Taiwanese K-pop star Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) is to perform in a New Year’s Eve music show produced by Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK), organizers said on Thursday.
Chou, a member of South Korean girl group Twice, would be the first Taiwanese in 19 years to perform in the annual program, Year-end Song Festival, after singer and actress Vivian Hsu’s (徐若瑄) appearance in 1998.
Chou gained fame in Taiwan after she was forced to issue an apology for waving a Republic of China flag on a South Korean TV show in late 2015.
Only acts deemed as the most successful are invited to perform on the program. This year, 46 singers and groups scheduled to perform on Dec. 31 are to be divided evenly into two competing groups: red and white.
The audience and a panel of judges are to select the winning team through a vote, the program’s Web site said.
Twice is to be on the red team, which is also to include program newcomers Shishamo, Little Glee Monster and Midori Hill, it added.
The white team is to include performers such as Elephant Kashimashi, Pistol Takehara, Tortoise Matsumoto, Hey! Say! Jump, Daichi Miura and Wanima, the Web site said.
Organized by South Korea’s JYP Entertainment in 2015, Twice is an all-female group consisting of Chou, five South Koreans and three Japanese.
Their compilation album #Twice has been certified platinum, with more than 250,000 copies sold in Japan alone since its release in August.
The year-end program is to be held on Dec. 31 from 7:15pm to 11:45pm in front of an audience at NHK Hall in Tokyo and be broadcast live on TV in Japan and overseas through NHK, as well as some international cable broadcasters.
It is believed to be one of the most-watched shows on Japanese TV and is the top-rated musical event in Japan.
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