The , referred to from hereon as "Kōhaku", aired December 31, 2012 from

NHK Hall The NHK Hall is a concert hall located at the NHK Broadcasting Center, the main headquarters of Japan's public broadcaster NHK. The hall is the main venue for the NHK Symphony Orchestra, but it has also played host to other events, such as the 19 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

beginning from 7:15 p.m. JST.

Broadcast

On December 18, 2012, NHK announced it will broadcast Kōhaku live using

ultra-high-definition television Ultra-high-definition television (also known as Ultra HD television, Ultra HD, UHDTV, UHD and Super Hi-Vision) today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed by ...

technology from two locations: Tokyo Tower and at NHK's Yokohama station. NHK first used UHDTV for a Kōhaku during its 57th event in 2006.

Performance Order

Debuting or returning artists are in bold.

Songs Performed on medleys

Personnel

Main host and team leaders

* Red Team Captain:

Maki Horikita is a Japanese former actress. During her career from 2003 until 2017, she starred in numerous Japanese television dramas, television and magazine advertisements, and movies, including roles in ''Nobuta wo Produce'', '' Hanazakari no Kimitachi ...

* White Team Captain:

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999 ...

) * Mediator:

Yumiko Udō is a Japanese journalist, television reporter, television personality, and former NHK Announcer. Early years Udo was born in Ijūin Town (now Hioki City), Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. At an early age she moved to Osaka, where she grew up. F ...

Live Comments

*Announcer NHK Radio 1: Minori Aoi, Naoko Hashimoto *Kōhaku Ura Talk: Terry Ito, Kouji Komatsu *Overseas Relay: Yuka Kubota (

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

)

Judges

Haruka Ayase is a Japanese actress, model and singer who started her career as a gravure idol in 2000. She has since become a leading actress in television and film. Life and career Early life and education Haruka Ayase was born as Aya Tademaru on March ...

(actress), played

Niijima Yae , also known as , was a Japanese female warrior, educator, nurse, and scholar of the late Edo period who lived into the early Shōwa period. Her samurai family belonged to the Hoshina clan, loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate. Skilled in gunnery, ...

Taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruce ...

Yae no Sakura is a 2013 Japanese historical drama television series and the 52nd NHK taiga drama. Written by Mutsumi Yamamoto, the drama focuses on Niijima Yae, who is portrayed by Haruka Ayase. Yae is a strong believer in women's rights and the story follow ...

* Naoki Ogi (

Hosei University is a private university based in Tokyo, Japan. The university originated in a school of law, Tōkyō Hōgakusha (, i.e. Tokyo association of law), established in 1880, and the following year renamed Tōkyō Hōgakkō (, i.e. Tokyo school of law ...

professor) *

Homare Sawa is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward or a midfielder. Regarded by many as one of the greatest female footballers of all time and the greatest Asian female footballer of all time, Sawa had a professional club care ...

(football player), won

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representativ ...

Nakamura Kankurō VI is a Japanese kabuki and film and television actor. Born , he is the eldest son of actor Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII and the older brother of Nakamura Shichinosuke II. He is a well-known '' tachiyaku'' actor (kabuki actor who plays male roles) just ...

(

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

actor), received the 6th generation Nakamura Kankurō name *

Kirin Kiki (15 January 1943 – 15 September 2018) was a Japanese actress for Japanese cinema and television. Biography Kiki was born on January 15, 1943, in Kanda, Tokyo. Her father was a master of the ''biwa'' lute and a former police officer. Her moth ...

(actress), won the Special Grand Prix of the jury at

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Internat ...

Katsura Bunshi VI , known by his stage name , is a Japanese TV presenter and rakugo artist. His former stage name was . Sanshi received this name from his ''shishô'' (master) and one of the celebrated postwar Kamigata Rakugo greats, . Sanshi's "san" came from ...

( Rakugoka), received the 6th generation Katsura Bunshi name *

Saori Yoshida is a Japanese former freestyle wrestler. Starting in 1998 she won almost every major competition, including three Olympic Games, four Asian Games, and 13 world championships, and became the most decorated athlete in freestyle wrestling history. ...

(freestyle wrestler), gold medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, was awarded the

People's Honour Award is one of the commendations bestowed by the Prime Minister of Japan on people in recognition of their accomplishments in sport, entertainment, and other fields. The award, not restricted to Japanese nationals, was created in 1977 by the then-Prime ...

Ryosuke Irie is a Japanese competitive swimmer who competes in backstroke events. He is a Kindai University student in Osaka. He won a silver medal in the 200 metre backstroke and a bronze in the 100 metre backstroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics, along wit ...

(swimmer), silver and bronze medal at the

Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer best known for her work on the soundtracks of anime series, television series, live-action films, video games, and advertisements. She was born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. She has wri ...

(composer), composed the Tōhoku Earthquake Recovery Support Song, "Hana wa Saku" *

Harumafuji Kōhei ), lead=yes, previously known as , is a Mongolian former professional sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 70th ''yokozuna'' from 2012 to 2017, making him the third Mongolian and fifth overall non-Japanese wrestler to attain sumo's highest rank. ...

(sumo wrestler), won the

Honbasho A is an official professional sumo tournament. The number of ''honbasho'' every year has varied along the years; since 1958 there are six tournaments every year. Only ''honbasho'' results matter in determining promotion and relegation for ''riki ...

and was promoted to

Yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

Special Guests

Nobuyuki Tsujii (also known as Nobu Tsujii) is a Japanese pianist and composer. He was born blind due to microphthalmia. Tsujii performs extensively, with a large number of conductors and orchestras, and has received critical acclaims as well as notices for h ...

Pink Martini Pink Martini is an American band that was founded in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale in Portland, Oregon. Group members call it a little orchestra that crosses several styles, such as classical, latin, traditional pop, and jazz. The co-lead vo ...

Kyoji Yamamoto is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who is the leader of the hard rock/ heavy metal bands Bow Wow (known as Vow Wow for a period of time) and Wild Flag. He is known for his skillful guitar playing, with former bandma ...

* Masaaki Hirao

Korean performances non-existent

The 63rd event is faced with controversy over the non-existence of acts from

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

In one source, it is suspected that government-funded NHK avoided inviting Korean acts because of the territorial disputes over

Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, also known by their Korean name of Dokdo or their Japanese name of Takeshima,; ; . form a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The Liancourt Rocks comprise two ...

between the South Korean and Japanese governments. Sports Chosun reported on a statement made by an NHK representative. "The fact that President

Lee Myung Bak Lee Myung-bak (; ; ; born 19 December 1941) is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the 10th president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and the ma ...

has demanded an apology is a great factor. After this incident occurred, there have been more and more hallyu stars who have stated that 'Dokdo is ours.' Considering this, viewers might have ill feelings about the K-pop stars appearing," said the NHK representative.일본 언론 보도, '홍백가합전'에 K팝 가수들 못 나온다?
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:63rd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen events 2012 in Japanese music 2012 in Japanese television