In a country where sports bars and dives primarily cater to foreigners and tourists, snacks - more than boxes, which are private and all relatively similar - allow locals from multiple ages and social strata to come together. To him, “karaoke is a way to learn about life.” Pre-pandemic, some of his favorite karaoke snacks across the city were Joy in the Nakameguro neighborhood, Chaniwa in Sangenjaya, and the now-closed Micky in hip Ebisu. Kai Yakushiji, a 29-year-old sales planner at Spotify Japan, was introduced to karaoke by his grandmother when he was a kid. Hopefully, we can return sooner than later. I talked to Tokyo locals about what karaoke means to them, their favorite memories from behind the mic, and the places that typified what it meant to live and sing in Tokyo, pre-pandemic. In an era of social distancing, there’s still a long way to go before friends openly gather to blow off steam with karaoke.īut karaoke can help us heal, even while we hit pause.
But even though people in cities like Tokyo have the option to visit their favorite karaoke box or snack bar again, keeping the lights on seems mostly symbolic. In a world where karaoke bars have gone silent, Japan’s reopened in May. It is embraced by tech-savvy hipsters and buttoned-up businessmen alike, as at home in the twisting alleys of Shinjuku as the subterranean subway izakaya.īut this year is… different. In manga kissas - private rooms where friends pull manga off the stacks while snacking and drinking - karaoke is the neverending soundtrack. It’s a major draw at sunakku (snack bars), where strangers learn one another’s names through the magic of the karaoke machine. It’s alive in the hundreds of thousands of private-room karaoke boxes, where glowing tambourines and mics fuel seemingly endless nights (the nomihōdai, or “all-you-can-drink” option, also helps). In Japan, karaoke is a way of life embedded in the cultural fabric. Then, as now, it was a social balm and an excuse for revelry in good times and bad.
The inspiration from the Far East, however, seems to stop here - inside, you won't find any Chinese, Korean, or Japanese songs to sing, although there are tracks by the usual suspects like Mariah Carey, Salt-N-Pepa, and Bon Jovi.When Kobe-based musician Daisuke Inoue debuted the first karaoke machine in Japan back in the ‘70s, it became an enduring national pastime, a collective release during an oppressively bleak financial crisis. While Blind Dragon can get real crowded, you'll find the rowdiest groups in the karaoke rooms: three spacious private areas behind doors marked with the auspicious Chinese symbol lù, which indicates prosperity. The main space is tight, and served by scantily clad waitresses dressed in garments that look dangerously close to kimonos (some make the grave error of sticking chopsticks in their hair). Hidden in the basement of the Found Hotel, the dimly lit lounge is a seductive space for drinking and dancing to a DJ, filled with velvet couches, leopard-print bar stools, and old-fashioned red lampshades. It's the second outpost of this "Asian-inspired" karaoke lounge by the LA-based H.Wood Group, following the 2015 opening of the original Blind Dragon in West Hollywood. Wells St., River North) too early: the party here doesn't start until well past 11 p.m.