Karaoke
As you all know, karaoke is the art of getting up in front of other people and singing along with recorded music while the lyrics flash on a television screen. This is done generally whilst drunk and often causes people to make fools of themselves. The word karaoke is made up of two words that mean “empty orchestra” – clever, no?
In the West, karaoke is generally available in pubs or bars on a certain night each week. There is one stage, one TV and one performance at a time in front of the entire room. This is a far cry from the karaoke culture of Japan.
While it is possible to find an izakaya (a type of Japanese bar) that has only the one stage and where the participants perform in front of the entire bar, there it would be a nightly event, not weekly. However, most karaoke is performed in tiny booths, known as a karaoke box.
There are thousands of karaoke box buildings in Japan. People book the room and pay based on how long they stay. The number of people squashed into a box can be as few as one lonely person who had missed the last train home to 20 raucous drunks screaming loud enough to hear them in the booth next door. Each karaoke box venue is different.
The machines are huge computers with up to a terabyte of hard disk space holding music and videos. On a side note, can anyone tell me if there is a special school where you learn how to make karaoke videos? They’re so awful and cheesy, it must take a special skill. Anyway, these karaoke machines have plenty of English songs to keep gaijin occupied. There’s also generally a good selection of Korean and Chinese songs as well.
Some karaoke boxes, if you’re lucky, have nomihodai – that is, all you can drink specials. Some venues also have a food or dessert menu.
All in all, from 100 yen per half hour, karaoke makes for an incredibly amusing, fun and above all, alcoholic night out.
Source:
Wikipedia
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