Japanese Idol Singer Risako Sugaya x Up To Boy

14 year old Risako Sugaya (菅谷梨沙子) is the youngest member of the hugely popular j-pop Hello!Project idol unit Berryz Kobo (Berryz工房). Affectionately called “Rishako” (りしゃこ) by her fans, the fair skinned Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture native (about an hour south of Tokyo) already has 3 photobooks under her belt.

Buono

Here’s a little something that’ll surely snap you out of your food coma from lunch. I’ve got a couple teaser shots from Up To Boy on this recently formed Hello!Project unit. Buono (ボーノ) consists of Momoko Tsugunaga (嗣永桃子) and Miyabi Natsuyaki (夏焼雅) of Berryz Kobo and Airi Suzuki (鈴木愛理) from C-ute, another Hello!Project unit that has enjoyed success since they made their major debut last year.

Hello!Project members Momoko Tsugunaga (R) 嗣永桃子, Miyabi Natsuyaki 夏焼雅 (C) and Airi Suzuki 鈴木愛理 (L) make up Buono

2007 Kohaku Year-End Extravaganza

The LINEUPS for the 58th annual NHK Kohaku Utagassen show have been announced. “Kohaku” airs every year on New Year’s Eve from about 7pm til right before midnight. It is probably the most watched TV program in Japan and it is a deeply rooted Japanese family tradition to gather around and watch the show.

Kohaku is a singing competition between popular male (white) and female (red) performers. You can think of it as a Japanese all-star battle. The music ranges anywhere from the latest pop to traditional enka (similar to country western here in the States). It is an extreme honor to be invited on the roster and the performers often consider their appearance on the show as their way of paying respect to their parents.

According to the announcement it looks like the popular all-girl group Morning Musume and other members (including Berryz Kobo and C-ute) from the same production company will be opening the show for the red team this year. And the ever popular enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa and her beautiful voice will be in charge of the finale.

Many of the well known performers will be present this year. The red team includes mihimaru GT, Angela Aki, AKB48, Ayaka, BoA, Ayaka Hirahara, Ai Otsuka, Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda, aiko, Mika Nakashima, Yo Hitoto, Dreams Come True and Akiko Wada. Even Shoko Nakagawa (aka Shoko-tan) and sexy import pin-up model Leah Dizon will be there!

Some of the artists on the white team you might’ve heard of are the always eccentric Kenichi Mikawa, w-inds, soulful EXILE, WaT, Kome Kome Club, Porno Graffitti, Sukima Switch, Masashi Sada, the mysterious Gackt, TOKIO, the “price of enka” Kiyoshi Hikawa, Hideaki Tokunaga, Ken Hirai, Kobukuro and the ever popular and ageless super unit SMAP.

I hope you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of this festive show, either on the tube or YouTube.