Lady Gaga to Join New Year's Eve Show in Japan

TOKYO -- Lady Gaga has announced she will appear on Japanese national broadcaster NHK's four-hour plus year-end music extravaganza special called Kohaku Uta Gassen, or the Red and White Singing Contest.

Kohaku is broadcast every year in Japan from 7:15pm to 11:45pm on Dec. 31.

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The show is considered one of the leading musical platforms in the country and garnered an average 37.4 percent viewership last year according to Japan's ratings tracker Video Research. This will be the 62nd edition of Kohaku Uta Gassen, which rounds up the most popular Japanese domestic musical acts every year for a good-natured New Year's Eve singing contest in which the women (red) compete against the men (white).

There is usually one international artist selected to perform every year but this time no one had been chosen until now.

Lady Gaga is currently in Japan for an appearance on Friday Dec. 23 on the leading weekly music show Music Station, which has an average viewership of 13.7 percent according to Video Research. In face-to-face meetings NHK was able to convince the quirky superstar to appear on Kohaku though she will have returned to the US. Gaga will appear live from New York City. The performance would take place mid-morning New York time to coincide with the broadcast time in Japan.

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Gaga is also slated to appear on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve and will perform live in New York City's Times Square.

Lady Gaga has been a strong supporter of Japan since the triple disasters in March of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. She was one of the few stars that di! d not ca ncel her live concerts in the country in the months after the nuclear crisis. Gaga also issued "We Pray for Japan" bracelets with all the money going to disaster victims.

Lady Gaga was quoted by NHK as saying that she was honored to be chosen to perform on Kohaku. She noted she would prepare a musical stage show instead of a simple live performance.

Kohaku is always shot live for the performers in Japan and the show encourages international performers, even when overseas, to perform live.

Both Kohaku Uta Gassen and Music Station placed in the Top 10 of the most important musical platforms in Japan in Billboard's Maximum Exposure - Japan.