Some of the acts set to perform for the first time in the 72nd "Kohaku Uta Gassen" singing contest are seen in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Nov. 19, 2021. (Mainichi/Kota Yoshida)

       Actress Mone Kamishiraishi is seen in the city of Machida, Tokyo, on Dec. 7, 2019. (Mainichi/Tatsuro Tamaki)

       Musician Tomoyasu Hotei plays the guitar at the National Stadium on Aug. 24, 2021. (Mainichi/Toshiki Miyama)

       TOKYO -- The 43 acts set to perform in the 72nd "Kohaku Uta Gassen" (Red and white song battle), an annual music show broadcast on New Year's Eve, were announced by public broadcaster NHK on Nov. 19, with a handful of newcomers among their ranks.

       Four groups will make their first appearance on the show for the red team, and six will do so for the white team. They include actress Mone Kamishiraishi, 23, who is playing the heroine in the current NHK morning drama series "Come Come Everybody," and the four-member boy band DISH//, whose vocalist and guitarist Takumi Kitamura, 24, is also active as an actor. Kamishiraishi and DISH// will join the red and white teams, respectively.

       Punk band BiSH, consisting of six female members who don't play instruments, and musician Tomoyasu Hotei, 59, who is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his debut, will also perform in the show for the first time.

       Instead of being staged at NHK Hall, which is undergoing renovation work, the show will be held at the Tokyo International Forum in the capital's Chiyoda Ward this year with an audience.

       The show's hosts were previously referred to with different names depending on whether they served the red team, the white team or took a general position, but this year the neutral term "shikai" (presenter) will be used to refer to each of them.

       (Japanese original by Mizuki Osawa, Cultural News Department)

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