Karaoke Reconsidered

Well, I broke down and went out with some friends for karaoke. It wasn't half as bad as it sounds. It was actually a blast. Unlike the states, you are not in a smokey bar with a bunch of drunk people. Here you are in a small private room. You can even go alone if you wish. Yes, you can smoke and order drinks, but you certainly don't have to. You can even see moms and kids doing karaoke at lunch time for fun. There are karaoke joints everywhere. The cost is around $5/ hour/ person. They make most of their money from selling alcohol. Once you enter your booth you can pour over books with song titles and make your play list.




Then the words and music start churning out from the television. You can always hit the cancel button if it's too painful.




I noticed that the volume on the microphones is set quite low, so if you are a horrible singer---people might not notice.

Here I am with Gaelle singing "Champs Elysee". We did karaoke for her going away party. She and her family head back to France this month. She has lived here for two years and has never done karaoke. We felt that she needed the experience before she left.

Needless to say, she had a great time. Next time I want to go with Mia. They have plenty of kid's songs to select. We actually did a heart-rendering rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, sung in both English and Japanese. Leave it to the moms...