karaoke

Jan-kara is the biggest karaoke chain in osaka city i think, and it has this really good deal where you can sing from 11pm to 6am for only 1600yen.

we were there yesterday from 11 to sometime after 4am.. 5 hours of karaoke! it was awesome.

for some reason this branch has started stocking cosplay outfits, so all the boys were in dresses in the beginning – one of them was in a high school girl’s uniform which a HUGE afro wig, and he looked hilarious.

i like doing karaoke with a particular bunch of people, and yesterday’s combination was really good. one of us had a friend visiting, and he was a good addition to the party too.

i really think that of all the stuff that i do here, karaoke is one of the activities that i enjoy A LOT more here than back home. karaoke back home is very civilised – we’re all seated, most people sing chinese songs, i.e. ballads and slower paced songs, we take the singing rather seriously and there’s no alcohol involved.

here, alcohol is a must for karaoke, because it gets you into that happy mood that will turn into a crazy-ish mood once you’ve done a few good songs. i previously blogged here about how i sometimes wish that not everything has to involve alcohol, but i really think it goes hand in hand with karaoke. what i like about it, is that karaoke here is really fun and there’s lot of activity going on. the songs we sing are often upbeat or pop/rock classics, which are great to sing to, have a good rhythm and get everyone moving to the music or getting up on their feet and dancing and having an extremely jolly time.

think of songs with heavy tunes like “bohemian rhapsody” and “total eclipse of the heart”, the very boppy and poppy 80s hits like “never gonna give you up” and “wake me up before you go-go”, 90s songs that we grew up listening to like “don’t look back in anger” and “say you’ll be there”, or the songs that get everyone completely involved in a very merry fashion like “Y.M.C.A.” and “always look on the bright side of life”.

oh man. it’s fun cos everyone lets loose, belts their hearts out and grooves to the music. karaoke here is one of the things i know i will miss a lot when i’m gone.