The most recent edition of NHK's New Year's eve song contest, "Kohaku Uta Gassen," received more attention than usual owing to a number of production coups.
The most prominent was Scottish singer Susan Boyle's appearance, her first in Japan. She sang one song, her signature tune "I Dreamed a Dream," and was reportedly paid £35,000 (¥5.2 million), which, according to the tabloids, probably ticked off some veterans since many usually appear on the show for less than their usual fees owing to the "prestige" of the event, not to mention NHK's infamous stinginess. In this light, the tabloids also speculated that rocker Eikichi Yazawa must have received quite a paycheck to make his first-ever appearance on the show, but since the appearance was unannounced it's not as if NHK could milk it beforehand to boost ratings.
The biggest buzz had to do with the fact that talent agency Johnny's Entertainment contributed four acts to the program. Every year since 1988, Johnny's participation in "Kohaku" has never exceeded two acts despite the ubiquity of its charges on the pop charts. Some tabloids conjectured that NHK wanted Arashi, currently the most successful act in Johnny's stable, who had never appeared on the show because they usually host a "countdown concert" on New Years Eve. NHK denied (in this very newspaper, in fact) that it made a deal with Johnny's to secure Arashi's presence, but in any case with four acts (SMAP, TOKIO, Arashi, and newcomers New York City Boys), SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai acting as the show's coemcee and SMAP heartthrob Takuya Kimura lending a dance number to the Michael Jackson tribute, it's easy to understand why the tabloids dubbed the show "Johnny's Kohaku."