Archive for category Karaoke
April 24, 2005 – Singing Celine Dion for beer
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Karaoke, Shizuoka on April 24, 2015
Tonight was another fun night out with Azeroth and friends.
Azeroth was friends with Koalako, one of the students at Mishima NOVA. I had taught her many times before, and she was always a fun person to talk to. Koalako lives in Atami, a nearby city built on the side of a mountain on the ocean. Atami is a terrible place to try to ride a bicycle, but a great place to see fireworks, and is famous for its many hot springs.
I met up with Azeroth, Koalako, and Koalako’s friend (that Azeroth was interested in) in Mishima. I was just finishing work and they had already had a few drinks. We all got on Tokaido line for the 12 minute ride east to Atami. In Atami, we drank beer while walking down the steep roads towards the waterfront. Azeroth, being the classy guy that he is, stopped to pee on the side of the mountain while the ladies and I were watching the fireworks. When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.
We caught the end of a fantastic firework show, with colours reflecting off the ocean. After the show was done, Koalako got a call from her parents. They had never met anyone from outside of Japan before, so they invited us to have some beer and snacks at their local pub. Azeroth and I are not known to turn down beer, so we were on our way.
The pub was a traditional “snack” style izakaya. The room itself was small, with several tables facing a long bar counter. In total there was probably seating for 25-30 people maximum. It was a small mom and pop bar that catered to a small group of regular customers from the area. The atmosphere was cozy and friendly, especially because we were the guests of some regulars.
Koalako’s parents were very friendly and outgoing. They greeted us and then started ordering an impressive display of izakaya food and beer. All of the beer was in one litre bottles. The women at the table took turns filling up our small glasses every time there was any space in them. Azeroth and I didn’t pour any of our own drinks. When you are drinking from small glasses that are instantly refilled, it is very easy to lost track of how much you have consumed. Naturally, this led to only one possible outcome: karaoke.
Mama-san (the female owner) brought over the microphones and the song list. There were only about 8 English songs in the whole book. The selection would have made Canadian AM radio proud; Elvis, Paul Anka, Ritchie Valens, and for some reason, Celine f**king Dion. Since we were being treated to our beer and food, Azeroth and I did our best to entertain our hosts. My Elvis and Paul Anka were passable (despite not knowing the songs well), but my version of “My Heart with Go On” was epically awful. Azeroth was laughing the whole time at making the Canadian guy sing Celine Dion. However, he did bail me out half way through the song as we turned it into an over the top duet.
After more beer than I can count and some good karaoke thanks to Koalako and parents, we noticed that it was getting dangerously close to the last train of the evening. Koalako’s father was worried that we would get lost walking to the station, so he got mama-san to call us a taxi to get us to the station. We thanked our hosts for the fun evening, and protested as Koalako’s father made sure to pay the taxi driver in advance as we were leaving. Koalako’s father is great!
The train ride home seemed about 6 times as long as the ride there, and the walk back to our apartment took forever, owing mainly to the fact that we were unable to walk in a straight line. The evening was a lot of fun, but I am not looking forward to the next morning.
(2015 Update) This is a greatly expanded version of my post from 10 years ago. I added in a lot of detail and mentioned that Koalako was a student, something that I smartly omitted the first time around. I ran into Koalako’s father when I was visiting Japan in 2013, and found that he was still as friendly and outgoing as ever.
February 1, 2005 – What makes a lady “foxy”?
Posted by Barniferous in Karaoke, Shizuoka, The Penpal on February 1, 2015
Everyone at work has colds. I felt like I was starting to get something, so I had a very relaxing day off. To be fair, I am pretty lazy on most of my days off.
In the evening I hung out with The Penpal and her friend Williams, who had just returned to Japan from a 3 month trip to England, with a run through Italy, Belguim, and France on the way home. His English definitely sounded different after a few months of speaking with native speakers.
When a Japanese person goes to another country to practice English, they usually come back with a bit of the local accent, and some more casual expressions. Nobody was going to mistake Williams for a Londoner, but he did sound more James Bond than he did previously. He was also using “like”, “you know”, and “know what I mean” liberally. These space filling expressions really help an ESL speaker sound more like a native speaker.
Despite my intentions to take care of my voice, the three of us ended up at karaoke. My new song of the evening was “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix, which thankfully doesn’t require a lot of singing ability. After the song finished, I had to try to explain what exactly makes a lady “foxy” to both The Penpal and Williams. English is hard!
December 15, 2004 – Immigration office master
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Karaoke, Life in Japan, Tokyo on December 15, 2014
My Weezer shirt that I bought in Harajuku
Today I went to the immigration office in Shinyurigaoka to get my re-entry permit for my passport. I now feel pretty confident in my skills at navigating the immigration office, and can usually be in and out in about 10 minutes.
Like most people, my work visa expires after a certain period of time (one year for me), and will also expire if I leave the country. To prevent the visa from expiring when I go home, I needed to buy a re-entry permit. The permits are available as one time permits or unlimited times for the period of one year. Since I am only planning to leave Japan and return once in the next year, I bought the cheaper one time permit.
Immigration officers are not allowed to handle cash directly, which is a nice way to prevent anything shady from happening. I had to go to a small convenience store in the same building to buy a voucher for a re-entry stamp. I then returned to the immigration office, where they exchanged the voucher for a sticker in my passport.
After finishing up at the immigration office, I spent most of my day exploring some cool stores in Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku. I bought some books for my flight home at Kinokuniya, and a cool Weezer shirt in Harajuku.
In the evening, I met up with Okonomi in Noborito. We went out for Okonomiyaki for dinner and then went to karaoke. Since I was traveling back to Numazu, it was a much more reserved karaoke experience that the last time. After karaoke I gathered up all of the Christmas presents that I couldn’t bring home on my shopping trip to Asakusa, and then returned to Numazu. It was a fun day, but the highlight was explaining to a taxi driver at Numazu station where I lived in Japanese, and having him drive me to the right place!
If you have only ever spoken one language, this doesn’t sound like much of an accomplishment, but trust me, it felt great.
November 3, 2004 – First day at Mishima NOVA
Posted by Barniferous in Azeroth, Friends and coworkers, Karaoke on November 3, 2014
Beware of purse snatchers – seen near Mishima station
Today was my first day at my new branch, Mishima NOVA. My new school only has a total of 8 teachers, which is a nice change from the 24 or so in Kawasaki NOVA. The atmosphere is a lot more relaxed and organized, and there is already a much greater variety of students. I don’t expect to have Sundays full of four engineer lessons anymore!
The school is in a building directly across the street from the south exit of Mishima station. The classroom area is less claustrophobic than Kawasaki NOVA, and there are good sized Voice and NOVA Kids classrooms. The only complaints so far are that the teacher’s room is small and extremely narrow, the surrounding area doesn’t have a huge choice for food, and the washrooms only have squat toilets. I am very concerned about the squat toilets!
After work I went out for drinks and karaoke (again) with Azeroth and one of the branch managers. This was my second night in a row at Uta Club. Both Azeroth and the manager were very good singers, so I had to compensate by being very loud.
Karaoke rule number 1: If you can’t sing well, you should at least sing loudly while flailing your arms around 🙂
November 2, 2004 – This karaoke looks familiar
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Karaoke, Shizuoka on November 2, 2014
I slept a lot during the daytime to catch up on my recently lack of sleep. I was planning on having a quiet evening at home, but Palmer invited me to go out with a few of his friends that were visiting. Realizing this would be a good way to get to know my new roommate better (and have beer), I agreed and we were on our way.
Our first stop was a small izakaya on the main street that runs by Seiyu. It was a small izakaya where Palmer and friends have been several times, so the service was really friendly. Notable on the menu was whale sashimi. Yes, raw whale meat was available for purchase. I was curious, but one order cost nearly 2000 yen.
Raw whale meat – controversial and possibly delicious
After beer and non-whale pub food, we went to a karaoke place called Uta Club which is conveniently located across from Numazu station’s south exit. Uta Club is popular because it is one of the cheapest karaoke places in Numazu. One hour of all you can drink karaoke costs 780 yen, and there is a special cheap price after midnight. After a short time, I realized that I was in the same place that The Penpal took me for my first karaoke experience in Japan.
From Numazu station to my new apartment is about a 15 minute walk. It seems much, much longer when you are full of cheap beer. I don’t know the way perfectly yet, so I am very happy that Palmer knew where he was going.
So far I have been in Numazu for two days and had two fun nights out. Hopefully this continues!
October 28, 2004 – Farewell karaoke
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Karaoke on October 28, 2014
Tonight was my final Thursday night karaoke before I move to Shizuoka. Since my work farewell party didn’t really happen due to poor planning (on my part) and the horrible cold that was going around, tonight was my official NOVA farewell party.
We met at Big Echo in Yokohama at 9:30 like usual and got a room for 9 people. More people started coming in, and at our peak we had 15 people jammed into a room built for 9. It was a lot of fun and a great final night to hang out with my Kawasaki NOVA coworkers.
I love karaoke!
October 25, 2004 – My farewell party
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Hello House, Karaoke, Lux on October 25, 2014
Tonight was my Hello House farewell party. It was a lot more subdued than the previous evening’s activities, but was still a lot of fun. Yes, more beer and karaoke 🙂
(2014 Update) One of the residents of Hello House at the time was Dan Bailey, who was an English teacher at the time. Dan has now gone on to fame and success as one half of Tokyo Dandy, a pair of influential fashion party blogger guys. Dan was good friends with Lux, but I always got the impression that he didn’t like me. It turns out that I was wrong, and Dan did a lot make sure I had a well organized and fun farewell party. Thanks Dan!
October 24, 2004 – Singing Tupac for free drinks
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Karaoke on October 24, 2014
Somehow I had another special topic voice at Keikyu Kawasaki school. After work I was supposed to have my official office farewell party. Unfortunately due to lack of communication and the evil cold that is going around, only three people (including me) showed up. To make up for it, there will be an extra large crowd at karaoke on Thursday.
I went home, still in a party mood, so I Okonomi and I set out for food, drinks, and karaoke. Karaoke is better in larger groups, and can be awkward with just two people. However, after making liberal use of the all you can drink service, we didn’t seem to mind.
In the middle of one of Okonomi’s songs, a drunk Japanese guy walked into our room by accident. He looked around and realized that he was in the wrong place. He instantly started apologizing. We told him that it was no problem, and that he was our new tomodachi (friend). This made him happy, so he started dancing while we were singing. Suddenly, without any warning, he reached over, grabbed Okonomi’s chest with both hands and said “opai!” (boobs!). Normally getting groped by a drunk stranger would start a fight. Okonomi was surprised, but then started laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Our new friend and I started laughing too. He then apologized once more and left to find his original karaoke room.
Okonomi and I kept singing and drinking until our time expired, and then went to settle the bill. Before we left, one of us got the idea that we should see if our breast grabbing friends was still around. We peeked in the windows of the other rooms until we found him and his friends. We opened the door to say hi, and he quickly welcomed us in and gave us drinks.
Somehow we were part of their group now. The group picked songs for each of us. I can’t remember what Okonomi sang, but she did a great job at it. For my turn I had to sing “Changes” by Tupac Shakur. I had never heard the song before, but managed to follow along and got a standing ovation at the end.
On the way home we stopped at Family Mart for some food to absorb some of the excess alcohol in our systems. There is nothing quite like convenience store pastries after way too much fun at karaoke. Okonomi was in worse shape than I was, so I had to walk back with her arm around my neck to keep her stable. When we returned to Hello House I tried to take her to her room, but she declined and said that her room was too lonely. Uh-oh. We returned to my room, where I graciously offered her my futon while I crashed out on my foldy floor couch.
At some point during the night I woke up sweating with a large weight on me. No, it’s not what you think! Okonomi had woken up and decided to return to her room to sleep. In her intoxicated state, she mistook my futon for a blanket and put it on top of me before she left. Judging by how hot I was, I must have been sleeping under my heavy, warm futon for a while.
It was another fun and crazy night drinking in Japan, and one that I was going to pay for the next day.
October 14, 2004 – Phoala’s farewell – part one
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Karaoke, Yokohama on October 14, 2014
Phoala’s farewell party – part 1
Tonight was Phoala’s official farewell party. I traded for an early shift so I could go home and get ready for a big night out. Our plan is Thursday night karaoke in Yokohama, then staying out all night in Roppongi.
I met up with Phoala, Archie, and K-Lo, who used to work at Kawasaki NOVA but had been transferred to Hiyoshi to try to improve the school. K-Lo was slightly annoyed to find that Ruby, one of our karaoke regulars, had brought along a female student that she was interested in. Hanging out with students was an official no-no, but since it was Phoala’s last night, K-Lo decided to turn a blind eye.
In addition to Ruby’s guest, Jem’s sister was visiting from England. I have talked before about how amazing Jem’s singing is. Jem had been telling us that her sister had an even better singing voice than she did. Jem has always been the best singer in our group by far, so we couldn’t imagine anyone actually being better. However, she was right and we were all treated to some amazing singing by Jem and sister. We were seriously blown away by their talent.
The rest of us sounded extra terrible by comparison, but all you can drink karaoke has little to do with actually being a good singer. We all had fun badly singing along to our regular songs. Archie made sure to sing the entire Styx classic “Mr. Roboto”. The album version is five and a half minutes long, but somehow it seems much longer in a karaoke room.
After two hours of karaoke, Phoala, Archie, K-Lo and I headed off for Roppongi. We got there just after midnight so the story continues on the next post.
October 5, 2004 – A bomb with skull and crossbones
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Karaoke, Lux on October 5, 2014
Today was another rainy day in Kawasaki. Lux is leaving for vacation to Canada for 3 weeks on Wednesday. Before she leaves, Zoe and I decided to take her out for dinner at Gyukaku. Yum!
After yet another fantastic dinner of grilled awesomeness at Gyukaku, we went out to karaoke at a place close to Noborito station on the Tama River. I can’t remember the name, but it was great! The song selection was huge; I sang the theme from Sesame Street, 21st Century Digital Boy by Bad Religion, and Sugar by System of a Down.
The drink menu was also huge, with a very long list of different cocktails available. The ingredients for each were all written in Japanese. I could only understand about half of the menu, but one drink caught my attention. The picture showed a clear, bubbly drink that looked like a gin and tonic. However, there was a picture of a bomb with a skull and crossbones next to the drink. Taking this as a challenge instead of a warning, I ordered the mysterious cocktail.
For the record, I have never tried drinking industrial strength drain cleaner before, but I am pretty sure that it tastes better than the bomb cocktail. Blerg!
Drinking in Japan 
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