japanese idol

yesterday i had my first experience with japanese kareoke, lost in translation style. now i "get" it.

basically about 10 of us ecc teachers stumbled downtown without much ambition or forethought, so the one guy that actually speaks japanese decided that we should try kareoke. basically you pay for one hour time slots and then you get your own room. the room has your standard kareoke equipment and some sofas, but like everything in japan, its really undersized (ie: its not supposed to hold 10 western people). then you get some catalogues and remotes, and everybody picks songs and dials them in and it gets queued up. theres 2 mikes in the room and usually everybody passes it around. we sang everything from the clash to the ramones to pearl jam to the beatles to 50 cent. we signed up for 1 hour originally but ended up staying for 3.

oh yeah, and theyre all you can drink establishments, which is dangerous for some people (not me this night). you get a phone in your room and when you want drinks you call downstairs, tell them what you want, and somebody comes up with them. very convenient and cool.

more later.