While the 21st birthday has special significance in the states, the golden age in Japan is 20, when people can drink sake, smoke, vote, buy a car, buy a phone, etc. All the same, my host parents went out of their way to make sure I had a great birthday, beginning with a candle at breakfast, and including a present (a Japanese board game called Reversi) and going out to dinner. We went to an all-you-can-eat (tabehodai) bread restaurant, where the waiters and waitresses come around with baskets of various types of bread and offer them as a side to the main meal. Since I like bread and LOVE Japanese bread this was a dream come true, and I owe it to my host parents for everything they did for me. お世話になりました！
I was subtle about telling my new friends that it was my birthday, since I didn't want to make a fuss about doing something for it and making them feel obligated. On the day of my birthday in Japanese class, though, the topic happened to be "when is your birthday and what do you want" to practice the word hoshii, meaning "want." When they found out my birthday was that day, they all sung me happy birthday. lol
After class, I sat around by the bookstore on the second floor of the student union (Copain) and studied old Japanese notes. We gathered friends and waited to hear about the weather report, which was predicting a vicious typhoon that would hit sometime that night and probably last until the morning. Deciding to risk it, at around 6 I went with Van, Joel, and my other friends through the rain, first to eat at a department store and then to go to karaoke.
Growing up, my view of karaoke like many people in the states was of a bar-setting where people were singing off a teleprompter in front of a crowd of strangers. Not for me, no thanks. Before leaving for Japan, however, my friends had dragged me to karaoke at a Korean-owned establishment, which provided a completely different experience. A group of friends would be given their own room, and they would choose songs and sing together.
Japan karaoke turned out to be very similar, except to the extreme because Japan is, afterall, the king of karaoke. Not only were there separate rooms depending on the group, but there were tons of rooms packed on multiple floors, each complete with at least two mics, song books, and electronic song choosers (for lack of a better name). I went that night with the intention of having a good time; not necessarily singing, but hanging with friends and experiencing another side of Japan. It soon became apparent that the power of the situation gets everyone singing. This is how a lot of people have fun in Japan, and no matter what your aversion before coming, after a while it's bound to happen - you're going to enjoy karaoke. :p My friends and I eventually started going every week or two, once going THREE TIMES in one week. How can we afford it you ask, Japan being so expensive? In fact, with a student discount we could go to our favorite karaoke joint (Karaoke Yuubou) during the day for only 100 yen every half an hour. That includes bottomless soft drinks, so after 2 in that half hour you're already saving money. It got to the point were I had a pretty sizable playlist on my iPod, devoted to songs I chose ahead of time to sing at karaoke. If anyone from Nanzan wants to trade playlists, let me know!
Someone had decided that it would be cool to organize a big group to go to karaoke on Friday, the 19th of September, for all-you-can-drink (nomihodai). This was a bit more expensive, around 3700 yen for the whole night from 7:30 pm to 5:00 am. Sugoi, ne? And so it happened that my first time going to karaoke in Japan landed on my birthday purely by coincidence. Not only that, but it turned out to be a great way of forming deeper bonds of friendship, and those who went became some of my best friends for the remaining 3 months. I sang only about 10 songs, but the machines were literally going nonstop till the end. I do regret running off to sing one song while in the middle of a phone call with my girlfriend wishing me happy birthday. She does so much for me, I wonder why she puts up with my stupidity a lot of the time. I love you so much, honey!! At around 1:30 I tried to get some sleep, but ended up getting only about an hour.
So we left karaoke at 5 and went home, noticing a fallen tree branch and sign as the only visible effects of the typhoon, only to meet up later with friends at Ossu Kannon at 1 pm. One of my friends passed the time by riding the train in circles and taking a nap. XD
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