eyes a little too much.

With this COVID-influenced Kohaku, one of my predictions for the show had me thinking whether there would be a larger number of remote performances with singers doing their thing from other prefectures; perhaps even performing from home. However, NHK decided to retain some of that past epic feeling by keeping things basically at their home with performers still showing up on the big stage at NHK Hall, but then also having them perform in the neighbouring NHK Broadcasting Centre's CT-101 Studio and CR-509 Studio with the latter having a full orchestra. The judges even got their own elaborately-staged room in the complex.

Even before the show went on, a few weeks previously, there had been a feature on the news about slightly expanding the space on the big stage because there wouldn't be any audience. Usually with the big stage, there would be grand stairs coming down through the middle or from the sides toward the audience or to stage centre. But this time around, the staircases came down at an interesting angle toward one side of the stage. The video above with Juju's performance doesn't have the stairs but that stylistic barrier surrounding her and the string octet does give the overall shape.

In a strange way, the COVID restrictions may have actually freed up the set designers and the rest of the production staff in terms of the camera positions and movements and where participants could sing. As I mentioned in that milet article last night, having her perform on that rising stage where the audience would usually have been gave a bit more heft to her presence.

Incidentally, all of these videos that I've brought in from YouTube can and will probably disappear after a short while so after that, we'll have to go with memories and imagination. Anyways to continue on with how the new logistics affected the performances, another example is Masayuki's Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）appearance. In last week's article on Chanels' "Tamashii no Brother"（魂のブラザー）, I had expressed some disappointment that Martin wasn't going to perform the two anime-based hits or a medley on the show, instead going with "Yume de Aetara"（夢で逢えたら）. Well, I'm wearing the equivalent of a massive shoe heel over my head right now since the reason that he chose to sing this ballad was in tribute to his mother who had recently passed away and the song was one of her favourites.

In any case, singing the more uptempo stuff probably would have been wasted on an empty hall but with "Yume de Aetara", the camera view of the back of Suzuki while singing to the seats and the lights as if serenading his mother up above was perfect for the poignant mood. And of course, Suzuki hit it out of the park.

There was plenty of poignancy in the show. Along with the fact that this was being broadcast in the middle of a pandemic, there was the point that the 71st edition would be the final show at NHK Hall for at least a year since it will be going under major renovations. The 72nd edition will be held at Tokyo International Forum. Also, Arashi（嵐）got their final swan song right in the middle of the broadcast. I had wondered whether the top of the Johnny's heap would stay on for one more year since 2020 was far from a normal or happy year but yes, their performance on the Kohaku was the final one together.

Other highlights for me included Hiroshi Itsuki's（五木ひろし）performance of "Sanga"（山河）in commemoration of his 50th appearance, LiSA's dynamic "Kimetsu no Yaiba"（鬼滅の刃）medley (although TV Japan had to block out the latter half of the performance...😒), and Kaori Mizumori's（水森かおり） appearance in that truly oceanic dress designed by former 90s teen terror Tomoe Shinohara（篠原ともえ）. 

Then, there was the tribute to the recently-finished NHK morning serial "Yell"（エール）with not only much of the cast providing a moving mini-musical version of the songs performed on the show, but even the mysterious GReeeeN showing up since they had provided the theme song for "Yell". Viewers were probably wondering they would actually show their faces for the first time or would they keep them hidden. Well, apparently they discovered a third option.

Along with the performances on the big stage in NHK Hall, I thought that the performances in CR-509 Studio with the full orchestra were also fine and added that different and old-fashioned feeling simultaneously because of the use of those orchestras on the main stage in past Kohaku editions. One example was with Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）with his "Koi Suru Machikado"（恋する街角）.

There will always be a few issues here and there for me when it comes to something as big as the Kohaku. In addition to Captain Oizumi's overabundance of personality in the latter half of the show, I wasn't too thrilled with Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）so-called tribute to the composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平） who had passed away last September. Tsutsumi is the most prolific composer in kayo history but "Uta Kon" has yet to provide any sort of tribute to him and Go only performed the two songs sung by him that Tsutsumi had composed back in the 1970s. There was nothing wrong with Go's performance, but even under the tight logistics of this year's edition, I felt that there should have been a more special farewell for the man who provided so many kayo hits over many decades.

The last thing that I'll add is another showstopper in the broadcast being the performance of a cover of X Japan's "Endless Rain" with YOSHIKI, Queen's Roger Taylor and Brian May, SixTONES, LiSA, BABYMETAL, milet, and Sarah Brightman.

Of course, there were many more performers and among them, I will probably cover their performances in separate articles. In any case, my congratulations to the Red Team for winning the banner this time around. No. 71 was certainly one different edition and I will be even more interested in seeing how the Kohaku appears at Tokyo International Forum on December 31 2021. From what I've read about the ratings for the show, there didn't seem to be all that much difference although there was apparently a slight bump up. However for me, I thought that under the circumstances, NHK managed to pull off a successful broadcast, a few hours leading into the new year to help us forget the continuing medical drama that's playing out all around us. Perhaps for those who also watched the Kohaku a few nights ago, you may have your own highlights and other opinions. Feel free to share!