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There are a few multi-story entertainment mega-complexes in our large-ish city, most of which are devoted solely to karaoke. The other ones, like Sugai, are bowling-arcade-batting-cage-karaoke beasts!
The first thing I've done upon entering Sugai, both times, was purikura. I can't decide if it is the greatest invention or the greatest rip-off. Purikura is a Japanese translation and shortening of "Print Club." (Print Club > purintto kurabu > purikura). It's a timed photo booth where you take a bunch of pictures with different frames and shapes and then you have something like 5 seconds to choose a handful of them, and then you can decorate them via computer. It's really quite fun, except that it's expensive and confusing and you have about 1/25th of the amount of time you need. When you edit, you can put frames around the photos, you can write on them, you can stamp words on them, you can add sparkles to them, and you can add graphics to them, among other things. Both times I went we crammed at least 10 people into the booth, which makes for some pretty bizarre photos, but it's cool to see what kind of ridiculous cutsey nonsense gets spewed over them. You can make blow-ups and stickers if you think fast enough during the production process, otherwise it just shoots out about twenty 2 cm pictures. It's really popular amongst school aged folks right now.
Today we went bowling at Sugai with the kids from the international club at school, bowling is bowling no matter how you look at it, but it's nice to be able go into the arcade afterward and play Taiko Drummer and DDR. There are a few frustrating claw games, slot machines, racing games, gun games, and pretty much anything else you can think of in there, though mostly it's prize-yielding games. There was one with beach-ball sized Buus from Dragon Ball Z, and Evangelion model figures (including a pile of the "sound only" black boxes from the board room, oddly enough. And it was misspelled as "melody only.") I really wanted a mameshiba from one, but I wasn't told how to work the game until my second try was over. I was about to put in another dollar when I realized I could just go to the store and buy probably three of them for a dollar - and I could pick which.
This is mameshiba - PLEASE watch the video, PLEASE. I promise it's worthwhile.
http://www.curiosite.com/scripts/news/ennews.php?frmIdPagina=10159
Karaoke is a whole different ball game, however. In the U.S. we think of it as some dope in front of a whole room full of strangers singing Copacabana. And for those of you laughing, stop and think about it: what's better than living out your performance dreams and singing all your favorite songs? AND NO ONE JUDGES YOU, it's fabulous and there's nothing pathetic about it. What amazes me most is that when everyone is as comfortable as people are in Japanese karaoke, EVERYONE is a good singer. I've only met one person out of about 24 people I've sung with who has actually been unpleasant to listen to.
Here in Japan, you input your selection into a little portable computer that gets passed around the room. They have songs in all languages and pretty much every song you've ever heard. Like really. Heard it once when you were 8? It's on there. Folk songs? They're on there. Songs that came out yesterday? They're on there. American top 40, yes. Japanese bottom 40, yes. Commercial slogans, yes. Also, anime theme songs are sung by real celebrities in Japan, so you can sing your favorite songs from your favorite shows.
I sang Shimokawa Mikuni: "Tomorrow," Journey: "Don't Stop Believing," The Blue Hearts: "Linda, Linda, Linda," and Cindi Lauper: "Time After Time." There are, of course, karaoke favorites that you will never be able to sing along because everyone chides in. "More Than Words," is a big English one, "Shima Uta" is a big Japanese one.
The last time I went to karaoke, we went to a place called "Thriller," where there were ghouls hanging from the ceiling and screams playing over the loudspeaker. I hear there's a prison-themed one too, but I've not been there. Often times they'll do nomihoudai too. When we were at Thriller, we had a large U.S. crowd and one of the guys started up a song nobody knew, quickly canceled it, and played Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." Yes, the karaoke room was Rick-rolled.
The best thing is that when you start going to karaoke, you start forming a list of your best songs and a list of songs you want to sing some day. Like most people, I wrote mine down. They are, Shakira: "Suerte," Little Mermaid: "Part of Your World," Evangelion: "Cruel Angel Thesis," The Fray: "You Found Me," and Ne-Yo: "Closer." There are other Japanese ones, but you probably don't know them so I won't bother.
Karaoke is one thing I know I'll miss when I go back to the U.S. Even if you have a good machine with good mixes and a fun group of people, it's always going to be a little awkward. There's nothing you can do about it, we're just not trained to sing in front of each other without feeling bad feelings.
The first thing I've done upon entering Sugai, both times, was purikura. I can't decide if it is the greatest invention or the greatest rip-off. Purikura is a Japanese translation and shortening of "Print Club." (Print Club > purintto kurabu > purikura). It's a timed photo booth where you take a bunch of pictures with different frames and shapes and then you have something like 5 seconds to choose a handful of them, and then you can decorate them via computer. It's really quite fun, except that it's expensive and confusing and you have about 1/25th of the amount of time you need. When you edit, you can put frames around the photos, you can write on them, you can stamp words on them, you can add sparkles to them, and you can add graphics to them, among other things. Both times I went we crammed at least 10 people into the booth, which makes for some pretty bizarre photos, but it's cool to see what kind of ridiculous cutsey nonsense gets spewed over them. You can make blow-ups and stickers if you think fast enough during the production process, otherwise it just shoots out about twenty 2 cm pictures. It's really popular amongst school aged folks right now.
Today we went bowling at Sugai with the kids from the international club at school, bowling is bowling no matter how you look at it, but it's nice to be able go into the arcade afterward and play Taiko Drummer and DDR. There are a few frustrating claw games, slot machines, racing games, gun games, and pretty much anything else you can think of in there, though mostly it's prize-yielding games. There was one with beach-ball sized Buus from Dragon Ball Z, and Evangelion model figures (including a pile of the "sound only" black boxes from the board room, oddly enough. And it was misspelled as "melody only.") I really wanted a mameshiba from one, but I wasn't told how to work the game until my second try was over. I was about to put in another dollar when I realized I could just go to the store and buy probably three of them for a dollar - and I could pick which.
This is mameshiba - PLEASE watch the video, PLEASE. I promise it's worthwhile.
http://www.curiosite.com/scripts/news/ennews.php?frmIdPagina=10159
Karaoke is a whole different ball game, however. In the U.S. we think of it as some dope in front of a whole room full of strangers singing Copacabana. And for those of you laughing, stop and think about it: what's better than living out your performance dreams and singing all your favorite songs? AND NO ONE JUDGES YOU, it's fabulous and there's nothing pathetic about it. What amazes me most is that when everyone is as comfortable as people are in Japanese karaoke, EVERYONE is a good singer. I've only met one person out of about 24 people I've sung with who has actually been unpleasant to listen to.
Here in Japan, you input your selection into a little portable computer that gets passed around the room. They have songs in all languages and pretty much every song you've ever heard. Like really. Heard it once when you were 8? It's on there. Folk songs? They're on there. Songs that came out yesterday? They're on there. American top 40, yes. Japanese bottom 40, yes. Commercial slogans, yes. Also, anime theme songs are sung by real celebrities in Japan, so you can sing your favorite songs from your favorite shows.
I sang Shimokawa Mikuni: "Tomorrow," Journey: "Don't Stop Believing," The Blue Hearts: "Linda, Linda, Linda," and Cindi Lauper: "Time After Time." There are, of course, karaoke favorites that you will never be able to sing along because everyone chides in. "More Than Words," is a big English one, "Shima Uta" is a big Japanese one.
The last time I went to karaoke, we went to a place called "Thriller," where there were ghouls hanging from the ceiling and screams playing over the loudspeaker. I hear there's a prison-themed one too, but I've not been there. Often times they'll do nomihoudai too. When we were at Thriller, we had a large U.S. crowd and one of the guys started up a song nobody knew, quickly canceled it, and played Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." Yes, the karaoke room was Rick-rolled.
The best thing is that when you start going to karaoke, you start forming a list of your best songs and a list of songs you want to sing some day. Like most people, I wrote mine down. They are, Shakira: "Suerte," Little Mermaid: "Part of Your World," Evangelion: "Cruel Angel Thesis," The Fray: "You Found Me," and Ne-Yo: "Closer." There are other Japanese ones, but you probably don't know them so I won't bother.
Karaoke is one thing I know I'll miss when I go back to the U.S. Even if you have a good machine with good mixes and a fun group of people, it's always going to be a little awkward. There's nothing you can do about it, we're just not trained to sing in front of each other without feeling bad feelings.
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