Karaoke bars - unique to the Tokyo night life.

Can a city be complete without some good nightlife, both for the residents and tourists ?
And Tokyo was no exception. Infact, I should say it offered a wide range of options for
people with varied tastes.


Pic 1 : Tokyo at night - bustling with people even at midnight.

Ofcourse, they had the usual pubs, bars, strip clubs etc that you find in any major city in the world - India is not there yet though. But one entertainment option that I have never seen anywhere else was the Karaoke bars of Tokyo.

I had heard a lot about the very popular karaoke bars in Tokyo and one Saturday, had the opportunity to go see one for real with a colleague. Let's call him Will. Will has been coming
to Japan for a couple of years now and loves everything about Japan. He likes the place, the variety of cuisine available here, loves travelling around. And last but not the least, he loves karaoke bars.

But, what separates his love for karaoke bars from that of a normal visitor to the bar (me,
for example) is that the guy can sing real well and is an active participant in the karaoke bar. Most patrons, however are there for the music, the drinks, the fun of being in a cool hangout place etc. So, we go to this karaoke bar called "Champions" in Shinjuku at like 10PM on a Saturday.


Pic 2 : The entrance to Champions Karaoke bar, Shinjuku, Tokyo

The place is bustling with people, but we still manage to find ourselves a small table.
A Karaoke bar looks like a normal watering hole, with bartenders (usually attractive
women) serving patrons from behind the bar.



Pic 3 : The lovely bartenders at work - another busy night.

What is different is that they have the option of letting you unleash your singing talent, to an audience consisting of other patrons like you, who appreciate music and are very encouraging.
They have these huge books (thick as telephone directories) which have most English (and Japanese) songs listed. You select the song you would like to sing and note its number on a karaoke slip and hand it over to the bartender. If I remember right, it was 100 Yen for
singing one song.

Once your turn comes, the soundtrack of the song is played, plus the video is shown on the
TV along with the lyrics scrolling at the bottom. And you sing along. As simple as that. The
only catch being that you need to be good at it and also time yourselves properly with the
music.

Since I can't hold a tune, the only option for me was to do what I do best - enjoy my
beer, sit back and enjoy the music and admire the guys and girls that were able to sing
oh-so-beautifully. Some of them really did a great job of singing karaoke and to me it
almost sounded as good as if the original album itself was being played.

My friend Will is blessed with an awesome voice and did a great job of belting out some
really nice tracks. No wonder he built himself a huge fan following there and got some
real applause, which he ofcourse deserved.


Pic 4 : Will singing, while an enraptured audience looks on.



Pic 5 : Will having a fun time singing karaoke.

I did not have my video camera on me - something that I regret as I could not take
a video of the karaoke fun. Pictures really cannot do justice to the fun we had there.
Still, hope the few pictures I have posted alongside do their bit to show the fun that
we had.



Pic 6 : This girl also sang well. Cute girl too, ain't she ?




Pic 7 : Will gets some company for a song.

Finally at around 3:30AM, the bartenders wanted to call it a day and we were back on the streets after a night well spent. Now, thats one place I would like to go back to again, if I
get to be in Japan again.

P.S. : The Karaoke bars are one fun way to spend the night away. But make sure you do it on a Friday or Saturday because by the time you finish, it would be the early hours of morning and you won't be in a frame of mind to haul yourselves to work, all hung over and tired.