Boa Appears On Nhk’s Kouhaku For The Fourth Straight NHK announced Dec. 1 the official list of artists who have been chosen for the 56th Kouhaku, the most prestigious annual music show in Japan. The event features 60 artists and music groups divided into two teams of 30. This year’s list, which contains 16 new names, also includes BoA, who has set a record by appearing in Kouhaku for four straight years. BoA will be on the same team with Nakashima Mika; her team will compete against Japanese music groups SMAP, Chemistry and Winds. Last year, BoA received the Top 10 Artist Award from MBC on the same day she performed on Kouhaku. BoA’s popularity in Japan continued to rise this year. Her album, entitled “Best Of Soul,” recorded sales of one million copies in Japan this year, and her singles “Do The Motion” and “Dakishimeru” broke the top 10 of the Oricon chart. After releasing her latest album, entitled “Girls On Top,” she has appeared on various shows in Korea, and has emerged as a likely candidate for the MBC Top 10 Artist Award of this year as well. She will have her hands full both in Korea and Japan at the end of this year when she makes appearances on various music shows. NHK chooses artists for Kouhaku based on the results of viewer polls and the artists activities throughout the year. Singers K, Younha, Ryoo Shi-won and Park Yong-ha, who were expected to debut in Kouhaku this year, were not included in the list. However, Ryoo will make an appearance on the show as a special guest. NHK’s Kouhaku, the largest music festival in Japan with an average viewership of 50 percent and the highest recorded viewership of 81 percent, will air in Japan Dec. 31 from 7:20 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. Credits: KBS Aznpop Credit: Klonoa
