<figure id="attachment_414838" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-414838" style="width: 2185px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d9c9adf4"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/02/e4180e3e2e5d05ed0539c0b491cd97b2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-414838" class="wp-caption-text">JIN rushes to member J-HOPE&#8217;s discharge from the military in October &#8217;24.</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Guessing &#8220;BTS&#8221; to restart: &#8230;&#8230;</span></h3>
<p> NHK aired the complete version of &#8220;Venue101 Presents JIN SPECIAL,&#8221; a special program featuring JIN (32), a member of the globally popular seven-member Korean dance and vocal group &#8220;BTS,&#8221; on February 15 on General TV.</p>
<p> Venue101&#8243; is a special program on the theme of &#8220;Saturday at 23:00, a live performance is born. The program is a weekly music program that delivers high-energy live performances produced by artists from NHK&#8217;s 101 studios under the theme &#8220;Saturday 23:00, Live is Born. The program is a &#8220;complete version&#8221; of the December 7 broadcast plus 10 minutes of unaired material, including three rare performances of songs from JIN&#8217;s first solo album released on November 15 last year. In addition, JIN answered questions from fans in advance, and the 40-minute program was a great opportunity to enjoy his charms.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> All the members of BTS will finish their military service this year and will restart as a group,&#8221; said JIN. Last year&#8217;s New Year&#8217;s Eve &#8220;Kohaku Uta Gassen&#8221; was a great success with the first appearance of &#8220;B&#8217;z&#8221; as the main attraction, and we are aiming at the re-starting BTS as the first candidate for this year&#8217;s main attraction. For this reason, they have been working from the early stage and have decided to broadcast a special program of JIN, who started his career as a solo artist.</span></p>
<p> (A music industry insider) &#8220;At last year&#8217;s Kohaku, the discovery of HYBE, a major Korean music company to which BTS belongs, was also made.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> As of last year, the most popular artist under HYBE in Japan was NewJeans (now NJZ), but there was an uproar when the producer Min Hee Jin (46), who is said to be the &#8220;creator&#8221; of the group, was dismissed from HYBE. The members supported Mr. Min. The members supported Mr. Min, and NewJeans did not participate in Kohaku two years in a row, as they did in 2011.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> On the other hand, LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT, which are already popular in Japan under the umbrella of HYBE, and TOMORROW X TOGETHER, which is now on the market, participated in the competition, thus strengthening the relationship with HYBE.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" In the past, they were almost unofficially selected for Kohaku."></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">Is BTS actually highly motivated?</span></h3>
<p> To begin with, BTS had almost been offered a place in Kohaku once in 2006. However, in November of the same year, the members were found to have made a series of &#8220;blunders. The BTS members were forced to cancel their appearances on Japanese music programs at the end of the year.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> First, JIMIN (29) had been wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a mushroom cloud rising after the atomic bombing and a picture of South Koreans cheering for the atomic bombing, which was ridiculed by the Internet. The BTS apologized, saying that &#8220;wearing T-shirts with the image of the atomic bomb was misleading. At this point, &#8220;Music Station&#8221; (TV Asahi) and other Japanese TV programs withdrew or cancelled their invitation to BTS to perform. This included NHK&#8217;s Kohaku.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Around the same time, RM (30) was discovered to have worn a hat with SS insignia, posed at a Holocaust memorial, and used Nazi-inspired costumes and flags in his performances. The Jewish organization &#8220;Simon Wiesenthal Center&#8221; issued a statement of condemnation on its official website. BTS later apologized to the organization.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> At the time, BTS was in the midst of its global expansion.&#8217; In October 2006, they became the youngest group ever to be awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by the South Korean government, and as the members began to attract attention, their past careless behavior seemed to have become more noticeable. They ended up paying an excessively high &#8220;fame tax.</span></p>
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<p> However, the fact that this happened is said to have helped NHK realize its &#8220;long-cherished wish.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In fact, it was a humiliation for the members that they were not selected for NHK&#8217;s Kohaku in 2006. Even though they boast of their global popularity, they must be highly motivated by the fact that appearing on the Kohaku, Japan&#8217;s national music program with a large number of fans, is their &#8220;revenge&#8221; for the loss seven years ago.</span></p>
<p> It is likely that the members who started as solo performers will appear on NHK&#8217;s music programs one after another in preparation for the year-end &#8220;real&#8221; show.</p>


 afro

 NHK will broadcast a special program on JIN of BTS on February 15. NHK has long hoped to make BTS the centerpiece of this year's Kohaku, as they had three groups from the same agency participate in last year's Kohaku, but it seems that BTS is not so complacent. ......

NHK’s secret plan to carry “BTS” to the Kohaku Uta Gassen at any cost

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