Kauhaku Uta Gassen 2009

Japanese broadcasting corporation NHK will be hosting a whole new level of their annual New Years’ Red-White Battle or Kouhaku Uta Gassen. Even though viewership is slipping, they’ve brought in 53 performers (last year was 58) but all performers are supposedly the best of the best in Japan.

Among that list are SMAP, Koda Kumi, Ayumi Hamasaki and the most highly publicized of all TVXQ. NHK was also able to grab Mr. Children, a long awaited special performance that has failed in previous years. So far things are looking up.

The variety show is consisted of a boy (white) VS girls (red) battle that lasts throughout the evening until midnight. The last three years have been won by the white team, but with the elite of Japan there, the tables may turn.

List of Performers

Red team
aiko
Thelma Aoyama
Junko Akimoto
Ayaka
Angela Aki
Ikimonogakari
Sayuri Ishikawa
Ai Otsuka
Miyuki Kawanaka
Girl Next Door
Kumi Koda
Natsuko Godai
Sachiko Kobayashi
Fuyumi Sakamoto
SPEED
Yoshimi Tendo
Mika Nakashima
Natsuko Nakamura
Ayumi Hamasaki
Perfume
Yo Hitoto
Ayaka Hirahara
Ayako Fuji
Fujioka Fujimaki and Nozomi Ohashi
Kaori Mizumori
Akiko Wada

White Team
Masashi Akikawa
Aqua Timez
Hiroshi Itsuki
Exile
Saburo Kitajima
Takeshi Kitayama
Kimaguren
Yusaku Kiyama
Kobukuro
Jero
Shuchishin with Pabo
SMAP
Toho Shinki
TOKIO
Hideaki Tokunaga
Kiyoshi Hikawa
Ken Hirai
Akira Fuse
Porno Graffiti
Kiyoshi Maekawa
Kenichi Mikawa
Mr. Children
Yutaka Mizutani
Shinichi Mori
Naotaro Moriyama
WaT