KARAOKE

God how I love it!!!!!!!!!!!



Karaoke (which, by the way, should be pronounced cah-rah-oh-kay) is without a doubt one of my great joys in Japan. On Friday night, I went out with a very mixed group of karaoke enthusiasts -- three from France, two from Germany, three native Tokyo-ites, and little old me. The French people sang some French songs, Ze Germans sang a German version of '99 Red Balloons', I sang what little reggae they had (UB40 counts as reggae, right?), and the young Japanese man in the first picture entertained us by singing a number of theme songs from Japanese anime shows.



Karaoke here is very different: here you and your friends get a private room, rather than perform in front of a room of strangers. Each room comes with an eletronic device that allows you to select your songs, and you don't even have to go to a bar -- you simply pick up the phone on the wall, place your order in the kitchen, and a waiter magically appears with a tray of booze. It's so great!

Today I went with one of Ze Germans on a hike in the nearby mountains. West Tokyo is actually quite mountainous, and there are many lovely hiking trails. We went to the Ruins of Hachioiji Castle, but honestly it was SO ruined there was pretty much nothing left, other than a few stone walls and walkways. But it was still a nice trek in the bush.



Pretty Buddhist temple in the forest, built to honor those who were killed during the invasion and destruction of the Castle during the 1500s when the clans were fighting for power.



Big fat spider.



These lovely people struck up a conversation with us on the mountain top picnic spot, gave us some tea and chicken, and chatted with us. They were very nice, and were not the only people there using ski poles!