The performers for the guest corner of the 40th “Prince Kan’in and Princess Akiko’s Children’s Song Competition” Grand Prix have been decided! Applications to watch the event begin today!

The performers for the guest corner of the 40th “Prince Kan’in and Princess Akiko’s Nursery Rhyme and Song Competition” Grand Prix have been decided! Applications to watch the event begin today! ​ TV Asahi Corporation Press Release: September 18, 2025 To those involved in the media The performers for the guest corner of the 40th Prince Kan’in and Princess Akiko Memorial Children’s Song Competition Grand Prix have been decided! Applications to watch the event begin today! 40th “Prince Tomohito and Queen Akiko Children’s Song Contest”
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■The final 20 groups to compete in the Grand Prix have been selected from approximately 3,500 groups! Plus, Tsuruno Takeshi, Sakura Maya, and Murakata Nonoka will be guest-starring!! The 40th “Prince Tomohito and Princess Akiko of Japan Children’s Song Competition” Grand Prix will be held at EX Theater Roppongi on Sunday, November 9th. From approximately 3,500 entries in all four divisions – “Kids Division,” “Children’s Division,” “Adult Division,” and “Family Division,” 20 Grand Prix competitors, five in each division, have been selected! (For a list of participants, please visit the tournament website.) In addition, a stellar lineup of guest performers has been announced for the Grand Prix Tournament! This year’s guest appearance will feature actor and father of five, Tsuruno Takeshi, making his first guest appearance in nine years at the Grand Prix Tournament; singer Sakura Maya, who won the Gold Prize at the 2004 tournament and debuted at age 10 as the youngest enka singer in history; and singer Murakata Nonoka, also known as “Nono-chan,” who won the Silver Prize in the Children’s Division at the 35th tournament in 2020, becoming the youngest person ever (at age 2 years and 5 months) to do so! The two supporting groups will be Keroponzu, known for their hit song “Ebikanix,” and YouTubers Ichi & Naru (Bonbon Academy), with 1.11 million subscribers and over 2.3 billion video views (as of September 2025), and will be joining forces to liven up the milestone 40th tournament!
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/30888/350/30888-350-888a1c7f184a2d38dd2cf1c0353f396d-2025×2700.jpg Takeshi Tsuruno
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/30888/350/30888-350-1ccf37293bdfe99530ec9ae9c6fae503-1796×2700.jpg Sakuramaya
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/30888/350/30888-350-b219a315c89ffb62ab7f78e0ab94a933-2025×2700.jpg Nonoka Murakata ■Applications to watch the Grand Prix tournament begin today! Applications to watch the Grand Prix competition will begin today, Thursday, September 18th, at 1:30 PM. Admission is free (a lottery will be held if there are too many applicants). Come see the amazing singing voices of the Grand Prix contestants, carefully selected from all over the country, and enjoy a special stage performance by a stellar cast of guests at the venue! Application period: September 18, 2025 (Thursday) 13:30 to October 14, 2025 (Tuesday) 23:59 Special page URL:
https://www.douyou-contest.com/grandprix/ ■40th “Prince Tomohito Tile and Queen Akiko Tile “Children’s Song Competition” Grand Prix Tournament Date: Sunday, November 9, 2025 [Show Start] 1:00 PM / [Show End] 4:45 PM *Scheduled Venue: EX Theater Roppongi (〒106-0031 1-2-9 Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo) – Hosts: Shoko Haida / Naoki Tsuboi (TV Asahi announcer) – Supporters: Ichi & Naru (Bonbon Academy) / Keroponzu (appearance on video) ・Guests: Tsuruno Takeshi / Sakura Maya / Murakata Nonoka ■Judges Shiro Hayakawa (Composer, Japan Children’s Song Association) Akira Hirabayashi (Executive Officer, Kumon Education Research Group) Noriko Sanpei (Japan Nursery Rhymes Association/Composer) Ayumi Shigemori (Singer, 17th Generation Singing Sister) Kenji Nishizawa (Japan Children’s Song Association, Composer) Shinya Tada (Lyricist/Composer) Takahiro Abe (Japan Children’s Song Association/Composer) Toshihiko Shinzawa (Singer-songwriter) Masako Kurata (Japan Children’s Song Association, Composer) Osamu Sakata (Singer-songwriter, 7th Generation Uta no Onii-san) Mariko Kamisaka (Japan Children’s Song Association, Composer) Ritsuko Owada (singer) Yasushi Oishi (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University of the Arts) Miho Onikubo (Producer of TV Asahi’s “Untitled Concert”) Mako Shinoda (Executive Officer, General Manager of Performance Business Division, Horipro) Itsuko Hara (Executive Producer, Nippon Columbia) Yuzo Kajiyama (Director of Performance Business, Horipro) Ariga Watanabe (King Records Music Producer) ■Competition Overview ●Proponents: Japan Children’s Song Association/Kumon Institute of Education ●Organizers: 24 TV Asahi affiliates/Japan Children’s Song Association ●Sponsors: Agency for Cultural Affairs/BS Asahi ●Special sponsor: Kumon Institute of Education ・TOP page: https://www.kumon.ne.jp/index.html ・Business Introduction: https://www.kumon.ne.jp/corporate/enterprise/index.html ●Officially Recommended Hashtag: #Children’s Song Competition ●Official Account: Children’s Song Contest [Official] ・Website: https://www.douyou-contest.com/ ・X: https://x.com/douyou_contest ・Instagram：https://www.instagram.com/douyou_contest/ ・TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dou_you_official ・YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXR5kJcxJ7LXV2uMoe_V1BQ ■Inquiries regarding the competition and release: Children’s Song Competition Secretariat Phone: 03-6416-3384 (Weekdays 10:00-17:00) automatically, so please do not reply.