On November 19, NHK’s Director-General for Media Relations, Mr. Hiroo Yamana, held a regular press conference at the station’s headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, and spoke about the “76th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen” to be broadcast on New Year’s Eve. The number of singers in the red and white groups was announced on November 14, and the number of popular artists such as Arashi was announced on November 14, The number of singers in the red and white groups are different,” he said, referring to the current situation of 20 singers in the red group and 17 singers in the white group. Arashi will end their activities at the end of May next year, so this is the last year they will be able to participate in Kohaku, and NHK would like them to do whatever it takes. If Arashi appears in the show, it will surely draw high viewer ratings,” he said. However, during a live broadcast for his fan club on November 3, Satoshi Ohno (44) said that he is still “undergoing mental rehabilitation” and that he has not been able to build up his physical strength in preparation for his last live performance next spring. The members will give priority to Mr. Ono’s condition and wishes, and it is believed that Arashi’s participation will depend on Mr. Ono’s condition and feelings. Some fans want to see Arashi in “Kohaku,” while some Arashi fans do not want them to appear. Fans are also in turmoil, and it seems that Arashi’s participation is not yet in sight. …… There is even a signature drive against the participation of aespa, an artist who has already been chosen to participate, which has caused a great deal of controversy. AESPA will make its debut in 2020. The four-member global girl group consists of Koreans Carina (25) and Winter (24), Japanese Giselle (25), and Chinese Ning Ning (23). In May 2010, Ning Ning posted a photo of a table lamp on an app for her fan club. The lamp was shaped like a “mushroom cloud” caused by an atomic bomb, which caused controversy at the time because it reminded some people of the damage caused by the atomic bomb, In response to an inquiry from “Josei Jishin” (women’s magazine) about Nin Nin’s case, NHK confirmed that “We are aware of the matter you have pointed out, but we have confirmed with our agency that the members concerned did not intend to make light of or ridicule the atomic bombing damage. We have confirmed that there was no intention to downplay or ridicule the damage caused by the atomic bombings. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. With this as a background, a campaign to stop aespa’s participation in Kohaku began on “Change.org,” a platform for collecting signatures, around January 17, and has already gathered more than 85,000 signatures (as of 12:00 pm on January 20). (As of December 12 on the 20th, more than 85,000 signatures have already been collected (as of December 12 on the 20th).) Although the girls will probably continue to participate in the Kohaku, it is inevitable that when the Kohaku starts and aespa performs, social networking sites will go wild. I’m not saying you don’t have to watch everything, just change the channel if aespa appears. The “aespa” has been the focus of much attention, but the timelesz, which has not yet been selected to participate, has also been a topic of conversation. “There is a lot of attention on aespa, but there is also a lot of talk about timelesz, which is currently undecided. Although timelesz was not listed among the artists on the 14th, it was reported in advance that they were certain to participate, and they meet the requirements to participate in this year’s Kohaku. However, the case of Daiki Shinozuka (23) has become controversial.
