The Kohaku song contest: A community in performance

The Kohaku utagassen (The Red White Song Contest) - a eagerly anticipated popular music concert held on New Year's Eve at NHK Hall in Tokyo, is the long-running evening program uniting professional bands and soloists to perform songs of varied subject matter, ranging from culturally specific food to scenic rural landscapes. The contest's song performers are examined as members of an exclusive community in order to identify the reasons for the popularity and prominent cultural status of Kohaku.