Hello! Recently someone had asked me some questions about Japanese culture and Go in Japan. goTony kindly suggested I share my answers here since some people in the forum might enjoy hearing about them too. There are quite a bit of questions so I will try to answer one at a time first..

If you have some other things you are curious about too, just ask. ^w^

Anyway the first question is:

Why do Japanese love Karaoke so much?

Well, luckily I love karaoke so I can answer this, but I also asked some friends (different age groups) for their opinion.

First of all, Japanese people don't sing in public. It's not that there aren't any who don't do it (I do it a lot haha) but, usually if they see a person singing to themselves while walking on the street, people think of them as strange and weird or...possibly drunk. So many people don't have chances to sing to their hearts' content. Maybe you will ask, why not sing at home? Japanese apartments' walls are very thin. I can easily hear the conversations of my neighbor next door. So if you sing out loud everyone up to 2 floors (above and below) will hear you. Usually they complain and might call the landlord on you. On the other hand, if they live in a house it might be a little better but even then some people are mindful of what people will say so they don't do it. Karaoke is one of the places you can go to enjoy loud, obnoxious singing lol, they also have karaoke in Snakku (Snack) or kurabu (Club).

Second, it's super cheap and there's no other place you can hang out for a long time with your friends privately unlike going to a restaurant or a cafe. For about a 4 hour stay with nomihodai (drink all you can - you can choose either alcohol or normal drink course) and some appetizers or meals, only costs about 1500yen or so. There are also lots of promotions and free time discounts. For example starting at 11 pm ~ 6 am the next day only costs 1000yen.

Also, you can enjoy local and international PVs (Music videos) with your friends as many times as you want. You can also take your time and not feel rushed.

My friends also told me they love karaoke because they can also release their stress there. And with the new karaoke upgrades, we can play games there too. Like matching your voice to hit the lines on the screen to get the highest score. You can also record yourself or your friends singing with the camera installed in the room and keep the dvd as a souvenir. You can also smoke there, which is a plus for some people.

Some people also like to go on group dates in karaoke. So spending time with the opposite sex is also one thing.

Recently though people have started doing hitori-karaoke (One man karaoke). It's really fun to take your time and choose all the songs you want without having to wait for everyone in the group to finish their song.



Anyway I hope I answered the question..It might be too long though. Gomen! >v<;;;;

PS. I don't know if I should just post the other questions here too or start another thread...I have no idea the proper way to do.

This was a very interesting post! I absolutely loved reading about. Thanks for sharing.

Hmm...
It seems to me that you have explained that people in Japan like a certain environment - low prices, all you can drink, hanging out with friends for hours, smoking, etc... and that such environment happens to be offered in karaoke bars, so what the heck - lets do karaoke. Sounds reasonable... Do you think if similar environment and prices were being offered in other places (regular bars, sushi bars, movie theaters, whatnot) - those places would be more or less popular than karaoke bars?

I am interested because I always thought that japanese just (a) like to sing, and (b) need some means to let it rip every now and then. The society being more regulated and conservative (than, for example, america) - there is not many places you can just go and let off some days-long suppressed steam in a socially acceptable form. Karaoke fits the bill nicely, and so the popularity. Its just my theory.

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- Bantari
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WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!

Well, I tried to give different answers to what people have said. I figured having a lot of different reasons would finally solve the mystery to other people outside of Japan about karaoke. Not just one single answer because, there are many different reasons why it's popular.

I did say that first of all, no place to sing when you want to sing. Of course we like to sing like any other people but we have no means to do it because like I explained it's not polite to just start singing willy nilly everywhere. But actually not everyone likes the singing part of karaoke. Sometimes they just like to listen to others sing. I have several friends who don't like to sing but because everyone wants to go, they just come and listen so we can all hang out. And some go to karaoke even for a project/business/whatever meeting because you can stay for a long time (cheaply) plus you can work there privately. Some people do this at a family restaurant but usually you can't stay long.

I did mention about the aspect of stress release But yes you are correct, Japan is a very conservative country so Karaoke is a popular place to go to "let it rip". But I think I've answered that already in the OP?


About snakku and other places which offer karaoke...hmmm..well first of all I don't regularly go to snakku because it's more of men (usually businessmen or older guys) who go there. The women working there and entertain or serve the customers by pouring drinks, singing karaoke or chatting. So as a woman, I cannot really enjoy karaoke when I am there. Maybe for men? And kurabu, very few women go there since it's targeted towards males. I recently went to snakku and it was fun but usually it's not private. All customers are mixed together in a small space so really, you can't sing normally.

I hope my answer is more clear hehe

Oh EDIT. I just remembered, one BIG reason why karaoke is popular is that everyone can go. And high school students or young adults are the driving force behind the popularity of almost anything so I think that's one thing to consider. ^^ Recently Anna to yuki no jou (Frozen is the english title I think) songs are popular and I hear a lot of kids sing it in karaoke XD

A very interesting reply-thanks for taking the time to answer this great mystery. I would have assumed it was more of stress relief but your answer showed their is more to it than just that. I was surprised it is a cheap evening. As an American the assumption is if it involves drinks (ETOH) it isn't cheap. Also it is surprising to me that you can inexpensively rent it out for most of the evening.

I knew many Japanese live in apartments. I would have assumed they were well built with well insulated walls and that you could not hear your neighbors. I thought only Americans built shoddy apartments...

As an aside, in the preelectronic world people sang and made music more often. It is probably one of the most natural and healthy things to do.

So when IGO players sing Karaoke do they ever sing the Hikaru theme songs.....

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Walla Walla GO Club -(on FB)

We play because we enjoy the beauty of the game, the snap and feel of real stones, and meeting interesting people. Hope to see ya there! お願いします!

Anthony

Just for fun:

The IGO theme song from 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T8nCaotqRo

_________________
Walla Walla GO Club -(on FB)

We play because we enjoy the beauty of the game, the snap and feel of real stones, and meeting interesting people. Hope to see ya there! お願いします!

Anthony

Are these similar to 'Host' clubs I hear about in Japanese Drama's?

メールが送れてごめん Sorry for the late reply! >^<;;; I've been so busy and I almost forgot about replying.

There's definitely a lot of crappy apartments here in Japan. If you want a nicely soundproofed apartment, it's going to be very expensive. I probably have to eat only ramen to afford that kind of place lol.

For alcohol drinks in karaoke places, they're not really like super great alcohol so it's not so expensive. However for some bars or snakku/kurabu places the alcohol prices are super expensive. When I went the last time, one very thin bottle of white wine (I think only 2 full glasses could be filled) costs about 15,000yen. But I didn't pay for that so it was all right since my boss' friend paid for the whole party.

Yes, I definitely agree. There's a reason why humans started creating music in the first place. ^^

As for Hikaru theme songs, definitely anime fans sing them in karaoke. I sing hikaru no go's theme songs in karaoke too even before playing go. I don't know about most IGO players though...if they're older then definitely they might like singing enka or minyou (japanese traditional folk song).




Yes, kurabbu is hosuto kurabu (host club). I have a friend who did part-time in those places (as a floor girl not a hosto), and she said the host themselves are really just like actors. XD You're interested in host clubs??

Oh no, I'm not interested in host clubs. I've just seen them in J-Drama's and it sounded like the same thing, was just making the connection to add to my knowledge base. I love learning stuff like this about Japan and Japanese culture. I'm always waiting to hear more.

So do we get to see a video of you and your friends singing the Hikaru No GO theme song??!!

Thanks for all the informative replies, I think I have a little better understanding of the Karaoke culture.

Im surprised more people did not weigh in.

_________________
Walla Walla GO Club -(on FB)

We play because we enjoy the beauty of the game, the snap and feel of real stones, and meeting interesting people. Hope to see ya there! お願いします!

Anthony