geri_chan | Kouhaku Uta Gassen

I spent pretty much the entire night watching the five-hour long Kouhaku Uta Gassen, which has become sort of a New Year's tradition for me. It's an extremely popular show in Japan, where it's shown on New Year's Eve (the Japanese language station in the US that I watch airs it the following day). The TV station translates the title as "Red and White Songfest"; Wikipedia translates it as "Red and White Song Battle," which is maybe the more accurate meaning, as it's a contest between the "white group," composed of male artists, and the "red group," composed of female artists.

I especially enjoyed this year's show, as it had a tribute to Studio Ghibli director Miyazaki Hayao (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away)--and I so want one of the cute little Ponyo handpuppets they were waving during the theme song for "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea"! ^_^ Another highlight was the appearance by Jero, "the first black enka singer in Japanese music history". His grandmother was Japanese; she married an American and moved to the US with him, and Jero got his love of Enka from her. He dresses and looks like a hip-hop singer, but if you close your eyes, you'd never know he wasn't full Japanese. He's got an awesome voice; generally I prefer J-Pop and J-Rock to Enka, but he was really amazing and I want to find some of his CDs.

I also enjoyed the usual appearances by boy-bands Tokio and SMAP, which contain two of my favorite actors, Matsuoka Masahiro and Kimura Takuya respectively. Mizutani Yutaka, who stars in one of my favorite cop dramas, Aibou ("Partners"), made an appearance as a singer. I think it was his first appearance on the show, because the poor guy looked so nervous that I thought he might faint. The adorably cute singer Hikawa Kiyoshi did the final performance for the white group (I loved his gaudy white-and-silver suit) and started crying when he finished the song. I'm not quite sure why; I was guessing that maybe he was emotional because it was a big honor for him to close the show?

Some of the commenters on this Ponyo/Kouhaku-related news article were dissing the songfest, calling it "crap," "laughable," and "tired". Of course it's not everyone's cup of tea, and is probably a bit alien to Americans, but jeez, if you hate it so much, why watch it? It's just entertainment, people--there's no need to hate on it. I suspect that the over-the-top costumes, lighting, and sets probably turn off the Americans who aren't used to that sort of thing, but I love the humor and the glitz and seeing what elaborate, glittery costume Mikawa Kenichi is going to wear this year.

Watching the show is always fun, but also a little frustrating, as the local TV station airs it unsubtitled. While reading manga, I generally feel like I have a decent Japanese vocabulary, but trying to follow the between-song conversations reminds me of how little I actually know. Part of the problem is that they tend to talk too fast for me to pick up more than a word or two here and there. Still, I estimate that I could understand maybe a quarter of what they were saying, which isn't too bad considering that I'm mainly self-taught, and it's good practice for my Japanese comprehension. I also find that I learn a lot from watching subtitled anime and dramas, since you tend to start recognizing oft-repeated words and phrases. Thanks to my love of crime dramas, I now know the words for "murder" (satsujin), "victim" (higaisha), "criminal" (hannin), and "corpse" (itai)! ^_^

I also find myself being bitten by little Harudaki plot bunnies as I can't help but imagine Katou and Iwaki (or Kikuchi and Onozuka) watching the show at home, cuddled together on the couch, or appearing as guest judges or hosts, and Katou not liking the way one of the performers is eyeing Iwaki. Or maybe they'd be there to introduce a special performance of the Fuyu no Semi theme song? (Surely, the movie must have a theme song!) The possibilities are endless...

But really, I have to finish my Kikuchi/Onozuka first date fic, so for now: down, bunnies! Of course, if anyone would like to adopt one of the bunnies, please feel free! ^_^