A series of "knee slides" at the Red and White rehearsal, showing enthusiasm for being the first batter: "Do your best, Leon!"

On December 28th, singer Leon Niihama appeared at the rehearsal for the 76th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, held at the NHK Broadcasting Center in Shibuya, Tokyo. Nihama appeared full of energy performing knee slides, also known as "Knee Sura," and performed them repeatedly in front of the press. "I'm really happy to be able to perform at the coveted Kouhaku Uta Gassen again this year, just like last year. Good luck Leon!" he said enthusiastically.

Shinhama, who will be the first performer for the White Team, looked back on the year and said, "I've done the knee-slapping move over 1,000 times this year, so I felt I had to bring it all together on this amazing stage like Kohaku. We only did it twice in rehearsals, but watching the video now, I feel like there was still room for improvement."

The theme of the 76th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen is "Connecting, Connecting, New Year's Eve," and it will be hosted by Hiroiki Ariyoshi, Haruka Ayase, Mio Imada, and announcer Naoko Suzuki. It will be broadcast from 7:20 pm to 11:45 pm on December 31st (with some news breaks).