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Toshio Ishikawa, entertainment reporter, reports on the entertainment industry at &#8230;&#8230;
 NHK&#8217;s Kohaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Singing Contest) continues to reduce the number of singers participating in the event. I was surprised when the host for this year&#8217;s event was announced.
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 This year&#8217;s host for the Kohaku group is actress Kanna Hashimoto. In the past, NHK would have chosen an actress from this year&#8217;s historical drama series or an actress who played a leading role in a morning TV drama series to host the Kohaku group.
 In some cases, the heroine of the next year&#8217;s drama or the main character of the &#8220;morning drama&#8221; was chosen. Last year&#8217;s host was Haruna Kawaguchi, who appeared in the TV novel &#8220;Chimudo-don,&#8221; which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa to Japan.
 In light of this, this year&#8217;s selection also includes Haruna Kawaguchi, who stars in the morning drama &#8220;Soar! This year, Haruna Kawaguchi is again starring in the morning drama &#8220;Soar!
 Haruna Fukuhara, who is also starring in this year&#8217;s morning drama, &#8220;Soar!
 I was surprised that Ms. Hashimoto, who has nothing to do with NHK&#8217;s drama, was chosen. So most of the viewers, fans, and entertainment journalists were also thinking
 &#8220;No way Kanna Hashimoto&#8230;!
 I guess that&#8217;s why most of the viewers, fans, and entertainment journalists were like, &#8220;No way, Kanna Hashimoto!
 Last year, Ms. Kawaguchi not only played the role of &#8220;Chimu-Don,&#8221; but also played the role of the understudy in the historical drama &#8220;Kirin ga Kuru,&#8221; and she also played the role of the understudy in the TV drama &#8220;The Last Airbender&#8221; in &#8217;13 and &#8217;19. Haruka Ayase, who hosted in &#8217;13 and &#8217;19, starred in &#8220;Yae no Sakura&#8221; and &#8220;The Guardian of the Spirit,&#8221; and Fumi Nikaido in &#8217;20 was also the heroine in &#8220;Yale.
 In other words, just in the last three years, actresses who have contributed to NHK have been selected as hosts. That&#8217;s why Ms. Hashimoto, too.
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 When I asked him about it, he said, &#8220;First of all, what? Me? I couldn&#8217;t believe my ears and wondered why me in the first place. I wondered if it might be a dream.
 I wondered if it was a dream.
 Now that the announcement has been made, I feel that I must fulfill the very honorable role of Kohaku host! I will face it with sincerity. I will face the role with sincerity and devote myself to it.
 He is fired up. But he also said something like this.
 I was just filled with surprise. I have been working hard as an actress up until now, and I had no experience as an MC, so I hesitated for a long time whether or not I should accept the job.
 She also expressed her confusion. However, on social networking sites, there were comments such as
 I&#8217;m looking forward to seeing your husky voice as the MC.
 I can&#8217;t take my eyes off of Kanna&#8217;s hosting for even a moment.
 Naturally, there were also many voices of congratulations. She will be joined on stage by NHK&#8217;s signature announcer Maho Kuwako, who will be singing with her seniors, including actor Yo Oizumi and Sho Sakurai of &#8220;Arashi&#8221; fame, with whom she once co-starred in TV dramas.
 Ms. Hashimoto says she was seven years old when she decided that she wanted to be on TV. She joined a production company in her native Fukuoka and participated in numerous auditions. In her elementary school graduation book, she wrote that her dream was to become an actress.
 Fifteen years have passed since then. Her dream has certainly moved forward, as she is now the host of a national year-end TV show.
 For that reason, the fact that Ms. Hashimoto was chosen must be an amazing achievement even within NHK. But Ms. Hashimoto has even been called &#8220;one of a thousand exceptional talents&#8221; since her debut as a local idol.
 Nine years ago, a picture of her dancing at an event held at Hakata Riverain was picked up by &#8220;2channel&#8221; and Twitter at the time, and she quickly spread as a &#8220;local idol who is too cute. This photo was called &#8220;a miracle.
 In light of this, NHK&#8217;s choice of Ms. Hashimoto may have come too late, but the fact that she has a wide range of fans in all age groups suggests that even NHK is determined to get viewer ratings.
 This being the case, it is likely that in the future there will be people who will be assigned major roles as hosts, etc., even if they do not appear on NHK. However, I hope NHK will not forget that there are many elderly people like me who want to listen to enka and songs of the Showa era&#8230;.

 Born in Tokyo in 1946. He has a unique career path from the Shochiku Advertising Department to a reporter for a women's magazine to an entertainment reporter. He has appeared on "The Wide" and "Information Live Miyaneya" (both on Nippon Television Network Corporation), and currently appears regularly on "Mentai Wide" (Fukuoka Broadcasting System), "Su Matan" (Yomiuri TV), and Rainbow Town FM.

 Toshio Ishikawa (Entertainment Reporter)

 Pasya/Afro

 NHK's annual "Kohaku Uta Gassen" is held on New Year's Eve. This year, Kanna Hashimoto, a popular actress of all ages, was chosen to host the Kohaku Uta Gassen. However, it seems that this time she was chosen in a way that defies NHK's usual theories...

Even veteran entertainment reporter was surprised by Kanna Hashimoto’s selection as the host of “Kohaku”.

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