Open Nippon
Open Nippon (or Open Nippon Song Competition) is a song competition organised by NHK (Japanese public broadcasters) every six months. It determines the country's representative for the WorldVision Song Contest, and has been running since summer 2022.
| Open Nippon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | National song contest |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Number of seasons | 1 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NHK |
| Original release | 10 June 2022 – present |
Origins
The first "Open Nippon" was held on 10 June 2022 at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo. Six songs participated. Six "expert" juries from ather countries and the puplic (in the proportion of 75% to 25%) decided the winner. The competition was won by Nao Aihara performing "Lighthouse".
Participation
To be eligible, performers must be at least sixteen years of age on the day of the first Worldvision semi-final. 6 entries are invited to the competition, of which at least four must be submitted by performers from Japan. Both solo performers and duets, musical groups are allowed to participate. At least half of the entries must be in Japanese.
Hosting
As planned by the organizers, the song contest should be held in different cities of the country from season to season. So the first season was decided to be held in Tokyo, which will not be able to host the selection of the next season.
Format
It is planned that the competition will be held in one round (final) when only six songs will take part.
Voting
The six members of the jury (75% of all votes) and the puplic (25% of all votes) will take part in the voting. Each of the six members of the jury will have a set of points: 10, 7, 5, 3, 2 and 1 point. The results of the public vote were translated into a system of points: 20, 14, 10, 3, 2 and 1 point.
Winners
| Season | Host city | Winner | Language(s) | Place at Worldvision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4-2022 | Tokyo | Nao Aihara - Lighthouse | Japanese, English | 10th place |
| Q1-2023 | Okinawa | TBA 4 January 2023 | ||
Criticism and controversy
The curators of Spain (who voted as a member of the jury), Greece and Ireland in the Summer'22 season celebrated the national competition with the assessment of "good selection!". In the summed up voting results among the public, the average score of the compositions was 3.426 points out of 5.000 maximum, which in percentage terms amounted to 68.52%.