Kuretakein Yaizu Ekimae

SING ..SING ALONGGGGGGGG......

by cheesecake17

In recent years, there has been a boom in "karaoke" in Japan. These are disk players with voice mixing facilities and are used to provide musical accompaniment for solos or singalongs.

The "kara" of kara-oke means empty, while the "oke" is a Japanese abbreviation of the English word, "orchestra." These two words coming together mean an orchestra without a vocalist.

Karaoke are widespread in many countries nowadays. I think "karaoke bars" are well known by Americans, but actually we have few karaoke bars in Japan. What we call "karaoke box" is more popular in Japan.

WHAT IS A KARAOKE BOX

The karaoke box consists of a lot of isolated rooms on several floors and each of those rooms has a karaoke set in it.

Generally they charge you one or two dollars each per hour ..

The room has some couches, two microphones, remote controls for the air conditioner, karaoke set, menus for snacks and drinks, thick song books on a table, and a big TV with karaoke system just for you and your company.

The room also has a telephone that is connected to the reception desk; therefore, you can order some food or drinks from that phone. They will also call you when your time is up.
WHAT YOU DO


After you have settled into the room and gotten something to eat or drink, you are all ready to sing.

You look up one of the songbooks and choose a song you wish to sing. You can look up the songs in two different ways.

One side of the book has the titles of the songs, names of singers and five or six-digit code numbers following them.

The other side of the book starts with singers' names, titles and numbers,

So that you can look up songs either by the singer's name or title of the song.

After you choose a song to sing, enter the code numbers of the song into the remote control by pushing the buttons on it to send information to the karaoke set.

Soon your music will start. The remote control also has a section to change the key or tempo of the songs.

If you feel the key of the song is too high or low for you, or too fast or slow, you can adjust them as you want.
Also, if you want to have harmony, you can.

Some karaoke sets even have a voice change system. You can change you voice from a woman's to a man's, and a man's to a woman's. This is very interesting.

When you finish singing, you can search for the next song while another person is singing.

....... the important thing here is you should listen to other people singing at the same time. Usually people like to have audiences, and you want them to listen to you while you are singing, too. You can fee like a real singer if you have someone to listen to you, and that's what people like when doing karaoke
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XMASS CAKE but not the kind you eat..

by cheesecake17

In Japan, age counts. Especially if you are a woman. The ideal of feminine beauty in Japan is youth and innocence. Plus, there's a lot of pressure on women to get married.

So, if you're an unmarried woman, and heading towards thirty, we'd say that you're being "left on the shelf" or maybe "past your sell-by date".

In Japan though, they compare such women to a "Christmas Cake". It may well be sweet and delicious, but no one really wants any after the 25th. So, if you're an unmarried Japanese woman, after the age of twenty five, you're in extreme danger of becoming a Christmas Cake.

But in these days, this saying really is not very popular, women are getting married pass their 30's.....So much is changing..:))

KOKESHI DOLL

by cheesecake17

kokeshi dolls are made of wood and have no arms or legs..There are many different styles, but all are simple in their design with a head and a body-a sphere and a cylinder..

they are usually very small, just few inches tall, but may be larger. The original dolls were always female, but modern dolls can be male....

there may be some religious significance to these dolls..the nameitself mean: ko=child, keshi=erasing..

Some region of japan has them....they make good gifts..

The meaning of the doll

In years of famine, women were unable to feed all their children and were reduced to abortion or infanticide...The new-born babes vanished so that the others should live...

Kokeshi could thus have been memorial dolls, kept into the house to appease the spirits of the dead..

Yaizu, Fishing Port Town

by taigaa001

"Nihonzaka Pass Trail"

Nihonzaka Pass Trail is one of the oldest established highways in Japan. This trail is used by ancient Imperial rulers to defend and subdue the eastern territories of Japan. The name came from Yamato Takerunomikoto from the legend that he hid his body from his enemies in the narrow cave near the pass. Yamato is the old name for Nihon, or Nippon. Today Nihonzaka Pass is merely a restplace for hikers who head for either Mt. Hanazawa(449m) or Mt. Mankanho(470m), popular mountains for both Yaizu and Shizuoka residents.