Karaokaydokay

My colleagues are so kind and this time treat me to a Karaoke evening. Instead of arranging this in an unspectacular way in our hotel we hit the road to a branch of a company chain specialized in Karaoke-entertainment. Comparable with multiplex cinemas one finds several rooms which are only thought for Karaoke. Every room is equipped with a cosy couch with a coffee table, a Karaoke-system of course and a telephone to order drinks or little snacks.

Karaoke "cells"

"drinking cell"

bacills ;) (on the microphone)

Karaoke is deeply ingrained with the Japanese entertainment culture. ‘Kara’ means ‘empty’ and ‘oke’ is an abreviation for the word ‘orchestra’. When Daisuke Inoue (*May 10^th 1940, Osaka) rented out the first self-made Karaoke systems to bars in Kobe he probably had no clue about with what a stunning success his invention not only in Japan but somewhat later all over the world would be blessed. His cassette tapes were so popular that they were also produced by entertainment industry companies. Daisuke Inoue did not protect his invention with any patent and thus earns practically nothing on the world wide Karaoke business. With the break through of the DVD – at the latest – and thanks to the distribution by video game consoles Karaoke celebrated it’s world wide success since the ‘singles’ of the 21^st century. Sony’s ‘Singstar’ for Playstation was sold over 12 million times alone in the PAL-region (almost whole Europe and Australia except for France though SECAM).

No brain cells

In Japan it’s not mainly about if or how good somebody can sing when performing karaoke. You don’t laugh about the singer but with him. If somebody doesn’t strike the right note everybody helps at the same point of the second strophe. You don’t laugh at somebody neither make someone down it’s about the common fun and about standing together. Even if one can’t sing at all she or he won’t be excluded or asked not to sing again in this round. Admittedly it needs getting used to but it is very commendable from a social point of view and it testifies to a mentality from which many should cut a slice off.

Well then, have fun singing!

Next post will be a photo post about the most bizarre or cutest signs I found in Japan so far!

Special thanks to: Natalie Canham, UK; Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich;