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The story
Comedian Ito Asako shared her thoughts on the November 13 Kohaku Uta Gassen lineup announcement during a radio appearance. While she was thrilled that Watanabe Misato and EBiDAN made the cut, she reportedly slumped when bringing up one snubbed artist, asking, “Wasn’t that super popular?” On 5ch, discussion turned to just how popular Hello! Project’s Juice=Juice — the group in question — actually was, with users trading arguments for and against while citing Spotify streaming data.
November 14, 2026, 5:48 PM
Comedian Ito Asako appeared on Bunka Housou’s radio show “Radio no Asako” on the 14th, where she brought up the artists selected for the Kohaku Uta Gassen.
During the ending talk segment that day, Ito touched on the lineup for the year-end Kohaku Uta Gassen announced on the 13th, saying cheerfully: “Misato (Watanabe) is confirmed — I’m so happy. And EBiDAN too, since I’ve been dancing to ‘Yes! Tokyo’ with my little sister and niece forever.”
Source: news.livedoor.com / original article here
What people said
Bet Iwasaki Hiromi shows up for sure — pops out from behind Inaba between the first and second verse, with Inaba doing that fake "Wait, what?!" face. Looking forward to it.
Iwasaki Yoshimi's "Touch" could probably be swapped out for AI lol
No seriously, kids are totally obsessed with it right now.
You live in a cave or something?
In Hello! Project circles, obviously.
They'd hold their own against Kurakura or Burabare any day.
Who exactly do you mean by "penetrated public awareness"?
[Spotify Monthly Listeners]
1,150,439 =LOVE 🈴🎊
*,988,140 AKB48 🈴🎊
*,870,803 CUTIE STREET 🈴🎊
*,761,567 FRUITS ZIPPER 🈴🎊
*,658,833 Nogizaka46 🈴🎊
━━━🔴 The Kohaku Wall ⚪━━━
*,532,860 CANDY TUNE
*,497,017 Momoiro Clover Z
*,476,719 iLiFE!
*,410,026 Morning Musume.
*,379,965 Chotokimeki Sendenbu
*,324,672 ME:I
*,287,594 ≠ME
*,286,077 Sakurazaka46
*,274,063 Juice=Juice 🧃🕸
In terms of name recognition they're no different from =LOVE — what are you even talking about?
K-pop is completely dead now, huh.
Selling out the Budokan is plenty — I doubt even half the Kohaku lineup could pull that off.
The idols who made it into Kohaku are near the top, yeah.
The guys' side still has some variety, but the girls' side is seriously lacking. If a different flavor act broke through — a girl band or a proper diva-type singer instead of the usual dancing-idol slot — they'd probably land a Kohaku spot right away.
These guys have actually been around a long time. Back when people said the Japan Record Award's New Artist Award could be bought with money, there were a bunch of Hello! Project idol groups nominated for it, and this group was one of them. Feels like a "first heard of them because of the Record Awards" kind of act. Outside of Morning Musume, Hello! Project just doesn't have much presence.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Every year, the Kohaku Uta Gassen lineup announcement tends to expose a gap in awareness between fans and general viewers — “I’ve never even heard of this genre.” This time, the group at the center of the discussion, Juice=Juice, is an idol group under Hello! Project. While they’ve built solid support in terms of live-show attendance and streaming numbers, how much they’ve actually broken into TV appearances and general public awareness is harder to gauge compared to the other selected acts. The Spotify monthly-listener ranking cited in the thread is ultimately just one metric on one streaming platform, and it doesn’t necessarily line up with exposure on music TV shows or with Kohaku’s own selection criteria (such as topicality or balancing generations). That’s what made this a case of differing yardsticks — whether “popularity” is measured by the feeling within a fanbase, or by how deeply it’s penetrated society at large — and that gap is what drove the back-and-forth.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Ito Asako voices some dissatisfaction with the Kohaku singer selection: “Wasn’t that super popular?” — disheartened over the snubbed artist.”
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