68th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen
The was the 68th edition of annual NHK's Kōhaku Uta Gassen, held in December 31, 2017 live from NHK Hall (Tokyo, Japan). It was broadcast in Japan through NHK General Television (TV) and NHK Radio 1 (Radio), and worldwide through NHK World Premium and TV Japan (in US). This year, the conductor of the festival's closing theme "Hotaru no Hikari" will be replaced by Shunichi Tokura, due to the death of Masaaki Hirao on July 21, 2017. Broadcast runs from 19:15 (JST) to 23:45 (JST), with a 5-minute break for the latest  news. This is the 29th Heisei Era edition. White team won this event with 2,237,644 votes, thus making the 37th overall victory from Shirogumi. Broadcast and possible final edition from Heisei. Broadcast time was announced on September 7. This year's theme, "Let's Sing a Dream" (夢を歌おう) remains unchanged until the 70th edition (2019), in support of the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics. The 68th Kouhaku airs on December 31 (Sunday), starting from 19:15 JST and ending at 23:45 JST, with a 5-minute break for the latest news. In Japan, the broadcast takes place through  NHK-G and Radio 1, and worldwide by NHK World Premium and TV Japan. In United States, the show is broadcast through TV Japan, starting around 15:10 (Eastern Time). Viewers outside Japan (except US) can watch Kouhaku on NHK World Premium, starting at 10:15 UTC, the same time as the NHK-G broadcast. This is the 29th and penultimate edition of the program in the Heisei Period, because of the possible abdication of Emperor Akihito, already scheduled for March 31, 2019. The Kouhaku has already undergone a transition of periods. The 39th edition (last of the Showa Period) was held  a week before Hirohito's death, and the 40th edition was the first ever in Heisei. The show will go through a new era transition in 2019, with the 70th edition being the first under a new Japanese imperial era. On November 13, NHK announced their team leaders. Once again, Kasumi Arimura will be the captain from red team, while Kazunari Ninomiya from Arashi will serve as captain from white team for the 6th time (counted with other 5 times while Arashi served as captains). Japanese comedian Teruyoshi Uchimura will be the mediator, thus making the second edition in a  row to not repeat mediator from previous edition. On November 16, the list of program artists was revealed and a press conference announcing the participants took place. The second mediator NHK news anchor Maho Kuwako was also announced. Namie Amuro, who is set to retire September next year, was not confirmed to appear. NHK production manager Ryo Yajima made a statement saying that negotiations for her appearance are still ongoing. On December 19, Amuro was confirmed to appear on Kōhaku as a special guest. On December 7, it was announced that Shunichi Tokura is the new conductor of the closing  theme, "Hotaru no Hikari", replacing Masaaki Hirao, who died in July. The guest judges were revealed on December 20. On December 22, Keisuke Kuwata was announced to appear as a special guest. The song list was revealed on December 23. On December 29, rehearsals from the main event has been started. Namie Amuro and Keisuke Kuwata (Special Acts) will perform before the final acts (Sayuri Ishikawa and Yuzu) prior the announcement of the winning team. This Kouhaku is also notable for being the last Kouhaku of AKB48 Team B member Mayu Watanabe. Personnel. Contestants. Debuting or returning artists are in  bold. Debuting artists. Ten artists are attending for the first time Returning artists. Four artists are returning.