The “72nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen” is nearing! The show will air on NHK on December 31 at 7:30 PM JST. There are some changes coming to the show this year though.

This year’s Kohaku will take place at Tokyo International Forum, since the usual venue, NHK Hall, is currently undergoing renovation. Renovations will be done in time for the “73rd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen” in 2022.

There is a also a new logo for the show, which can be seen above. It’s a gradient image that goes from red to white.

There is also a change in how the show is hosted. No longer will there be separate hosts for the male White Team and the female Red Team. Instead, the two hosts that would have previously headed those teams will share duties with the general host, and encourage all the performers, regardless of their gender. All three hosts will now just be referred to as “hosts.”

That being said, this year’s hosts are Oizumi Yo, Kawaguchi Haruna, and Wakuda Mayuko. This is Yo’s second year in a row serving as host, while Haruna is making her debut on the show. This will be Mayuko’s fourth time hosting, have previously hosted the 68th, 69th, and 71st editions.

The theme of the “72nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen” is “Colorful.” The theme is based on the idea of “I want to make the world as colorful as possible on the last night of 2021”, seeing as how the current days are lacking in color due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

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