Japanese Karaoke

Last Saturday, I went to A YFU Japan meeting with my host brother, mother, and grandfather (see previous post for pictures). After the meeting, my host mother, sister, and brother decided to take me out for some karaoke! Now it's obvious that karaoke isn't very popular in the U.S., but here in Japan, it is incredibly popular, especially amongst teenagers. Now I can see why it's so popular, because it was so much fun!

Now unlike karaoke bars in America where you sing in front of everybody there, most karaoke bars in Japan have individual rooms for each party, so it's just you and your friends or family. The place that I went to served amazing food, so I had plenty of that as my host family and I sang to our hearts' content.

Each room is outfitted with all the necessary equipment. A TV, a karaoke machine, 2 microphones...

and two of these touchscreen tablets which you can use to choose whatever song you want to sing and add it to a playlist.

Takehiro is up first.

Like I said, good food!

You can find these rice-filled omlets pretty much anywhere in Japan.

Saki is next.

Thankfully, there are some songs that are available in English, so Icould participate too. I tried to sing a Japanese song, but it just sounded like gibberish.

We got really into it. Standing on the chairs helps.

Much fun was had!