A star-studded lineup of 53 groups and individual performers will take part in NHK's "Kohaku Utagassen" annual year-end singing contest on New Year's Eve, including Japan's first black enka singer Jero and Speed, an all-female J-pop group that disbanded in 1999 and got back together in September this year. Among the celebrities slated to perform are Fujioka Fujimaki and Nozomi Ohashi, who sang the theme song for Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea," and Thelma Aoyama, a popular J-pop and R&B singer.The contest, which will be hosted by Masahiro Nakai, a member of Japan's superstar boy-band Smap, and actress Yukie Nakama, will be broadcast live on television from 7:20 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.