Karaoke!!!

Last Saturday the 20th was my first experience with the Japanese karaoke. I had been planning this with Takashii, one of the sons of my home stay family. He goes to the University of Niigata, which I will talk about more in a different post. There was also another friend with him Naoki, who goes to the same school. They picked me up at ECS around 6:00 and then I went back to the house, because I had not eaten yet. I finished eating and then we were off. The karaoke was in Sanjo. You go in and there is a counter and lobby and you see a long hallway with assorted rooms where the fun is. When you go you pay per hour and you can also pay for food and drinks and whatever you want really. Takashii and Naoki chose and we made our way to a room and the fun began. It started off a little edgy, but by the end of the night we were all singing and laughing and having a good time. I would have to say that if you want to see Japanese people at their most comfortable, hot springs and karaoke and maybe some other things really let them relax ahah... the room itself was very comfortable with seats on one side like a booth and a screen on the opposite side to look at and sing. They had an electronic device to choose songs with like a handheld computer and air-conditioning to change temperature. Those guys pretty much went crazy when it came to there favorites song, I was always singing with Naoki because he loved rap music ahahah and he needed my help to try and say the words at speed. He was good at speaking English and it was very funny watching him rap. I think this was a great opportunity for me because was able to really build a relationship with him and we hit it off and with Takashii as well but I had known him a little longer. After 3 hours of singing Michael Jackson, backstreet boys, usher we finally concluded with half way jokingly with the Japan national anthem. They said if I wanted to impress older people I have to sing and know this song. The song is very short and we sang it twice. Japanese enjoy music from the poppy genre and sound, so they were always interested in the music I chose and most of the time liked it and wrote it down. This concludes the karaoke! Stay tuned for... unexpected visit from Japanese friends.... the Japanese teacher... my home stay family and much more! Lots of pictures will be up soon!