Freelance Announcer Aika Kanda: “Two Things I Stopped Doing During the Year-End and New Year Period”

Still lingering over NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen.

Happy New Year to FRIDAY readers! Thanks to all of you, I’m able to greet you once again this year. When I first started this column, I was worried about how long I’d be able to keep it going, but thanks to your support, it will soon be two years. I’ll keep doing my best to write this year as well, so please continue to support me.

Now, did you watch the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen on New Year’s Eve? When I was in my third year as an NHK announcer, I witnessed the soulful singing of the performers and the professionalism of the nearly 3,000 staff members working on the show. That experience made me understand the scale and significance of the program.

Since then, my goal became: “I want to be an announcer involved in Kohaku! I want to end my year every year at NHK Hall!” For five years, while working in Tokyo, I continued to spend my work year’s end on the Kohaku set.

Perhaps because of my strong attachment to the program, even after 12 years since leaving NHK, I still can’t watch Kohaku properly. I have no attachment to any other NHK program, but I still feel a deep longing for Kohaku. When I watch it on TV on New Year’s Eve, I end up getting up from my seat thinking, “I don’t want to watch this, I just want to work with the professionals behind the scenes!”

In the past 12 years, the only time I watched Kohaku was in 2014 for one scene. My then-boyfriend (now husband) appeared in a mimicry of Hiroshi Gō’s performance and performed with him on stage. Since he was a big fan of Gō, I recorded it and watched it, but even watching that scene was hard for me.

So, I didn’t watch Kohaku last year either. I went overseas with my mother for a bit of parent-child bonding. But during the countdown overseas, I couldn’t help but think, “I would have been working at NHK Hall by now.” I don’t like myself for feeling this way.

When will I be able to move past this deep sense of longing? It seems like time will heal isn’t going to work. I feel that I need to be involved with Kohaku again in some form, even if it’s in a small way.

I’m not a singer, nor am I a big celebrity who gets offered to be a host. I’ll never be asked to be a judge, no matter what happens. So, the only hope I have is that someone at Kohaku, who happens to have seen my work, will say, “Let’s ask Kanda-san.” That’s the only possibility! For that, I’ll continue to face each job with care and show my hard work. I’ll keep doing that this year, for myself.