Ayase Haruka & Arashi chosen as hosts for this year's Kohaku

On Oct 18th, it has been confirmed that Arashi and actress Ayase Haruka will be the chairpersons for the 64th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen. This is the 4th consecutive year that Arashi will be the “White team” leader while this will be the first time for Ayase to lead the “Red Team”.

Ayase currently plays the lead role in NHK’s Taiga drama “Yae no Sakura“; in addition, she’s also one of the most popular actress and has been active in both TV dramas and movies. As a judge of last year’s Kohaku, Ayase is nervous to be this year’s chairman though she also said that it was her ambition to convey the splendor of music with Arashi.

On the other hand, this is the 4th consecutive year that the 5-member Arashi will host the show. Sakurai Sho commented that being the chairpersons, they were supported by all singers who participated and that they only wanted to connect to the world through songs.

In addition, Ninomiya Kazunari said that he will work hard as possible so that the singers will be able to convey their songs as easily as possible.

NHK’s New Year’s Eve song show theme will be “Uta ga koko ni aru” (A song is right here).

The 64th Kohaku Uta Gassen will be broadcasted at NHK starting at 7:15PM (JST) on Dec 31st.

Read more at Arama They Didn't: http://aramatheydidnt.livejournal.com/5084601.html#ixzz2iL0oOG4x

Arashi's Matsumoto Jun to star in NHK drama for the first time

On July 14, it was announced that popular Arashi member Matsumoto Jun will star in the NHK drama "Hajimari no Uta" that will begin airing on September 23.

Though Matsumoto, as a member of Arashi, has served as the host for NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen for 3 consecutive years, this is actually the first time for him to have a leading in a drama on NHK. This is also the first time in 15 years for him to appear on an NHK drama since his last one aired back in 1998 which was even before he made CD debut as Arashi.

 The motif of the drama is "Furusato" which was the song made for the special corner in 2010's Kohaku Uta Gassen. Arashi members sang it on the Kohaku not only in 2010, but also in 2011, and in 2012. 

The song was written by Koyama Kundo, and it expresses the nobility of hometown. The song has also been chosen as the compulsory song in the NHK National School Music Contest for this year (for Elementary School division). As this year will be the 80th anniversary year for the music contest, the drama adaptation has been planned.

In the drama, Matsumoto plays a young man named "Wataru" who left his hometown to Tokyo. Wataru once had a dream to be a teacher, but he could not make it come true, and became a freelance photographer for a travel magazine. The drama starts where Wataru returns to his hometown after he is given an order to take photographs in there.

By meeting with the local elementary school kids who are aiming to participate in the choir competition, his ex-girlfriend (played by Eikura Nana) who is an elementary school teacher, his old classmates, and family, he eventually regains his old dream to be a teacher.

Reportedly, there is a scene where Matsumoto plays a piano in the drama, so he is currently practicing for it. He left a comment, "Though my role is a photographer, there will be a scene I have to play piano, so I would like to prepare well for both before I attend the filming. I will do my best so that the viewers could find a delight in chorus, and also feel the power of music."

Source: Sanspo (1+2+3)

Sakurai Sho to show live piano performance on Kohaku

NHK announced that Arashi who will be the host for the white team on this year’s ‘Kohaku Uta Gassen‘.  The group will also be the presenters for a corner to support Tohoku region.

The corner is titled ‘Ashita wo Utaou. ~Nippon no Arashi ‘Furusato’~’.  Arashi member, Sakurai Sho will show his live piano performance to “Furusato” which is the image song for this year’s Kohaku.  With Sakurai’s piano performance, other Arashi members and the artists who will participate in Kohaku will sing in the chorus.

The piano Sakurai will be playing was being used at a junior high school in Fukushima prefecture for a long time. However, on March 11th, when they were having a graduation ceremony, it was damaged due to the Tsunami from the Tohoku earthquake.  After the earthquake, a local piano tuner spent six months fixing the piano.  It has now become it became a symbol of recovery.

Sakurai commented, “The piano that has recovered after half a year.  It still has many scars on it, but, rings out the pure timbres. With the thoughts of the piano tuner, Endo-san and the children in Fukushima, I would like to perform ‘Furusato’.”

Source: Sanspo + NHK

Image: MANTAN WEB

Arashi & Inoue Mao become the hosts for NHK’s ‘Kohaku Uta Gassen’! 2011 (update)

(FROM ARAMATHEYDIDNT@LJ)


Inoue Mao, who starred in the NHK fictional series "Ohisama" this year, has been chosen as the MC for  NHK's Kouhaku Uta Gassen 2011, representing the Red Team. As her partner, Arashi has been chosen to represent the White Team.
"Ohisama" received quite a high rating, especially in the area stricken by disaster, such as Fukushima prefecture.


Longer details (thanks to aprillis): 

NHK announced actress Mao Inoue (Ohisama, Youkame no Semi) hosting for the Red team and the five member idol group Arashi once again for the White team

This year’s 62nd Kouhaku Song Festival carries the theme “Ashita wo Utaou. (Let’s sing for tomorrow).” It is to make 2011/12/31 as “the day to take the first step like 123″, and make it a positive show in order to step forward to a bright tomorrow.Centering around the rebuilding after the Tohoku Earthquake

Therefore, American singer Lady Gaga, who had expressed support for the victims of the disaster, has been “unoffically confirmed” as attending Kouhaku and they also reported that there will be a “special programme surprise”. Although there has been no official announcement from NHK regarding the participants for Kouhaku, the netizens were greatly excited by this report.

This year’s “62nd Kohaku Uta Gassen” will air 15 minutes earlier than the usual, at 7:15 pm. With this earlier airing, this year’s Kohaku will be the longest broadcast in history,The station will consider increases in the number of participants and songs at a later date. The end time of the broadcast remains the same at 11:45 pm.

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(FROM TOKYOHIVE)

It’s been announced that Inoue Mao and Arashi have been chosen to become the hosts for NHK’s annual New Year’s Eve music show, “The 62nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen“!

This is the second consecutive year for Arashi to participate in Kohaku as the host for ‘Shirogumi‘ (the team with male artists or group with male vocals). Last year, Shirogumi won the Kohaku, and its leader,Ohno Satoshi, proudly collected the championship flag. Ohno mused, “I would like to grab the flag again.”

On the other hand, this is the first time for Inoue Mao to be chosen as a Kohaku host. She will be doing so on behalf of ‘Akagumi‘ (the team with female artists or group with female vocals).  Inoue expressed her eagerness to grab the flag by saying, “Akagumi has had six consecutive  defeats, so I want to win this year.”

The theme of Kohaku for this year is “Ashita wo Utaou” (“Let’s sing for tomorrow”), which aims to conclude the year of 2011 brightly through the power of song. Many anxieties rocked Japan this year due to the Tohoku earthquake and devastating typhoon, and so the event hopes to start 2012 with good cheer.

Sakurai Sho said, “When we first participated in Kohaku as a performer, which was in 2009, the theme of the year was ‘Uta no Chikara∞Mugendai (“The power of songs ∞ infinity”).’  This year, I would like to help the artists’ ‘power of songs’ as the host.”

As reported previously, AKB48 and Terry Ito will be the “Kohaku supporters” for this year.

Source & Image: natalie