Tokyo Reborn: Dark Superstar

Chapter 183 December 1997, 12, NHK Red and White Song Contest
According to research, the "Kohaku" in the program name comes from the concept of red and white confrontation in Japanese kendo, and the Kohaku in the Kohaku Uta Gassen divides female and male singers into two groups, red and white, and conducts a song competition.

The venue for the show was not fixed in the early days. In addition to the Tokyo Broadcasting Hall, where NHK's headquarters was located at the time, it was also held in several larger performance venues in Tokyo, such as the Japan Theater and the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater.

Since 1973 (the 24th time), the Red and White Songs Contest has been held in the NHK Hall, which was completed that year. Showa superstar Hibari Misora's song "True Red Taiyo" shocked the audience, making the NHK Red and White Songs Contest's audience ratings set a record high in the history of the Japanese television industry at 89.4%! !
Enka is closely tied to postwar Japanese history, and its tragic tone was shaped in part by experiences during the war.

The performance style of enka queen Hibari Misora, such as crying at the end of songs, set the standard of sentimentalism for subsequent idol singers.

Hibari Misora ​​led the traditional enka style to its peak era.

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Since the 20s, music sales are no longer proportional to the popularity of singers, and the popularity of singers who used to appear on the stage all year round has begun to decline.

Some traditional enka singers decide whether to participate in the Kohaku Uta Gassen based on their performance and income that year, while emerging pop singers do not need to boost their popularity by performing in the Kohaku, and some even refuse invitations to perform in the Kohaku.

Starting from the year before last, the male idol group SMAP served as the finale and performed the song "Sekai ni Ichitsudake no Hana" ("The Only Flower in the World") on stage, symbolizing the collapse of the pattern of enka singers occupying the climax of the show.

A new era has arrived...

As the millennium approached, Johnny's Entertainment almost monopolized the male idol market, with artists from the company serving as hosts of the White Team almost every year.
On the other hand, the hosts of the Red Team are mostly female leads from NHK's signature programs (such as "Taiga Drama" and "Serial TV Novels");
Pop singers took to the stage in large numbers.

In contrast, the enka industry has continued to shrink, and it has become difficult for enka singers to perform. Singers who have performed in the past have left the Red and White Songs Festival stage one after another in the form of "retirement"...

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During the Showa era, all programs of the NHK Red and White Songs Festival were kept strictly confidential. Actors, programs, and performance styles were not disclosed to the outside world.

Starting in 1995, in order to further attract audiences, NHK would selectively reveal some information to the media, mainly to build momentum for the gala.

The media are also happy to cooperate. From the end of the year to the new year, from newspapers to magazines and even major commercial television stations will report on topics related to the Kohaku Uta Gassen.

Guess who will be on the NHK Red and White Songs Contest this year

After going through the entire process, NHK's Red and White Songs Contest created enough momentum, the media took advantage of the popularity, and even the actors got exposure, but the audience was the only one who was fooled around.

Today you are happy because someone is on the NHK Red and White Song Contest, and tomorrow you are angry because someone else was eliminated. It is a waste of emotion.

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But putting everything else aside, this year's NHK Red and White Song Contest is definitely impressive enough.

Two of the three great singers of the Showa era came, namely Akina Nakamori who joined the Beasts Band, and Kyoko Koizumi who performed a solo.

Johnny's Office is going all out, including Kimura Takuya's SMAP, Nagano Hiroshi's V6, the newly emerged Arashi, the old powerhouse TOKIO, KinKi Kids
There are also the enka department's Saburo Kitajima, Masako Mori, Aki Yashiro, Sachiko Kobayashi, Hiroshi Itsuki, Shinichi Mori and others,

Supernova Namie Amuro, as well as a group of newcomers such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, and Mai Kuraki.

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December 1997, 12, the 31th NHK Red and White Song Contest.

At Shibaura Building in Minato-ku, Tokyo, the president of Metaverse Planning Co., Ltd., Mizuno Douyue, specially invited the state banquet chef from the Northern Province of the Red Earth Continent to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner.

The senior executives, agents, artists, and staff who stayed behind from One Piece Entertainment, Metaverse Planning Co., Ltd., Totland Capital, and Mimihaji PMC gathered together to eat the year-end dinner and watch the NHK Red and White Songs Contest.

After all, the big boss Bunta Takakura's Beast Band was also performing, and everyone wanted to see the fun.

The four major companies have employees from all over the country, and the New Year's Eve customs vary from place to place.

However, this year it was Mizuno Douyue who treated everyone, and he also gave everyone a big red envelope to celebrate the annual profit of Metaverse Co., Ltd. exceeding 20 billion US dollars.

So, of course, Northeastern cuisine is the main focus.

There are more than twenty dishes including sweet and sour pork, stir-fried pork slices, braised pork ribs, three fresh vegetables, white meat blood sausage, snow-coated bean paste, pork stewed with vermicelli, chicken stewed with hazel mushrooms, sauerkraut and pork, dried tofu with hot peppers, stir-fried pork intestines, large ribs, Mushu persimmons, and crucian carp crossing the Yellow River.

According to the buffet model, you can freely form a table and take whatever you want to eat.

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Hirosue Ryoko received the red envelope, took a sip of the air-imported Lao Longkou liquor, picked up some dishes, held the plate, and sat next to Liu Qianqian.

"Xixi, eat more."

The few of them found a seat close to the TV, and Hirosue Ryoko and Kanda Keiko kept picking up food for Liu Qianqian.

When Liu Qianqian was studying at the Tokyo Gakugei University Affiliated High School, her mother was the one who took care of her.

However, Takakura Bunta Studio was upgraded to One Piece Entertainment Company, and her mother Liu Xiaoli became the general manager of the Red Earth Continent branch. The New Year's Eve is the busiest time.

So, Liu Qianqian was left alone in the apartment of the headquarters building, which was quite pitiful. Hirosue Ryoko and Kanda Keiko had to take care of her more. But Liu Qianqian herself was quite happy. Without her mother watching over her, she was like a fish in water. She ate dumplings happily and waited to watch her godfather's NHK Red and White Songs Festival program.

Liu Qianqian's heartless appearance made Hirosue Ryoko a little envious. Although she left her parents to go to school at a very young age, she would go home every New Year's Eve.

This year is the first time I’m spending New Year’s Eve away from my parents, and my best friend Ayumi Hamasaki is not here, so I can’t help but feel a little homesick.

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Kanda Keiko, who has been working in the entertainment industry for many years, does not have this concern. She already understands the efforts behind this industry.

It is normal that if you earn a lot and become famous, you have to pay the price.

If you want to be respected in front of others, you must suffer behind their backs.

While chatting and laughing, Liu Xixi's Nokia also received a call from home.

On TV, the NHK Red and White Song Contest officially began.

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The opening song was "Love, Day After Tomorrow" sung by Mai Kuraki, wearing a fluffy pink skirt and with a bright face.

This song doesn't have fancy words, but it can describe the whole person in a life-size way. Moreover, the song doesn't use POPS (pop music) or R&B (blues) music materials. Instead, it adds more light rhythms of Western music to the style, giving people a feeling of freedom and sensuality.

It can be said that this is a song that contains the fresh, bright and sensual elements of a 16-year-old girl. It is a beautiful music interwoven with Mai Kuraki's melody, words and her singing talent.

"Is this the new artist from Burning Production?"

Kanda Keiko asked Lin Zhiling, who is in charge of new talent discovery at One Piece Entertainment.

Lin Zhiling nodded: "Her song ranked 3th on the Oricon chart in Japan with nearly 18 sales in the first week."

Kanda Keiko sighed with envy: "It's great that we made it to the NHK Red and White Song Festival right after our debut. The burning style really has deep roots..."

Lin Zhiling's mentality is very stable. He has two rookie kings, Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru, in his family. He feels a little bit regretful that he didn't get Mai Kuraki.

"Compared with Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru, Mai Kuraki's popularity is slightly weaker," said Lin Zhiling.

Kanda Keiko watched Mai Kuraki on TV and recalled the days when she was Akina Nakamori's agent and saw Akina Nakamori, Seiko Matsuda, and Kyoko Koizumi as teenage idols.

An era has really passed...

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Mai Kuraki left the stage after singing for only four minutes. This is the disadvantage of opening a show. It is very likely that by the time you have finished singing, the audience may not even have turned on their TV.

Of course, there are also advantages to being the first one to appear. After all, you are the first one to appear, and you will be more memorable than actors in other time periods.

But overall, the best performance time for NHK's Red and White Songs Contest should be the finale time close to 12 o'clock.

The performance time of the Beast Band is around 23:25, followed by the new group Arashi and enka master Kobayashi Sachiko, and the finale will still be the SMAP group led by Kimura Takuya.

After Mai Kuraki's performance, the Princess Princess band took the stage to perform.

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Princess Princess is a band formed in 1986 whose members are Okui Ka, Nakayama Kanako, Konno Tomoko, Tomita Kyoko and Watanabe Atsuko.

They made their debut at Shibuya Public Hall in 1988 and released two best-selling singles, "Diamonds" and "The Hottest Summer in the World" in 1989, which were the two best-selling singles of the year.

In addition, they also have many million-selling albums such as "lovers" and "let's get crazy".

This is the only successful all-female hardcore rock band in the Japanese music scene so far (excluding underground bands), rather than pop music wrapped in rock clothing.

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Hirosue Ryoko had two rounds of wine and started to take the fifth batch of freshly-cooked sweet and sour pork.

The tender and fresh tenderloin is wrapped in a crispy fried skin, which is golden in color with a slightly burnt red color. It smells slightly sour, tastes slightly sweet, and is slightly salty when tasted carefully, making this last beautiful girl in Japan at the end of the 20th century unable to stop.

The announcer of the NHK Red and White Songs Contest was not the host Genko Wada, but Shizuka Kudo.

Kudo Shizuka said mysteriously that a band would be performing soon, and cut to this person who also participated in the NHK Red and White Songs Festival last year. After the show received rave reviews, many people guessed that it was the Beast Band.

In the Shibaura Building's cafeteria, not only Hirosue Ryoko, Kanda Keiko, Mizuno Douyue, Liu Qianqian and a few others were there, the entire restaurant was quiet, and everyone was looking at the TV screen.

(End of this chapter)