is a Japanese weekly music show produced by

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

, airing on Tuesday night from April 12, 2016. The show replaces ''NHK Kayou Concert'' and ''Music Japan''.

Description

''Utacon'' presents a range of music artists from

Enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than '' ryūkōka'' music, ...

and

J-Pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the ...

NHK Hall The NHK Hall is a concert hall located at the NHK Broadcasting Center, the main headquarters of Japan's public broadcaster NHK. The hall is the main venue for the NHK Symphony Orchestra, but it has also played host to other events, such as the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

every week, to continue in the spirit of ''NHK Kayou Concert'' (which ended on March 15, 2016) as well ''Music Japan'' (which ended on April 4, 2016, at 01:30 JST). It also airs worldwide, through

NHK World Premium NHK World Premium is a TV news and entertainment broadcasting service offered by NHK World-Japan, the international arm of Japan's public broadcaster NHK. The service is aimed towards overseas Japanese and the overseas market, similar to worldw ...

at 10:57 UTC, broadcast at the same time as the show's appearance on NHK-G). To target all audiences, including traditional 60's-70's music (which was the viewing target of the now-defunct "Kayou Concert") NHK aims at the so-called "rejuvenation" of the performers, singers and music, together with the "

popular song" and "

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the ...

" styles. The program aims to become the "center of the Japanese music scene". Utacon also incorporates a relay from around Japan, making the music show a unique live experience. As was the case with "NHK Kayou Concert", the program is usually performed in front of a live audience at NHK Hall in

, but on last week each month it is performed live from

NHK Osaka Hall NHK Hall is a part of the NHK Osaka, located in Otemae, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. Its address is 4-1-20, Chūō-ku, Osaka, 540-8501. This facility has a 1,417-seat capacity. See also *NHK Hall The NHK Hall is a concert hall located at the ...

. The program is typically 45 minutes in length, but the premiere episode was 73 minutes long, and featured

Ikimonogakari The romanization of the group's name does not have the hyphen according to Sony's websites for their albums. is a Japanese pop rock duo from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan consisting of Yoshiki Mizuno and Kiyoe Yoshioka. The group started in Februa ...

Tatsuya Ishii , also known as Tatuya Ishii (born September 22, 1959) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, artist, and industrial designer from Ibaraki Prefecture. Biography In 1985, he debuted as vocalist in the band . In 1992, their single won the Japanese r ...

Sayuri Ishikawa is a Japanese enka singer who made her professional debut in 1973. With a career nearing five decades, she is one of the most-recognized and successful enka singers in history. Ishikawa is a popular contestant on the annual NHK ''Kōhaku Uta Ga ...

Yukino Ichikawa Yukino (written: , , or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese announcer *, Japanese actress *, Japanese idol and singer *, Japanese table tennis player *, Japane ...

Midori Oka Midori (みどり, ミドリ, , , ) is the Japanese word for "green" and may refer to: Places * Midori, Gunma * Midori-ku, Chiba * Midori-ku, Nagoya * Midori-ku, Sagamihara * Midori-ku, Saitama * Midori-ku, Yokohama People Given name * Mi ...

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

, Chris Hart, Saburo Kitajima,

Ayaka Hirakawa , known simply as Ayaka, is a female Japanese singer, songwriter and record producer formerly signed to Warner Music Japan. Born in Osaka, she moved to Tokyo to pursue a singing career. She married actor Hiro Mizushima on February 22, 2009. ...

Fuyumi Sakamoto is a Japanese female enka singer under EMI Music Japan. Career Having won a singing contest in early 1986, and after receiving about 11 months of vocal training, Sakamoto debuted as an enka recording singer with the single "Abare Daiko" in March ...

Akira Fuse is a Japanese singer and actor. He debuted in 1965 with the single . Career His greatest hits are and . He currently makes consistent appearances on television, performs occasional seasonal tours, hosts a late night talk show, and is involve ...

Keisuke Yamauchi Keisuke (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese general *, Japanese mixed martial artist *, Japanese footballer * ...

Il Divo Il Divo (; ) are a multi-national classical crossover vocal group. The male quartet, which originated in the United Kingdom in December 2003, consists of tenors Urs Bühler, David Miller, and Sébastien Izambard. It also included baritone ...

and Sumire. From its premiere until March 2019, the show aired at 19:30 JST. Starting from April 2019, the show airs every tuesday at 19:57 JST, with variety show "Sarameshi" preceding ''Utacon''. In March 2020, the show started to be produced without a public audience, in order to avoid the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

, with artists performing in remote locations. On March 9, 2021, the program debuted its new graphics and visual identity, and also started to be broadcast directly from

Tokyo International Forum The is a multi-purpose exhibition center in Tokyo, Japan. The complex is generally considered to be in the Yūrakuchō business district, being adjacent to Yūrakuchō Station, but it is administratively in the Marunouchi district. Tokyo I ...

, as NHK Hall was temporarily closed for renovations. To mark the beginning of the new phase of the show, a special program was broadcast live from the new venue, with performances by Masashi Sada, Shizuka Kudo, Kiyoshi Hikawa, Miyuki Nakajima, Yuki Kashiwagi, Naotaro Moriyama and Yuta Orisaka, in addition to a memorial commemorating 10 years since the

Great East Japan Earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

. On July 5, 2022, the show returned to NHK Hall.

Staff

;Presenters *Shōsuke Tanihara *Naoko Hashimoto *Tomoko Kogō *Chieko Katayama *

Nonoka Akaki is a Japanese female announcer and newscaster for NHK. Early years Born and raised in Okayama, Japan, Akaki graduated from Keio University. During college, she won the Runner Up title in the Yukata Beauty Contest, Tokyo's local beauty pagean ...

;Production Company *NHK Enterprises ;Live Orchestra *music concerto {{small, (Conductor: Takahiro Kaneko) NHK original programming 2016 Japanese television series debuts Japanese music television series