<figure id="attachment_408168" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-408168"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c9d619c9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/f5360bdddc6efbad25a0e1a81ba44752.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-408168" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration drawn by Mr. Kanda.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Still lingering over NHK&#8217;s Kohaku Uta Gassen.</h2>
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&#8217;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: &#8220;I want to be an announcer involved in Kohaku! I want to end my year every year at NHK Hall!&#8221; 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&#8217;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&#8217;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&#8217;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, &#8220;I would have been working at NHK Hall by now.&#8221; 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, &#8220;Let’s ask Kanda-san.&#8221; 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.
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Question for Hatsumode"></div>
<h2>Which would you rather take, a trip or a hatsumode?</h2>
My grandfather lived in Kamakura, so until I graduated from university, I would visit Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine for New Year&#8217;s prayers every year. The New Year&#8217;s visit became a tradition, and even after I became a working adult, I would visit a shrine near my home. However, two years ago, when Fuji TV’s &#8220;Pokapoka&#8221; started, I began to have doubts about the tradition of New Year&#8217;s visits itself.
The cause was the deadline for the visit. Generally, in the Kanto area, people go for New Year&#8217;s prayers by January 7th, the end of the &#8220;Matsu no Uchi&#8221; period. When &#8220;Pokapoka&#8221; started, the next long break I could take was during the summer. As a travel enthusiast, this became quite a hardship. So, I decided to travel until two days before the first day of &#8220;Pokapoka,&#8221; and use the day before for grocery shopping and house chores.
That’s when the question arose: “When should I go for New Year’s prayers?” Should I cut one day from my trip to make time for it? (Surely, the gods wouldn’t want to make me feel that sad). Or should I skip the grocery shopping and go for prayers? (No, the gods probably want me to eat a healthy meal). Or should I just skip the New Year’s visit altogether? (Would I be able to have a peaceful year without it?) But, hasn’t going for New Year’s prayers always brought me good things? (Well, come to think of it, both good and bad things happen equally every year). So, maybe it’s okay not to go? (Yeah, that’s right!).
This internal conversation between two parts of myself led me to stop visiting the shrine during the New Year period. Still, in the last two years, I’ve had relatively fulfilling days as usual.
Oh, by the way! I stopped writing New Year’s cards too! I wasn’t sure if it was right to cut my travel plans with my mother just to reply to them. (Wait, wasn’t it actually because I got lazy?). Somehow, I’ve been making excuses and taking the easy way out, but well, I guess that’s okay. Alright, let’s do our best again this year!!
<figure id="attachment_408170" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 3004px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-408170"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-408170 size-full" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/695002d97b11ca3cd791054813aeec37.jpg" alt="" width="3004" height="3734"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-408170" class="wp-caption-text">© Kazuki Shimomura</figcaption></figure>
Aika Kanda was born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Gakushuin University with a degree in mathematics, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003, and left in 2012 to become a freelance announcer. Since then, she has been active mainly in variety shows, and currently appears regularly as the main MC of the daytime TV program &#8220;Poka Poka&#8221; (Fuji Television Network).
Her first book, “<a href="https://amzn.to/4dbWKKN">Where are you going on the road called Royal Road?</a>” is now on sale by popular demand!
From &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; January 24/31, 2025 issue
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 Aika Kanda

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