January 1 2018 (Mon)　Broadcasting 6:00 p.m.～9:00 p.m.!
MC
Hamada Masatoshi・Ito Shiro・Hirodo Ayumi (ABC announcer)

Guests
Team YOSHIKI＆GACKT: YOSHIKI,GACKT
Team Nakayoshi (Close Friends): Asano Yuko, Takashima Reiko
Team Hanazakari Yonin Shimai (Four Blossom Sisters): Fujiwara Norika, Fuji Ayako
Team 70 Nendai (70’s): Nakayama Miho, DAIGO
Team Shibui Haiyuu (Astringent Actors): Hiraizumi Sei, Iwaki Koichi
Team Nakao-ka (Nakao Family): Nakao Akira, Ikenami Shino
Team Nogizaka to Geinoujin (Nogizaka and Celebrities): Nogizaka46 (Ikoma Rina, Shiraishi Mai, Ikuta Erika), celebrities who passed qualifiers
Program Information
The celebrities put their first-class pride and honour on the line as they take on 6 checks on 2018’s New Year’s Day broadcast of「Kakuzuke CHECK」!! With the pressure of「not losing face exactly because it’s New Year’s Day!」an extremely serious challenge between big-name celebrities unfolds!
This time, YOSHIKI, who GACKT has been persuading to take part for the past 5 years, makes his long-awaited debut Kakuzuke CHECK challenge! He forms a team with GACKT, who holds the unprecedented record of 51 straight wins, as first-artistes, making this a battle that absolutely cannot lose!

In 2018 as well, this will be a constantly-eventful Kakuzuke CHECK that won’t betray the audience’s expectations, you can’t miss a moment of it! Which celebrities will be the ones laughing or crying at the end? And which celebrities will taste humiliation from New Year’s Day and disappear from the screen!?

Kakuzuke CHECK (Rating check)
Check 1「Wine」
In the annual wine taste comparison, an extremely rare vintage of Bordeaux, France’s finest wine, the「Château Pétrus」is featured!　「Château Pétrus」was praised by distinguished wine critic Robert Parker as「a symbol of myth」, it’s flavours surpass the threshold of wine. Furthermore, there aren’t much stocks circulating in the market, with only 4,500 cases produced in a year, thus causing it’s rarity value to rise, and making it a rare gem that will cost above 1 million yen per bottle at a top-class hotel. What will be compared against that is table wine produced in Bordeaux, France, that costs 5,000 yen per bottle. This is a check that will be naturally answerable by a first-class celebrity.
Which team will be the one that suddenly lose their status as first-class celebrities in this first test!?

Check 2「Traditional Japanese instruments」
The next check is a traditional Japanese instrument performance featuring the Koto, Sakuhachi, and Shamisen. The test is to discern between a performance by the professional traditional Japanese musical instrument players「Pro Musica Nipponia」and the amateur traditional Japanese musical instrument circle「Kanto Collegiate Sankyoku Federation」.
「Pro Musica Nipponia」is Japan’s leading traditional Japanese musical instrument ensemble that was founded in 1964, and has had continued to be a spectacular success, winning Arts Festival awards and the like. Having performed in 31 countries around the world, it has also received high praise overseas. On the other hand, the「Kanto Collegiate Sankyoku Federation」is a student traditional Japanese musical instrument circle with 25 participating organisations. The best traditional Japanese musical instrument playing students from schools like Waseda University, Keio University, Meiji University, the University of Tokyo, and others, have been picked.
Which team will be able to correctly pick the professional traditional Japanese musical instrument ensemble?

Check 3「Palate」
The next check is「Palate」. Participants will closely judge the flavours of the highest-quality ingredients that have been prepared using top-notch skills by Michelin-level restaurants of various cuisines like Japanese, French, Chinese, and others. As this check will be a team effort, one of the highlights is the exchange between team members when they have conflicting opinions. While the ingredients used are distinctly different, this check has always been a difficult one, with numerous first-class celebrities struggling with it. Just like last year, there will be 3 choices, A, B, and C, in play this year as well. In addition to the usual two options, a third, which is the『absolutely worthless ingredient』for which there is「no way that anyone can get it wrong」is included, and teams who pick that will have their rank drop by 2 positions. What will be the result…!?

Check 4「Trio」
Next comes the check of discerning between the tone qualities of a trio made up of violins and a cello. World-renowned instruments have been arranged for this time as well. The first violin is the famous「Stradivarius Natchez」which was made in 1716, during Stradivarius’ finest golden age, while the second violin is a famous instrument said to be as famous as the Stradivarius, the「Guarneri del Gesù」. With only around 60 in the world, the famous instrument, made in 1741, is said to be the most solid among the Guarneri. And the cello is the「Matteo Goffriller」, which has the characteristing of having a powerful tone quality, and beautiful sound quality that surpasses even that of a Stradivarius’. This will be a check to see if participants pick the right tone quality that belongs to the 3 instruments, which, altogether, costs an amazing 3.9 billion yen (!).
In comparison to that will be a trio made up of amateur violins and cello (priced at 800,000 yen in total). Will it be room A or room B that Kakuzuke Master Hamada enters!?

Check 5「Bonsai」
Visually compare the 100 million yen work of award-winning bonsai artist, Kobayashi Kunio who has received the Prime Minister’s Award represented Japan, with a candy bonsai made of mochi and red beans. Kakuzuke Master Hamada piled on the pressure, saying「It’s just a 100 million yen bonsai versus candy!」, but once again, this will be an extremely difficult check with the surprising realism of the candy bonsai! Will there be any celebrity who can get this check right!?

Final check「Beef」
Taste and pick out one of Japan’s top 3 wagyu,「Kobe beef」, the premiere brand of Japanese black beef. This time, the part that will be used is the「Sirloin」. The best meat in a cow and the only part with a「Sir」in its name, it is characterised by juicy marbling and exquisite tenderness condensed with the finest umami. The ultimate steak made with this exquisite meat and grilled by Hotel New Otani Tokyo’s famous restaurant「Sekishin-Tei」will be featured! A steak made from beef from the supermarket (680 yen per 100 grams) will be compared to this ultra-fine steak which sells at a whopping 17,500 yen per 100 grams. Getting this final check wrong will cause their rankings to fall by 2 positions in one go, but there’s also a rule where getting it right will raise their ranks one step higher. Will there be a team that suddenly disappears from the screen!?

Source: asahi.co.jp

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA