Karaoke Blog post 2
In the presentation done in class I looked into the history of karaoke and now I will look into karaoke in Hakodate.
In Japan Karaoke is a very popular socializing activity. In Sapporo
and Hokkaido there were many karaoke bars on the streets. Since we have not done
karaoke yet, I interviewed 2 university students. These girls had their first
experience with karaoke at the age of ten, and sixteen. It seems to be more
common to go to karaoke with close friends. Misato’s parents do not like
karaoke so she has never been to karaoke with her parents whereas Yuna went to
karaoke with her parents when she was a young girl. However, as she grew up,
she started to only go to karaoke with friends. Yuna prefers to go to karaoke only
with very close friends whereas Misato enjoys going with people she just met as
an ice breaker. No karaoke bar seems to be more popular than other ones; it
just comes down to personal preference. For example, Yuna’s favorite karaoke
bar is called MASH, and in Misato’s home town (Nakashibetsu) there was only one
karaoke bar called UTAYA. They have
different comfort zones when going out to karaoke but they both love to sing.
We plan to ask Misato, Yuna, and Yuka to come karaoke with us at night to
experience Japanese karaoke. They enjoy
going at night time because you can drink and let go of everything (forget
about your responsibilities/release your inhibitions) and just feel good. At night
they also have free flowing drinks so you can enjoy drinking and singing all
night long without having to continuously pay for more drinks.
My experience with karaoke contrasts these 3 ladies because
the first time I went to a karaoke bar in Calgary I was 18. It was with some
close friends and some friends of friends or people that I was acquaintances
with. In Calgary, drinks are not free flowing so it was very expensive to drink
and sing karaoke.
Although wanakara seems to be popular in Tokyo, I have not
seen any wanakara karaoke bars in Hakodate. Yuna and Misato have also never
been to wanakara but Misato hopes to try it one day. If I find a wanakara karaoke bar I would like
to try it as well.
Next week we are going to tram car karaoke which is a very
unique activity that is only offered in Hakodate. This will be a very special
experience and hopefully afterwards I can compare wanakara, regular karaoke bars,
and tram car karaoke and interpret my own experiences.
Photo's will be posted after we go and experience all the different types of karaoke!
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