Mino Monta (61) has been named as one of the emcee’s for this year’s Kohaku Uta Gassen. The song spectacle has been an institution on NHK every New Year’s Eve for generations but has seen declining viewer ratings in recent years. The network obviously hopes the man known as “Mister TV” and the King of the Ratings will help reverse the trend. He currently has a total of eight regular weekly shows, three of them live. For Kohaku, he will be accompanied by NHK announcer Yamane Motoyo (57), who is very popular with middle-aged men.
• TV Asahi announcer Takeuchi Emi (28) is seriously involved with a company president, according to the latest issue of weekly magazine Friday. She managed to duck out of a press conference for an upcoming variety show as soon as her romance with Nojiri Yoshitaka (33), president of wedding organizer Take and Give – Needs, was mentioned by a reporter. In 2001, Nojiri became the youngest ever president to take his company onto the Nasdaq Japan stock market.