06/10 - Izakaiya & Karaoke
Tonight was one of the most fun nights of my life.
Hajimete
First, tonight was the first time I had ever both eaten and drunk at an izakaiya
and sung in a Japanese karaoke room. These two things, compared to the rest
of what interesting social activities I've done throughout my life, rank far among
the top. We went because it was Ry and Reina chan's birthdays. Also, Asami chan,
a girl who went to Alabama for a year and who goes to college in Tokyo now, was
having her birthday soon. The first time doing things, especially very culturally
unique things, is one of those awesome once in a lifetime things.
Bring it to the US
So most of the US students agreed, why aren't there places like izakaiya
in the US? Bars are very similar compared to each other, and don't vary much from
place to place. But we all thought, in the midst of 10 typical American bars,
what if there was a stylish classy traditional Japanese style bar with sliding
doors, dark lights, good sake instead of Bud Light, and houdai. Nomi houdai
is basically "all you can eat" in terms of drinking. There would
probably have to be some way, financially, to deal with the no limit drinking
that would go in our izakaiya, but even if the cost were double that
of Japan, to deal with the gluttonous drinking habits of Americans, we think people
would still come.
A Night in the Life
Perhaps this was the first night that we were all able to experience in harmony
with the way of the Japanese college student. For a special occasion, our close
friend's birthday, we'll go to a fancy bar/restaurant and pay for the 2 hour all
you can drink special with constant Japanese food flowing onto our tables. While
there we'll clap hundreds of times, take a ton of pictures, introduce ourselves
in front of the crowd, talk amongst our small groups as friends, and eat and drink
to our hearts' content. I can't quite place this experience in American terms
- again, there is no such place. I can only find an eating extreme and a drinking
extreme.
The eating extreme - TGI Fridays. Very expensive, unoriginal food with a sort
of bland, fake, atmosphere. Sure they'll sing you happy birthday and the food
will be typically delicious and filling, but it won't be something unique.
The drinking extreme - The Booth on the strip (RIP). Loud and impersonal, yet
supposedly friendly people are everywhere. The food is nasty. You've either come
here together with friends just to hang out and have a few drinks, or come here
with one purpose in mind.
There is no middle ground. No place offers amazingly arranged and tasty food along
with great drink service for only $30 per person. The izakaiya is an
amazing place, and I know if I ever take return trips to Japan I will not leave
without going to one. Japanese people have it lucky, even if it's just poor students
for their special occasions.
Karaoke
Tonight was the first night I had ever seen or done karaoke too. First song we
did was Queen - Don't Stop Me Now, with me the soloist. We went on to
sing Aiko, The Beatles, Ricky Martin, Spice Girls, and much much more. It was
effusively energetic, I had never seen such inspiring performances before. I think
the reason behind karaoke's popularity is that it lets people be free amongst
their friends, kind of like drinking at the izakaiya does. Japanese culture
sort of restricts that variety of freedom, in that it prescribes people be quiet
and go with the group, rather than express themselves individually. Anyway, comparing
the widespread popularity of the karaoke with the diminuitive popularity of weird
things like otaku fringe culture makes me happy about Japanese culture as a whole.
I like it.