Hey oh y’all,
So this past weekend my host mother took me to a karaoke
bar. It was a cool little place with only a bar for about 6-7 people. And of
course everybody there knows everybody else (and they seem to all go way back).
Unlike karaoke box places – which are private rooms – this was an open bar
where you pass the mic to the person sitting next to you (they hear you, you
hear them) and even the bartender (affectionately called “mama”) will even jump
in.
As evidenced by the song choice clientele and the staff were
older than me – they all…without any loss of generality… chose enka songs (enka
is Japanese ballad – you know the sad, teary, drawn out, warbly songs? Those).
And they all without loss of generality can sing enka.
And so, my choice of AKB48 and Flow (j-pop/rock known for
anime openings) were a bit out of place. But so was I and that’s what made it
fun – first they were surprised that I could sing Japanese (since I can’t talk
in it), second, they at least knew of AKB48, started laughing, and told me to
dance it. Of course the hilarious guy sitting next to me then stuck his pinky
out – if an old Japanese man does this to you, he’s talking about your
girlfriend (or asking if you have one…why garufurendo is one of the few English
words Japanese old guys know is beyond me). Why they would ask me if I had a
girlfriend after I sung an AKB48 song, I don’t know, but I’m guessing they were
checking how otaku I am…a not unreasonable check to be sure.
Anyways it was a lot of fun hanging out with ji-chans and
ba-chans for the night singing random songs (best part about an audience that
doesn’t know the songs you are singing – they don’t know if you are singing
well or not). If your host mother invites you to karaoke – go! Just be prepared
to sing (you can sing an English song as well – emotions of a song do carry
across languages). It’s fun and a decent ego boost :P.
DC
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