Ahh yes, Karaoke. Many might question why this one merits exploring. Karaoke is, after all, not a uniquely Japanese phenomenon. Not any more, anyway. This is certainly true, but I think the Japanese have made karaoke into something that other countries have yet to perfect. In short: Karaoke in Japan is, for lack of a more professional-sounding word that fully expresses my personal opinion of it, AWESOME.
If we think about karaoke in other countries, what normally comes to mind? A dark pub with a little stage, containing a small karaoke machine with a choice of maybe 50 songs? Or maybe a bigger room in a more brightly-lit pub, with a nicer-looking stage and even, sometimes, a DJ working the music? Whichever way you look at it, karaoke in most western countries involves a stage, a LOT of people watching you, and understandable nervousness as you stand there and shakily quiver out the first few notes, before hopefully gaining some confidence and belting out the song to a room full of strangers.
A typical Western-style karaoke setting.
I’ll admit, this style of karaoke can be pretty fun. But for some the idea of standing in a room full of total strangers of varying levels of drunkenness and revealing to all of them just how little you paid attention in singing classes during primary school doesn’t appeal. This is a shame, because I think a lot of people out there enjoy singing, even if they can’t do it well. There is no doubt that singing has a number of very positive health benefits. It releases feel-good endorphins, it gives the lungs a good workout, and it makes us breathe more deeply which increases our bodies’ aerobic capacity and releases muscle tension. But more importantly, singing is fun, and it is a fantastically uplifting social experience to share with close friends. If only there was a way to go somewhere with a group of friends and sing together, without having to worry about people who don’t know you listening.
Well, there is. And where can we find it? In good old Japan. There are some places in Japan that recreate the western style of karaoke, but the far more popular Japanese style of karaoke takes place in swanky buildings with professional-looking reception areas, plentiful drink bars and a number of little rooms with couches and tables, called karaoke booths.
The outside of some karaoke buildings in Japan.
The interior of some karaoke booths (also known as karaoke boxes)
On a typical karaoke outing, you and some friends will venture into one of these buildings. After taking a moment to make sure you don’t touch anything out of concern that you might tarnish the pristine reception area, you tell the equally pristine receptionist that there are X number of you, and you would like to be there for X number of hours. The receptionist then produces a little basket with a mini clipboard containing your details, and two microphones. He tells you the room number, just in case you can’t read what’s attached to the clipboard, and you say thank you and go to that room. Once in the room you take seats on the couches that surround the long table, and then promptly leave the room to get yourself a drink from the drink bar. You are about to engage in several hours’ worth of singing, after all. You’re going to need that drink.
Once you are settled back in the booth, you locate the song-choosing device, which many would call a remote control, but I prefer to think is more like a mini-computer.
Some of the common remote-control devices used in karaoke
Once the karaoke video starts, perhaps the most difficult challenge of all begins. Here, the challenge is not so much for the singer as it is for the captivated audience. While the singer sings, the audience is left to either watch the singer struggling with the high notes, or to watch the backing video that comes with the song. I choose the backing video all the time, and the challenge is to try and get through an entire song without laughing at the backing video. I have yet to succeed, myself. The videos, normally set in San Francisco, London, Tokyo, or some random beach somewhere, always depict some lonely man or woman walking around in a terrible late 80s-early 90s outfit, gazing wistfully into the distance. Maybe at some point the video will switch to the point of view of some person of the opposite gender, doing some similar distance-gazing. Then the man and woman will meet, and converse with each other a little, and… by then the song is normally over. In the occasional slightly happier song, the video will be of an equally badly-dressed couple walking together, and not doing much else, for the entire three minutes. These videos are easily the funniest part of any karaoke experience, unless you happen to have a drunk tone-deaf friend in your presence trying to belt out convincing Christina Aguilera impersonations.
As you sing, you also spend several hours sitting together, eating and drinking and having fun. Even people who don’t like singing can spend an enjoyable evening watching their friends pretending to be rock stars. The time flies by very quickly, and by the end everybody leaves feeling happy from all the singing endorphins and the fun experience they’ve shared together.
In Japan, karaoke is one of the most common pastimes of groups of friends and family. Every town with a sizeable population has at least one karaoke place, and in the bigger cities karaoke places can be found on almost every street corner.
It is becoming pretty clear that people in other countries enjoy this type of group experience as well. Japanese-style karaoke places are popping up in other countries, particularly in places with high Asian populations, like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and my childhood home, Sydney. Video games that allow people to recreate this karaoke experience at home, such as Karaoke Revolution and Singstar, are also very popular.
Playing these sorts of video games is arguably the best way to most accurately recreate the Japanese karaoke experience in your own home.
In conclusion, I would say that the Japanese have managed to create a unique, engaging type of karaoke experience. It is clear that people enjoy this style of karaoke, because if they didn’t karaoke would not be as popular in Japan as it is. Because it is so popular, so fun, and still so uniquely Japanese, karaoke is definitely one of the coolest things about Japan.
No comments:
Post a Comment