Day 16 - Karaoke

So today wasn't anything special in particular. It was probably one of the more mundane days I've had these last few weeks. I did however after class get to experience the true Karaoke feel that Japan had to offer.

When you walk into this 5~10 story high-rise you realize that Karaoke isn't just something to do in Japan, but a Japanese culture. Once we got in, it was much different than any other place I've seen before. For one, the rates were the cheapest ever for the time of day - 80yen an hour compared to $4.50 an hour back home. The only "down" side is that you'll need to purchase a drink which we were all planning to do anyway.

The remotes are significantly different too; they have touch-consoles that you can use to search for artists or songs of your choice. The rest is basically the same -- sing to you heart's content. Annie-sempai, even though she sings only sad songs, was very good at it. Rodanthi-sempai was also very good at singing, although all she sang were very punk-rock-alternative songs that were a little hard on the ears afterward.

Kidae was pretty funny, when he finished singing a chorus for a love ballad everyone in the room started cheering & clapping; it made him quite embarrassed. Clinton & I challenged ourselves to sing fast Japanese rap songs and wow, were we horrible. Haha, we couldn't get anything except for the last word of each line.

Satoko, Annie's friend was an amazing singer. She sang ballads, American songs, and all of the above with precision. She has a naturally high voice and was able to hit many of the notes no one else could. Luna sang a few songs and to my surprise she was really good as well.

After about three hours of singing a few of us felt like we had enough so we headed out a mere few dollars poorer. We ran into a "Mister Donut" shop which sold delicious donuts. I had a Matcha & Azuki filled donut and an Almond donut -- mMm. Once we were done standing around eating our donuts in the frigid cold, we all turned around and headed home.

Like I said from the start, it was one of our more mundane days in Tokyo.