With Kohaku Uta Gassen only weeks away, NHK is expected to soon announce this year's celebrity hosts. Research firm Oricon took a look at who the public are hoping for, surveying 1,200 men and women over the internet.

In the male category, SMAP's Masahiro Nakai was the most popular choice. Nakai has been a Kohaku host four times already, including the last two years. He was also the top answer in last year's survey.

The other popular answers were Tamori, Sanma Akashiya, Tsurube Shofukutei (who hosted last year), Shinsuke Shimada, Masaharu Fukuyama, Takuya Kimura, Minomonta, Shosuke Tanihara, and SMAP as a group.

For female celebrities, young actress Aoi Miyazaki was voted #1, showing a boost in popularity after she starred in the taiga drama "Atsuhime." She bumped the previous survey favorite Yukie Nakama, who hosted Kohaku in 2005 and 2006, to second place.

The rest of the list for females were Akiko Wada, Masami Hisamoto, Becky, Norika Fujiwara, Junko Kubo, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Harumi Edo, and Aya Ueto.