On my second night there, I demanded to go do some Karaoke.

Fenris and his GF scrounged up some friends and co-workers to come along and we booked a room at the locale Karaoke bar.

On the way over, one of the guys in our group convinced us to drink some energy drink that supposedly helps you avoid hangovers.
Here's the American version of this drink. 1/2 red bull, 1/2 ginger ale. Don't ask me if it really works, I rarely get hangovers as it is, so I'm of mixed opinion if it actually did anything.

In Japan, Karaoke is a more private affair, it's your party in a room, all by yourselves. You have a giant TV with a karaoke jukebox, some microphones, a pair of tambourines, and a telephone for ordering more booze.

Oh, and a giant book of Japanese and American Songs.

Because our party was split into 8 people, 2 americans, 2 canadians, 1 UK, and 3 Japanese, our musical tastes varied slightly.

There was some Journey and Loverboy (A Canadian's default options for rock music), some Slayer (who knew they'd heard of Reign in Blood?), some Garth Brooks (see, cause Fenris and I are both from Texas...), hell, I even tried to rap to Sabotage.

We sang for about 2 hours.

The highlight of my evening though was that one of the teachers from Fenris' place of work actually was impressed that I not only knew Japanese, but that A) I knew the following song and B) that I knew ALL OF THE LYRICS.



This is the theme song from Urusei Yatsura, an anime from the early 80's.

I figured at the worst, I'd picked the wrong song, we'd hit SKIP and we'd be done with it.

But strangely enough I had picked the right song (out of the 5,000 or so anime theme songs they had listed) and I sang along with no problems whatsoever.

When we were singing English tunes we'd get english subtitles for our songs. This song had Japanese subtitles, again I surprised myself by being able to read about 70% of the subtitles WHILE singing along with the song, which is fairly tricky considering how fast the song's lyrics are.

I then managed to slog my way through Oshiri Kajiri Mushi (the butt biting bug song) having only heard the song once before that night. Something about it stuck in my head. I wonder what it would've been...


Maybe it was the video...

Here's the essential breakdown of what you're supposed to do during Japanese karaoke.

1. Pick a song.
2. Wait your turn.
3. Drink.
4. Shut the fuck up if it's not your turn to sing, doesn't matter if you know the words or not.
5. If you don't shut up, you're going to be on tambourine duty, and you'll instantly look gay while brandishing the tambourine.
6. When it's your turn to sing, actually sing on key, if possible.
7. Don't pick the last song. Everyone is leaving and whatever you pick will be regretted the next day because you'll invariably either pick a ballad or a parody song, neither of which go down well after 12 beers.

Afterwards we all went out to hang out at a real authentic Japanese Irish pub. We knew it was authentic because they had more than one kind of Guiness. On tap. Bravo Japan, bravo.

Sorry for no pictures. I forgot to bring my camera on Karaoke night so no pics of it.

As an apology, I offer this...




It appeared to be a restaurant of some sort.


Restaurant district of Shibuya


The wholly unremarkable Weber BBQ grill. Retail cost in the USA? $80. In Japan? $228.