56th Annual NHK Kouhaku Uta Gessen (2005)

The competition is held in NHK Hall and is a live performance in front of both a massive live audience and national live TV. (And in this regard it is noteworthy to mention that these performances are not lip-synced.)

NHK Hall

Every year different Team Captains are chosen and being selected is considered quite an honor. This year the captain for the men's White (Haku) team is Minomonta and for the ladies' Red (Kouku) team, the captain is Nakama Yukie. Assisting on the White Team is Yamamoto Koji.

Team Captains
Red Team Captain: Nakama Yukie / 仲間由紀恵 (You may recognize her as Sadako in Ringu 0!!)	White Team Captain: Minomonta / みのもんた
	White Team Assistant: Yamamoto Koji / 山本耕史

A panel of judges comprised of "prestigious" individuals is invited to sit in the front row and comment upon the performances. This serves primarily as a means of recognition for these people's outstanding performance during the year. Though there are ten judges, I am presenting only the more interesting ones.

The Judges
The entire panel of judges	Sumo champion Kotooshu Katsunori (琴欧州勝紀), a caucasian, Bulgarian-born wrestler.
Astronaut Noguchi Soichi (野口聡一), a space engineer aboard NASA'a 2005 space shuttle flight.	Yamada Youji (山田洋次) film director of over 75 films, many of which are traditional classics.

The heart of this program is the musical performances by the year's top talent. This amounts to the appearance of old classics as well as some of the year's "top hits". The following is a list of performers in the order of their appearance (though sometimes red and white alternate as to who goes first). You'll notice that on some screenshots you can see karaoke-like lyrics. All song lyrics are broadcast like this.

For the sake of time and my sanity, I will not attempt to translate the artists' names nor their song titles. Sorry. :(

The Performers (Note: the format below is: "Artist Name 「song performed」")
RED TEAM	WHITE TEAM
川中美幸　「二輪草」	細川たかし 「北酒場」
鈴木亜美　「Delightful」	北山たけし　「男の出船」
水森かおり　「五能線」	w-inds 「十六夜の月」
坂本冬美　「ふたりの大漁節」	布施明　「少年よ」
松浦亜弥, DEF.DIVA　and モーニング娘。　 「気がつけば好きすぎて♪盛り上がって♪LOVEマシーン！」	コブクロ　「桜」
BoA　「抱きしめる」	氣志團　「One Night Carnival」
長山洋子　「芭蕉布」	ゴスペラーズ　「ひとり」
藤あや子　「むらさき雨情」	森山直太朗　「風花」
倉木麻衣　「Love，Day After Tomorrow」	美川憲一　「愛の讃歌」 (yes, this is really a guy!)
島谷ひとみ　「亜麻色の髪の乙女」	前川清　「夜霧よ今夜も有難う」
平原綾香　「明日」	鳥羽一郎　and 山川豊　「海の匂いのお母さん」
香西かおり　「無言坂」	スキマスイッチ　「全力少年」
伊藤由奈　「ENDLESS STORY」	TOKIO　「明日を目指して!」
大塚愛　「プラネタリウム」	CHEMISTRY　「almost in love」
*** The following two songs commemmorate the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
森山良子　「さとうきび畑」	さだまさし 「広島の空」
倖田來未　「倖田來未 スペシャルバージョン」 (major scandal ensued after Koda suggested she would appear here "bra-less". GASP! Viewership during her performance spiked to its second highest level of the night.)	D-51　「NO MORE CRY」
浜崎あゆみ　「fairyland」	氷川きよし　「面影の都」
ゴリエ　「Pecori Night」 (This wide-jawed behemoth is not really a girl, but a "New Half". Uh huh.)	WaT　「僕のキモチ」
小林幸子 「越後絶唱」	T.M.Revolution　「WHITE BREATH」
一青窈　「ハナミズキ」	グループ魂　「君にジュースを買ってあげる」 (Yes, that is a fat and pasty-white belly you see there. Don't ask.)
aiko　「スター」	山崎まさよし　「One more time, One more chance」
石川さゆり　「天城越え」	ポルノグラフィティ　「ジョバイロ」
AI　「Story」	森進一　「おふくろさん」
夏川りみ　「涙そうそう」	アリス　「アリス プレミアム 2005」
松任谷由実 with Friends Of Love The Earth 「Smile again」	Def Tech　「My Way」
DREAMS COME TRUE　「何度でも～紅白スペシャルバージョン」	五木ひろし　「ふりむけば日本海」
渡辺美里　「My Revolution」	m-flo　and　Akiko Wada　「HEY!」
中島美嘉　「雪の華」	北島三郎　「風雪ながれ旅」
天童よしみ　「川の流れのように」	SMAP 「Triangle」

Traditionally is has been the greatest honor to be the final performer for your team. In the past, this place was reserved for only classic, traditional singers. Due to gradually decreasing viewership over the years, NHK changed this year's format, and thus the popular rock band SMAP here takes this position. Viewership was up significantly this year over the past.

Also appearing here were the following often strange characters:

Also appearing in no particular order...

And then the voting begins...

And the winner is...
	WHITE WINS!!!

Other miscellaneous scenes