KA-RA-O-KE

They can't all love it, can they? Seriously? All of Japan obsessed with karaoke, drunken singing in a group of people 'til the wee small hours of the morning?

Um, yes. OBSESSED. I suppose it was invented here, though, wasn't it?

If you go to any city in this country, you will find numerous little izakayas (pubs) with a focus on late-night karaoke-ing. Giant cities, tiny towns, they've all got them, and plenty of them. When Steven lived in Fukuoka, we decided to take a night to check out the "young" part of the city, the really happening area where everyone parties until the sun comes up. You know what we found there before stumbling upon the nightclub we had been previously searching for? About fifty karaoke clubs. Rent rooms by the hour, all-you-can-drink, whatever and that was it, for the most part. In Philly, we often went to $2 Pint Night, which had karaoke as well, but it was more of a joke for most people. I remember there being something like this in Philadelphia called "Yakitori Boy" but it was one of the dodgiest places I remember coming across in that part of the city.

Anywho, there's something here called enka which is traditional Japanese songs sung in a loud, drawn-out, shaky voice from both men and women. It is actually quite adorable to watch the elderly take their limelight and croon to these toons. . . for no more than ten minutes, maybe. But they go on for hours and hours if you let them! I really can't take too much of it at once. All the songs start blurring together after a certain point and the night just becomes one whole blob of enka with some dinner and drinks on the side. I've had the pleasure of joining Yasuda townspeople in numerous enkais (parties) for random things like sports days, celebrating the end or beginning of the year, congratulating people for accompishing some event, or whatever else tickles their fancies. They LOVE to party in Yasuda!

I just walked back to school from a mid-day enkai which I was invited to attend by a member of the group (something like the Lions' Club in the U.S., I imagine). Needless to say I didn't drink at this one, which may be why it seemed so much longer than most others I have been to, but it was sweet. I had the honor of sitting next to the Mayor of Yasuda and being the youngest in the room (by decades and mostly half-centuries!). He proved to be an excellent enka singer! They tried their damnedest to get me to sing something, but I quickly reminded them that my Japanese is nowhere near good enough to sing these songs. They pointed out the Beatles songs in the back of the book, but I still declined saying that it would obviously be too difficult.

The truth is that tomorrow night I'll be attending a beer party in Nahari (a neigboring town) and there is no way I would be able to have this two days in a row. Either way, it was lovely to see these elderly folks enjoying themselves so much.