Altogether, I've done Karaoke three times. You might wonder, how could it possibly be that fun to go so much!? Well...it's different every time! The second time we went two weeks ago, we went to a place called Big Wave, which is a bit fancier than the place we went to last time which is notorious for being cheap. Big Wave is ¥1,000 per hour, with a deal of ¥2,500 for three hours. However, Big Wave has one very big advantage:
飲み放題 (nomihoudai)
All you can drink.
Now, I'm not really a drinker, but karaoke is quite fun when you've had a enough to make you giggly! I tried 梅酒 (umeshu), which is kind of like a plum wine. Then I had some normal western style Malibu to chase that down with since it was a bit sour. The people never came back to take our order again for drinks, so our nomihoudai kind of went to waste. Kaylie and I were going to try actual sake had they come back. Samurai Spirits! I guess we need to flag them down next time.
Before we went to Big Wave, we went to this Western food restaurant called Tomato and Onion! Their claim to fame is hamburgers, but not the kind on the bun. I'm talking about knife and fork hamburgers. I had an Italian burger, smothered in mozzarella cheese and marinara, then I had a deliciously delicious strawberry parfait. I think I've officially overcome any dislike of strawberries that I had once had. Yay me!
Lots of fun things happened! I thought that since we were only a group of four people that it wouldn't be that fun, but it actually was the best time I've had doing karaoke yet! We went with our friend Patrick from Mount and one of his friends, Ben, who is also in my speaking class. Things pretty much went crazy after we discovered the fast-foward button. I'm working on getting videos up on youtube so I can share them here. They're on my facebook if you've got me friended!
Let's just say that Bohemian Rhapsody at super speed when you're pretty giggly is quite the fun time! Also, I like doing "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga! Although, it gets stuck in my head for days after I sing it just once. Anyway, here's a few pictures from our Big Wave outing:
Kaylie, singing out her undying love for me.
Patrick! He totally gets into it! We can always count on him for his ecclectic tastes.
The week after, we went back to Ring because it's way cheaper. This time we had a pretty large sized group! I think we had eight people altogether. Ring is only ¥800 for eight hours if you arrive before 9:00, and they have soft drink nomihoudai! I'm still looking for a group of dedicated souls to do the epic 8-hour karaoke session with me one night!
This time really wasn't as fun. We had a few complainers with us who came to karaoke but didn't want to sing, and we also had some setbacks with the equipment in one of our rooms. People started leaving early and the mood just wasn't as festive as it usually is. Anyway, I still had some fun!
Have to throw this in -- I finally saw the poster hanging up somewhere! And that somewhere was Ring! This is the movie poster to the latest One Piece movie. I wanted to see it, but I have a feeling it won't be in theatres too much longer.
The first room we got put in had a really nice karaoke system, totally equipped for the needs of anime nerds. It even had all of these Sailor Moon songs that Kaylie wanted to sing. Unfortunately, the remotes you use to enter songs with died, so Patrick and I had to use our Japanese skills and fix the situation, which involved us getting put into a Japanese style room!
Wasn't necessarily a good thing though...the floors were SUPER sticky. In fact, in the one room, I almost lost a shoe D:!
I can't really do karaoke again until our scholarship stipend funds make it into the bank. I got my bank card though and I believe the rumor on the street is that we're getting our money on Monday! I can't wait to get out and see more of Japan!
Next up - Denden Town. On deck - Baikasai!
飲み放題 (nomihoudai)
All you can drink.
Now, I'm not really a drinker, but karaoke is quite fun when you've had a enough to make you giggly! I tried 梅酒 (umeshu), which is kind of like a plum wine. Then I had some normal western style Malibu to chase that down with since it was a bit sour. The people never came back to take our order again for drinks, so our nomihoudai kind of went to waste. Kaylie and I were going to try actual sake had they come back. Samurai Spirits! I guess we need to flag them down next time.
Before we went to Big Wave, we went to this Western food restaurant called Tomato and Onion! Their claim to fame is hamburgers, but not the kind on the bun. I'm talking about knife and fork hamburgers. I had an Italian burger, smothered in mozzarella cheese and marinara, then I had a deliciously delicious strawberry parfait. I think I've officially overcome any dislike of strawberries that I had once had. Yay me!
Lots of fun things happened! I thought that since we were only a group of four people that it wouldn't be that fun, but it actually was the best time I've had doing karaoke yet! We went with our friend Patrick from Mount and one of his friends, Ben, who is also in my speaking class. Things pretty much went crazy after we discovered the fast-foward button. I'm working on getting videos up on youtube so I can share them here. They're on my facebook if you've got me friended!
Let's just say that Bohemian Rhapsody at super speed when you're pretty giggly is quite the fun time! Also, I like doing "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga! Although, it gets stuck in my head for days after I sing it just once. Anyway, here's a few pictures from our Big Wave outing:
Kaylie, singing out her undying love for me. 
Patrick! He totally gets into it! We can always count on him for his ecclectic tastes.The week after, we went back to Ring because it's way cheaper. This time we had a pretty large sized group! I think we had eight people altogether. Ring is only ¥800 for eight hours if you arrive before 9:00, and they have soft drink nomihoudai! I'm still looking for a group of dedicated souls to do the epic 8-hour karaoke session with me one night!
This time really wasn't as fun. We had a few complainers with us who came to karaoke but didn't want to sing, and we also had some setbacks with the equipment in one of our rooms. People started leaving early and the mood just wasn't as festive as it usually is. Anyway, I still had some fun!
Have to throw this in -- I finally saw the poster hanging up somewhere! And that somewhere was Ring! This is the movie poster to the latest One Piece movie. I wanted to see it, but I have a feeling it won't be in theatres too much longer.The first room we got put in had a really nice karaoke system, totally equipped for the needs of anime nerds. It even had all of these Sailor Moon songs that Kaylie wanted to sing. Unfortunately, the remotes you use to enter songs with died, so Patrick and I had to use our Japanese skills and fix the situation, which involved us getting put into a Japanese style room!
Wasn't necessarily a good thing though...the floors were SUPER sticky. In fact, in the one room, I almost lost a shoe D:!
I can't really do karaoke again until our scholarship stipend funds make it into the bank. I got my bank card though and I believe the rumor on the street is that we're getting our money on Monday! I can't wait to get out and see more of Japan!
Next up - Denden Town. On deck - Baikasai!
I love karaoke in Japan!
ReplyDeletefast forward? wow! We never figured that out while we were there. O.o We fail. haha.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, they don't really come back often to take your drink orders for nomihoudai... but you can go out to the uketsuke at the front and ask them for drinks if you want something.
I love Ring. :) That's where I stayed my last night in Japan. Our bus to the airport left at like 8am so we slept overnight in one of the rooms in Ring. Well, more like slept for maybe 1.5 hours and sang all night. XD It was just me and my friend Maria but it was still a lot of fun and a good way to spend my last night in Japan. :) and the soft drink nomihoudai is pretty amazing, especially if you're a melon soda fiend like I am.
And congrats on finally getting your stipend! ^_^ The stipend = super special happy times.
I'm still needing to get together some people who are willing to do epic 8 hour karaoke with me! XD
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