On November 27th, a huge concert featuring Johnny's Jr. members and trainees – "Nenmatsu Young Touzai Uta Gassen! Touzai Jr. Senbatsudaishugo 2010!" – was held at the NHK Hall. The concert was held in the format of a singing battle between the "A.B.C-Z + Johnny’s Jr. Senbatsu" (East) team and the "Nakayama Yuma + Kansai Johnny's Jr. Senbatsu" (West) team.
A.B.C-Z members acted as hosts, and a total of 250 Jr.'s performed on the stage; there were 4 stages in all (once on the 26th, and three times on the 27th), which pulled in approximately 14,400 fans.
For the 27th’s afternoon concert, KAT-TUN's Kamenashi Kazuya and NEWS' Yamashita Tomohisa showed up as "Shuji to Akira" (a special temporary unit) and performed "Seishun Amigo" together. NYC also appeared as a guest, but one of the more exciting factors was that a new group was introduced for the first time! Named "Ja(PA)Nese(HI)! (ジャＰＡニーズＨＩ！)", the group consists of 52 members who were chosen amongst the trainees by audition.
On New Year's Eve, the concert from the night of the 27th will be broadcasted as "Toshiwasure! Johnny's Touzai Uta Gassen" on TV Asahi (15:30-16:45 PM).
Additionally, the president of JE, Johnny Kitagawa, stated that he was aware of NHK's "Kohaku", and that he always wanted to make a "Young Kohaku" since it's difficult for young artists to be invited to the awards show. He also said that he is planning to make it an annual event like "Kohaku".
Source: Tokyohive
On Saturday, approximately 250 members of Johnny's Jimusho participated in a concert event at NHK Hall in Tokyo. Titled "Nenmatsu Young Tozai Uta Gassen," three separate performances were held that day, revolving around an "East vs. West" battle between the Johnny's Jr. and Kansai Johnny's Jr. groups. A.B.C.-Z led the East team, while Yuma Nakayama (16) led the Kansai side. The program featured more than 20 songs, including a special medley of hits by popular Johnny's Jimusho artists.
During the medley, the Jrs. were joined on stage by several special guests: Tackey & Tsubasa (for Shonentai's "Kamen Butoukai"), Kazuya Kamenashi (for Masahiko Kondo's "Sneaker Blues"), Tomohisa Yamashita (for SMAP's "Shake"), and NYC (for Arashi's "A-RA-SHI"). Kamenashi and Yamashita (as Shuji to Akira) also performed their song "Seishun Amigo."
One of the highlights was when all 250 attending performers sang Masahiko Kondo's "Midnight Shuffle." Another was the introduction of a new Johnny's Jr. group called "Japanese HI!," written as ジャPAニーズ HI! Some news sources, such as Oricon, report the group's name as simply ジャPAニーズ. Oricon also notes that the group consists of 52 Johnny's Jr. trainees.
The last of the three concerts on Friday will be broadcast by TV Asahi as a special program on New Year's Eve at 3:30pm.
Credit: Tokyograph
