TV personality Masaaki Sakai, 63, and actress Norika Fujiwara, 38, have been chosen to host TBS's 51st Japan Record Awards on Dec 30.
"My dream is to introduce myself up on stage to perform," said Sakai, who has hosted the show 14 years in a row. He said of his co-host Fujiwara, "She's really tall but very warm and gentle. I'd say she's the mother of the awards show."
Fujiwara, who will be hosting the show for the first time, pledged to give it her all, saying "I hope to learn a lot from standing up there next to a person I really like and respect."
Shinichiro Azumi, 36, Sylvia Kato, 23, and Erina Masuda, 23, will also appear as announcers.
© Japan Today
27 Comments
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longlily79
Is it because she's tall or he's just extra petite?
tokyotom
classy shot of an ol' fav Fujiwara seems to stay above the muck he is a little chibi-chan ain't he?
MrUSA
She's about 5'7"
longlily79
I suppose that's tall for being a Japanese woman. She makes him look terribly small though.
some14some
I can see the shadow of 30mm high tidal wave around Fujiwara's shoes.
LoveUSA
cute couple
Sarge
Norika looks ravishing in that red dress. If ony the dress was more a crimson red...
isthistheend
What a combo. Leave it to JRA. How about having someone like Yu Darvish standing next to her. Now that would be something!
rabblerouser
Fujiwara 38 hot! Asian beauty!!
LoveUSA
oh, there is seldom a man more handsome than Darvish,but Norika is overrated.
stirfry
how'd chibi get picked for the photo ?
Junnama
Norika...still so beautiful!!
RogueFive
Fujiwara has lost it. Anyone seen her in that Friday night med drama? Ugghh what a wreck.
She's had her time. Get off the stage please.
flatearther
I think she looks gorgeous! Wow, 170 cm? That's my height! We should hang out and laugh at short men together. :)
presto345
Sakai isn't that short. Norika isn't that tall. She is wearing those ridiculous thin high heels. She doesn't need to wear those. She is still beautiful, but sometimes I doubt the choices of her stylist.
melonade
what an honour, not..
POTUS
She might want want to spend the time going to an acting class instead.
Sarge
"She might want to spend the time going to an acting class"
I bet she can out-act POTUS.
Madara
I like her. She's hot and beautiful in her own way.
IvanCoughalot
Wow - she looks fantastic, whereas he looks like an evil gnome.
Sarge
Sakai looks pleases as punch to have his arm around Norika's waist.
seggahme
at first i thought, it was NorikO Sakai.
griff
i thought that when i left japan i could leave behind these kinds of out-of-date chauvinistic tv pairings. then i watched strictly come dancing
DickMorris
Nice post Sarge.
mnemosyne23
griff:
That's nothing. Check out Univision if you're ever in the States. It's Spanish-language television, and the pairings are disgustingly chauvinistic. Usually there's a gorgeous, modelesque, twenty-something female co-host in an evening gown and heels, paired up with a short, dumpy, greasy guy in his forties or older. It's a source of endless amusement to me.
seggahme:
I'm glad I wasn't the only one! I saw "Sakai" in the headline and nearly fell out of my chair. I had this image of Noriko trying to co-host with the COMEDY group Fujiwara while they made endless puns at her expense. I'd feel sorry for Sakai-chan, but Fujiwara are one of the few Japanese comedy teams that I actually find funny (me and my darn Western funny bone), so I'd have checked it out anyway.
Imagine my disappointment when I saw that they meant MASAAKI Sakai and NORIKA Fujiwara. Tossed all my little hypotheses right out the window!
thedbc
Norika is so beautiful!