Even though enka star Saburo Kitajima announced his retirement from NHK's annual "Kohaku Uta Gassen" music program last year, and U.S. singer Jero has seemingly moved into R&B, don't count enka out of the zeitgeist just yet.
You won't see them at this year's "Kohaku," but Keisuke Yamauchi and Hiroshi Miyama are two young stars that have been able to bring new life to the genre in the past few years.
Known as the ikemen (handsome guy) enka singer, 31-year-old Yamauchi has been successful at cultivating a fan base through meet-and-greet events. According to the Oricon Style music news site, Yamauchi spends nearly 120 days a year on handshake events with his fans — he broadcast one such event live via video-streaming website Nico Nico Douga, and even dabbled in film this year with "Yamauchi Keisuke: The Kayo Movie — Showa Kayo Kiki Ippatsu!" The result? A successful nationwide tour. The sales for his most recent single, "Koi no Tehon" ("Model of Love") managed to nab him ninth place on the weekly Oricon chart, the highest rank he has seen so far.