For this year’s ’65th NHK Kohaku Singing Contest’ the host for the red team has been announced to be actress Yuriko Yoshitaka and for the white team, idol group Arashi has been chosen as hosts for the 5th time in a row. The mediator will be television announcer Yumiko Udo.

‘Kohaku Uta Gassen’ or just ‘Kohaku’ is a yearly singing contest where the white team who are all male artists compete against the red team who are comprised of female artists. For a lot of artists it is prestigious to be chosen to perform on the show.

It is Yuriko’s first time as a host and she said nervously “I still have not grasped the situation. It is still two months away but I want to try my best to control things.” Also, looking at Arashi she smiled, “I never thought we would ever stand together on anything other than a variety show.”

Arashi’s Masaki Aiba spoke saying ‘I never even thought in my dreams that we could be hosts for 5 years in a row. I am happy.”

This year’s theme is ‘Let’s sing. Everyone join in on New Years Eve!’

The broadcast will be from 7:15 pm to 11:45 pm, and it will bring the year to a close with representative singers from Japan giving a hot performance.

Via (Oricon)