NHK announced this year's line-up for its popular New Year's Eve music contest, "Kohaku Uta Gassen" (December 31, 7:20pm-11:45pm). This year, each team has 27 members.

White Team: Masafumi Akikawa, Aqua Timez, Hiroshi Itsuki, w-inds., Orange Range, Saburo Kitajima, Takeshi Kitayama, The Gospellers, Kobukuro, Masashi Sada, SEAMO, Shikao Suga, Sukima Switch, SMAP, DJ OZMA, TOKIO, Hideaki Tokunaga, Ichiro Toba, Kiyoshi Hikawa, Akira Fuse, Takashi Hosokawa, Takao Horiuchi, Porno Graffiti, Kiyoshi Maekawa, Kenichi Mikawa, Shinichi Mori, WaT

Red Team: aiko, Ayaka, Angela Aki, Sayuri Ishikawa, Miki Imai, Ai Otsuka, Miyuki Kawanaka, GAM & Morning Musume, Kaori Kozai, Kumi Koda, Natsuko Godai, Sachiko Kobayashi, Fuyumi Sakamoto, Yoshimi Tendo, Dreams Come True, Mika Nakashima, Yoko Nagayama, Rimi Natsukawa, Ayumi Hamasaki, Ayaka Hirahara, Ayako Fuji, BoA, Bonnie Pink, Kaori Mizumori, mihimaru GT, Masako Mori, Akiko Wada

It was recently revealed that musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and singer/songwriter Akiko Yano divorced this past August by mutual consent. They married in 1982.