J-Canuck's Thoughts on the 73rd Edition of the Kohaku Utagassen（第73回NHK紅白歌合戦）

 

People on both sides of the Pacific are most likely still enjoying a hopefully relaxing transition from the Holidays back into regular work days. The Japanese are only in their second day of the New Year's celebrations while folks here in Canada and the United States are lucky enough to have a compensatory day off since January 1st fell on a Sunday this time around. 

First off, I would like to thank Larry Chan for his two-part essay on his feelings on the annual Kohaku Utagassen which took place a couple of days ago for the 73rd time. My family and I opted to catch our PVR'ed version last night after dinner on New Year's Day. Among my clan, I am by far the most patient and accepting of contemporary Japanese pop music but I have to admit that I was surprised that for No. 73, there was far less fast-forwarding on the remote control by my brother than had usually been the case, and that's a sign of the tone of how I felt about the show.

I'm not bothering with putting up any YouTube NHK footage of the show since I know that it will all get taken down soon, but I will post up some representative photos. My first observation of No. 73 is that it did follow the "Love & Peace" theme in obvious and subtle ways. Bringing in the Mouse House will usually signify that, although I did hear on the local news channel that a notice had been sent out by the folks managing the Disney resorts pleading for no more abuse by customers ("oh, OH, oh, OH! No, not the ears!"). Also, despite or due to the renovations done to NHK Hall, the relationship between the audience and the performers seemed more intimate; there was more performance done at the very front of the stage, though things could get grand when demanded by certain performers.

Also, perhaps reflecting on the past year which had its share of celebrity deaths and retirements, there was more poignancy which garnered more of that closeness. Enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）, entertainment legend Yuzo Kayama（加山雄三）and one member of the vocal group Junretsu（純烈）said their goodbyes although Hikawa said that he would return. Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）had a near tear-inducing ballad and then a kickass performance of an old favourite while paying tribute to band drummer Yuuji Tanaka（田中裕二）who had passed away in November. I was surprised by the appearance of comedy group Dacho Club（ダチョウ俱楽部）for one number especially following the sudden death of member Ryuhei Ueshima（上島竜兵）earlier in 2022.

The return of the grizzled veterans was something that I noticed happening in a flurry shortly after announcing the main lineup. But it did look like the OB/OG Week on the Kohaku with not only Anzen Chitai and Kayama, but also Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）, Ryoko Shinohara（篠原涼子）, Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）, Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）, Char (among others), Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）, and even a vocal cameo by the one-and-only Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎） on behalf of another long-time-no-see act, KinKi Kids. Yamashita was truly a surprise since I didn't think that he was too much of a fan of the Kohaku despite his wife appearing on the special a few years ago, and he didn't hold back on his disdain for the AI Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）project which had culminated in its premiere in the 2019 edition.

Speaking of all of that computer stuff, I wasn't all that enthused by the appearance of virtual Yumi Arai（荒井由実）in Yuming's（ユーミン）performance (although I saw that she had to put on the "wetsuit" and dots). It was too brief and not that impressive although Arai at the piano did introduce the real McCoy's lovely performance of "Sotsugyo Shashin"（卒業写真）, the first Yuming-penned song that I ever heard.

There is a "Japan Times" article about the biggest J-Pop hits of the year coming from Tik-Tok and anime. The Kohaku was also another mirror of confirmation on that as I noticed a slightly larger coterie of anison performers on the show this time around. And Fujii Kaze's（藤井風）"Shinunoga E-Wa"（死ぬのがいいわ）got its huge break on Tik-Tok. It was from this angle that got me to bookmark a number of songs to cover in the next number of days including an ending theme from "Spy x Family". Thank you, Kohaku!

From AsianWiki

Going back to the overall feeling of No. 73, it seemed a lot more leaner and straightforward which is a good thing. There was no massive opening extravaganza involving most or all of the performers and there was none of that annoying sidetracking with comedians between numbers. It was musical act-quick talk-musical act with the occasional big multi-singer performance. In a way, it was almost like how it was when I first began watching the Kohaku in 1981, although of course, it's still a much more different animal now. 

As well, the theatricality of certain acts such as Fujii's performance of "Shinunoga E-Wa" definitely made the Kohaku look a sight bigger than what goes on in the usual episode of the weekly "Uta Con"（うたコン）, and that's the way it should be. In terms of the hosting, I've had my beefs with actor Yo Oizumi（大泉洋）, but for No. 73, he kept his "Bravo!" to a minimum at least in the first half although in the second half, the ham began returning. I've always thought that Oizumi would make a great J-Doctor Who!

For the record, Kohaku Utagassen No. 73 scored its second-lowest ratings in its history with a 31.2% (lower than last year) average in the first half and a 35.3% (higher than last year) average in the second half according to its J-Wiki article. For your information, No. 72 was the lowest-rated edition. At one point, I'd actually wondered aloud on the blog whether NHK's venerable New Year's Eve special was frankly ready for the television ash heap but from the ratings, there are still people (including overseas viewers like myself) who are willing to watch the four hours and change of Japanese pop music and as long as the Kohaku gets ratings that are still higher than those for the average top episode of any J-drama, it will continue. 

The heyday of having over half the nation watching the Kohaku is long gone since there has been so much more to do with friends outside of the apartment nowadays, and I did that as well when I was living in Ichikawa. During my 17 years living there, I don't think that I saw a Kohaku in its entirety if at all. One self-quote that I like to use to describe my non-committal to NHK on New Year's Eve all those years is "Ryoko Hirosue actually performed on the Kohaku?!". Having said that though, I think if the relevant producers keep things on the even entertaining-enough keel that No. 73 was riding on, then it will hang around for at least some more years as niche fare for those who find themselves at home helping out with the osechi.