Karaoke

It was really only a matter of time.

I had been to Japanese-style karaoke when I was in Sapporo years ago. Russell, on the other hand, had never had the pleasure. He was, as you can probably imagine, very interested in trying it. Unlike American karaoke, where a bar offers a karaoke machine and you sign up to sing in front of drunken strangers, Japanese Karaoke is typically for private groups. You go with your friends, sign up for a room, and order down for food and beverages if you want them. It is far less intimidating because you are with your friends, and at a good karaoke place there is also tasty finger food to share.

Russell and I had been unsure whether it would be odd to go as only a group of two. Russell was also nervous that we would be the oldest people present. As for the second concern, I had seen middle retired women signing up for karaoke rooms before, so I was pretty sure age wasn't a concern. My Japanese teacher confirmed that it was perfectly okay to go as a pair. Alone would look pretty sad, but two was fine. That was all Russell needed to hear. After ring hunting yesterday, we headed to one of the bigger karaoke chains in Kobe. Unfortunately. we went during peak hours, so it was a little expensive ($8/person/hour) but there are off peak hours, so we will figure that out for next time. We got our own private room upstairs and after some confusion, figured out how to select songs. After some more experimenting with the technology, we figure out how to BROWSE for songs in English. At that point we requested an extra hour in our booth. Along with choosing songs, you can also adjust the pitch to suit your voice and adjust the tempo. We also experimented with the food service, ordering fried vegetables and edamame (steamed soy beans with salt).

We had a good time, and I can definitely see how mixing in more friends and some alcohol could make karaoke a super fun, if somewhat expensive, evening out. For those of you planning to visit... start tuning up your voices.

(Sorry for the lack of pictures.... we were too busy singing).