Karaoke

So I had my first genuine karaoke experience the other night. Now, I'm not much of a singer. In fact, I'm pretty awful. I usually sing just in environments where I know I won't make anyone cringe due to my off-key wrangling of most any tune. And many of those times, I stop and laugh to myself, audibly thankful that no one is around to hear my wailing.

That being said, I went to karaoke with some co-workers. I gave them fair warning, but it wasn't so bad. Especially when compared to Pat's rendition of "Anarchist." Everyone reacted pretty harshly to him...


What also made it easier to sing was that a karaoke setup here is quite different than that in America. It's not one machine in the corner of a bar. This is a complex of rooms. Each room is about 10 by 20 feet and has its own machine, and a mostly sound-proof door. A phone in the room links patrons directly with the bartender, for when new refreshments are required.
So being in this private room, and after downing a couple beers and others' embarrassing performances, I warmed up and ended up bring a slice of home to Kusatsu with a rendition of "New York, New York."


What I found humorous about the onscreen lyrics was that many Japanese songs had English words mixed right in.


I mentioned the mis-use of English before, with the Reeses shirt, but Engrish is bastardized in other, sometimes humorous, oftentimes confusion, ways. Take, for example, my co-worker Naoya's hat.

If you can't read it, it says, "We can go anywhere, if we want. Huh, you?"

So... huh, you?