I didn’t watch it yet. In fact, I didn’t read the news during all Christmas vacation. So much happened! Anyway, here is a summary of minor news item in the idol world these past few days.

A new TV show featuring NGT48 and HKT48 members has been announced. It’s called “HKT48 vs NGT48 sashikita kassen”, and it starts on January 11th, 2016. Like many of 48-group’s TV shows, this is another late night program, as it airs at 1:30am japan time.

Looks nice; I don’t see Kitarie and Sasshi appear together often.

---

Looks like a new set of documentaries is set for release this year:

• January 31st: Documentary of NMB48
• January 31st: Documentary of HKT48
• April: Documentary of AKB48

---

Former SKE48 member, Kinoshita Yukiko makes her model debut, complete with name change: “Kinoshita Michelle”.

---

Kato Rena, aka Renacchi, has undergone a slight image change.  She has cut her hair and dyed it black!  What do you think?

2ch seems to think that she has succeeded wonderfully.

---

Shimazaki Haruka appears on the cover of a new magazine called “Love berry”, volume 1:

It was actually release in December, 2015, so it is not so recent.  However, it topped sales rank for weekly fashion magazine sales, according to Oricon Style, for the week of January 4th, 2016:

---

NMB48 Member Iso Kanae tweets photos of herself with a male friend.  With her status as an idol, 2ch is up in arms:

今日は、小学生の頃のサッカーチームでご飯会😊💓懐かしすぎてやばい、サッカーしたい😆#京川舞 pic.twitter.com/SZULxUrwrc

— 磯佳奈江 (@isokana89) January 4, 2016

初蹴りに行ってきました⚽️
まいとも会えました😆💓#京川舞 pic.twitter.com/94EJgNcR3V

— 磯佳奈江 (@isokana89) January 3, 2016

It seems innocent though. It’s definitely not something you’d see from Bunshun…

---

Again, more news about Kato Rena: she appeared in a recent issue of Manga Action:

---

And here is Wasamin drooling over Renacchi’s cover photo:

さあー！お昼ご飯食べて、新橋も頑張ろう！ pic.twitter.com/OSqwGsusMI

— 岩佐美咲 11/30アルバム出します (@wasaminnn) January 5, 2016

Ooooh! This is almost Useless News type of material!

---

Japanese sometimes seem pretty obsessed about television ratings: Sponichi newspaper featured a full page article charting the television ratings during NHK’s ever popular Kouhaku Uta Gassen:

Another source (it’s for just the Kansai region, and number slightly higher):

For the average idol fan, the most important parts are the ratings when our beloved idols appeared:

• Nogizaka46 performance: 33%
• HKT48 Performance: 33.2%
• Maeda Atsuko & Oshima Yuko’s surprise appearance: 43.4%

If anything, it just shows you that no one can beat Acchan or Yuko-chan!