Tokyo - AKB48 Karaoke Party

Since we actually finished the dinner early, it wasn't that late.  Against my better judgment, someone suggested going to Karaoke and at this point I couldn't say no (although I tried!)

Actually Karaoke in Japan is pretty awesome. Rather than the HK/China style with the remote control,  here everything is controlled from these touch panels. They have tons of songs, including a pretty good selection of non-Japanese stuff of course.

Yes, there are 35 pages worth of Hamasaki Ayumi songs to choose from! I could stay all day! :-P

We were graced with the presence of a stage professional,  so I figured the singing would be above average for this visit.

But the big surprise was Zuzu-Jr-kun...  He basically could sing ANYTHING... no matter how high the key... (very important for JPOP!) and not JUST sing it, but do the dance moves too. 

Does SMAP need a new member?

Actually forget SMAP, he should join ' AKB48'... for those who may not yet have the pleasure of knowing about it... AKB48 is a girl super-group that caters to and is popular with, amongst others, the OTAKU subculture...  their headquarters is in Akihabara (hence the 'AKB') and yes, you guessed it,  there are FORTY EIGHT (48) members!

One might wonder how you can have a musical act with more members than a broadway musical has cast members... but somehow they manage to do it.  (obviously not all 48 are equal in skill or exposure).

Anyway their music is pure Japanese geekdom fantasy... cute girls doing synchronized dancing to catchy pop tunes.  Zuzu's son actually sang a few of their song

In fact I got a bit of it on video...  he reallyis quite good at it! :-P

scary good!  I imagine he practices quite a bit at home! :-D

And in case you haven't had enough of AKB48,  here's the video you saw -

WARNING: This is ABSOLUTELY DISTURBINGLY SACCHARINY SWEET AND YET SIMULTANEOUSLY OVERTLY OVER-SEXUALIZED!

WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK! (also I should warn you that the tune is going to be stuck in your head for the next few hours once watching...)

That video is pretty disturbing isn't it!?!  Its not QUITE as bad as it seems,  most of the main girls are well into their 20s,  but some of the 'supporting members' are not.  quite creepy actually...  just imagine all the Otaku who do inappropriate things to themselves while watching this geek-p0rn...

TAGS: AKB48 Karaoke Akihabara Shinjuku