As I often do while traveling, I love to hang out with the locals. I hooked up with a few while shopping for Utada Hikaru CD's in Shibuya. They suggested we go and sing Karaoke.
Karaoke isn't just an evening of entertainment, it is an event. And everyone participates. I don't like singing. In fact, my singing scares children and animals. But that doesn't matter. The whole point of Karaoke is to get completely drunk and entertain your friends. Me drunk is enough normally to be entertaining, but add music and an evening of classic adventure is at hand!
In many places there are options. First there is bar Karaoke. This is starting to get a little more hard to find. You basically go, get drunk and sing to a whole bar. More common now is Room Karaoke. This is kind of like what you see in "Lost in Translation" where you have a private room and you and your friends all sing and drink together.
You can tell the real pro's at Karaoke by the way the sing. It is all about entertaining those you are out with, so some people will make more of a show of it. These are the ones who dance while singing, and can do every song in the book without looking at the words.
Westerners, don't worry there are plenty of songs in English. Although, many will not be ones you'd expect. I still find myself humming an 80's song I had forgotten about after Karaoke, and that was a few years back!
Depends who you are with. Adults tend to go business casual or suits. Younger folks like to go in jeans and their trendy T-shirts. Leave a Comment
Theme: OtherAddress: All over Tokyo, but look in Shibuya and RoppongiDirections: Best to ask what is closest to you from your hotel or local friends. They will often give you directions to less crowded ones, where the service is better
on August 25, 2002
on May 2, 2005
on January 8, 2007
