There's a reason they serve alcohol in bigger glasses at karaoke.

Tonight I was invited to an evening of sophisticated entertainment in downtown Hirakata for a taste of Japanese Karaoke. Despite having tests tomorrow and the next day, I figured correctly in that hops and loud noises help you concentrate. As it turns out trying to read the words on Japanese songs was awesome Hiragana practice, despite only knowing every third character.

Rather than the North American style of karaoke, in Japan you rent a room with a tv, 2 mics and unlimited drinks for a specified time period. Drinks are ordered through an intercom and songs are decided through a remote. Its weird because there isn't the pressure of being on stage, yet Japanese people are unusually good at karaoke, mostly ending in disgrace for westerners (moi). Its probably a good thing I didn't know drinks were unlimited, otherwise Ring of Fire would have gotten a whole lot more animated. The slightly odd thing about the Japanese and Karaoke is that it's not only something to do when you want to make a fool of yourself or have a good time with friends, I saw several rooms with only one or two people in them, making one question what the occupants were thinking. "Hey lets go on our first date to sing out of tune 80's songs to generic 70's music videos", or "gosh, I know I should go home to the wife and kids, but instead I'm going to go sit in a room alone and pretend I'm the American Idol winner."

Golden.