NHK Taps Mana Ashida, Masato Sakai, Kazunari Ninomiya to Host 77th Kohaku
NHK is pairing its Kohaku hosting with VIVANT's returning broadcast cast, and the drama's Nogi and Nokor pairing gives the New Year's show a promotional tie to the summer drama slate.
Reporting from 1 source: KAI-YOU.
NHK announced on Friday, October 9, the hosts of the 77th Kohaku Uta Gassen: Mana Ashida, Masato Sakai, Kazunari Ninomiya, and announcer Nahoko Suzuki. The 2026 theme is "Koe te ikou, uta to tomo ni." Sakai and Ninomiya play sworn brothers in the TBS drama VIVANT, whose sequel airs from July for two consecutive cours. The show airs live December 31, 7:20 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.
The key visual, by designer Kazuki Nishizawa, arranges Ashida, Sakai, and Ninomiya amid fluttering confetti and reads the invisible power of music through "wind." Nishizawa's recent credits include the logos for the NHK morning drama Bakebake and the music program NHK Natsu no Ongakusai Uta de Aetara.
For Ashida, this is a first hosting turn, after appearing on Kohaku as a singer in 2011 and as a guest judge in 2022. Sakai also hosts for the first time. Ninomiya hosted five consecutive years from 2010 to 2014 as a member of Arashi, and returns as an individual host for the first time in nine years, having last done it in 2017. Suzuki hosts for the third year in a row.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.