A fter more than a decade of slipping popularity, NHK's "Kohaku Uta Gassen" ("Red and White Song Contest") roared back to relevancy last New Year's Eve with impressive ratings.

Though the show has never relinquished its position as Japan's most important pop-music event of the year, since the early 1990s it has had trouble attracting younger people, whose tastes have drifted away from the industry-sanctioned songs the program champions, not to mention general viewers who were tired of the same old faces year after year.

And while NHK as a public broadcaster is not supposed to worry about "audience share," the drop in such was seen as a blow to its pride. Since it is considered an honor to perform on the show, the criteria for selection are deemed to be subjective, determined by some vague notions of quality and probity. That doesn't seem to be the case any more. Almost anyone who had a hit song last year was invited, regardless of genre or public image.