Day 7 Friday 2025 05 23 : Walk about, Karaoke Redemption

 My wife, songbird that she is, has the sleeping habits of a nun in one of those really austere convents in Austria up in the mountains where they have to break the ice that's formed in their washing basin before cleaning their face for morning Lauds. She hits 9, it's sketchy at best, 10pm she is on the floor. 11pm she's well into REM sleep. So it makes going to karaoke, which in Tokyo seems to start at 8ish, a risky propostion.

Buuut, she also wants to have a walk around Tokyo before hand. So this becomes a balancing act, walk her around, let her see the sights, but don't let her get too tired. It's like I can subconsciously see the battery indicator over her head as walk (uh, going up hill, that battery is RACING to empty!) as wander about. Make her happy, but not so tired she won't want to go to karaoke. I can't be the type of guy who goes to a karaoke bar alone. That sets a precedent. Next thing you know I'm shopping for sharp pastel polyester suits and wearing too much 12k gold chains and it's just willful ignorance on my part to not see the long looks of pity mixed with disgust from all the other patrons.

Ok, so. Walk. Far. Not too far. Avoid polyester.

The perfect symbol of Tokyo kick neat eatery, maybe steeped in history? Eking and existence being crushed by the infrastructure and density of the city

Yes! The tinycars. Look at this thing.  Never too much, never too little. Where  the hell is the engine on this thing. Does it just run on sophistication and coolness?

We would like to see the Imperial Palace, or at least the Imperial Palace garden. Apparently it lights up at night. But also, apparently, it closes at 5pm? There is a contradiction there, I'm sure. Like there are 3 days in the winter when the public will ever see the garden lit up. Maybe it's a very clever way to save on electricity. But then if you've seen Tokyo lit up, you'd argue this is not something they spend too much time thinking about, to be honest. 

I took this picture because this is an intentional pond, built right in some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Just to be.. a pond.

Hm, didn't notice, but quite a few of these buildings have a very strong 80's vibe.

I can't say this question has been on my mind at all, but you may be wondering, hey, where are all the joggers? Temples, karaoke, more temples, convenience stores, but not a single jogger. I will say in an aside that if you've read this far in my blog mainly for a chance at seeing pictures of joggers, I would argue that you are in for bitter disappointment. Not bitter, bitter disappointment, just bitter disappointment. Because I do have one.

Where are all the joggers in Tokyo? They are all, every single one, are running around the Imperial Palace, who's moat and wide sidewalk seems to be repurposed for exactly that. Every minute it's like someone is running a poorly advertised local Run For The Cure fundraiser for the type of disease that is sad without being tragic.

This is it, this is your  one picture of a jogger,  happy now? You aren't  getting more, so stop asking.

The garden is so VERY closed, they have a  siren light to advertise this fact. I guess they can afford to run it, seeing as they are saving on the  garden nightlights.

We are now a fair distance from the hotel, and I'm wary about the ol' spouse energy meter. She seems buoyant, she's got plenty of gas. This, I should tell you, is a ruse. She's energic and spry until she's not then it's sleeping while trying to remain sitting perfectly upright for the rest of the evening.

We stumble upon this amazing building. And in the foreground, a wedding couple taking pictures. That building off in the distance is everything you think of when you think of Tokyo. Chic, effortless, art. Our first guess is it's some sort of formal ceremony place and all those people are the wedding couple's wedding reception. 

This really recharges the batteries, so we take a load off, and take it all in. But there is something that reception party. Everyone is sitting a little too haphazardly, and with the casual slouch of students cramming for finals. We walk closer, and yes, of course, it's a Starbucks.

This is an excellent opportunity to stock up on caffeine. As we get closer, we see it's attached to an art gallery of some sort, with, oh, yes, a wonderous, wonderous plaque. My partner fights off dementia for at least another two years by reading the plaque backwards through the glass. I, ready and willing to sacrifice my grey matter on the altar of the Machine, simply take a picture and do a mirror flip on edit.

We chill some more, and when it's the earliest possible moment to go to a karaoke bar, we head back across town. The city is beautiful in it's own city way. Bustling life at odd hours; some of the most boring buildings imaginable, as if the architect suffering from a terminal case of existential angst and wanted to pass it on; then some buildings that you wonder how they ever got anyone to pay for it so filled with the sort of design aesthetic where the cost of time and materials was considered as a distant afterthought; you know, a city.



And then we find it. A real karaoke bar populated with real local office workers trying to blow off steam. 

There are many models of karaoke bars: the regular bar that happens to have karaoke, the karaoke in private rooms karaoke bar, and then pay about 30 dollars/person/hour type of place, but drinks are free. The last type is usually the smaller, high traffic areas, and they are very up front and clear about it.  And this very real karaoke bar was the last kind.

But that didn't deter us. What did deter me was that I really wanted to genuine experience of doing karaoke with the locals, but wasn't entirely sure how we'd be received. It was a pretty big group (well, the bar was also pretty small. And they were taking up the entire entrance of an otherwise empty bar. But it was so perfect. Everyone in their business smart attire, just getting slightly messy, enough to blow off steam, not so much that they'd have a Career Limiting Event. 

We kinda edge forward, and then just push our way in. They don't  seem to mind but I sense they are a little confused why these Obviously Tourists were coming into the bar. The bartender greets us, gives us the run down in as few words as possible (mainly because she wasn't super fluent, not because she was being stand offish). 

We start off with the standard duet, you know it, "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. Now, me and the missus are mostly Filipino. And if you don't know, Filipinos love to sing, to dance, and yeah, obviously karaoke. But we also weirdly really like the Silver age of Disney animated films, maybe because they are musicals, maybe because many of the iconic songs were sung by that iconic Filipino singer Lea Salonga. In any case, we do a pretty good job, and the only English word I can hear from the office workers is "Filipino?". Oh I see our reputation precedes us!

They clap enthusiastically then share with us their songs, one from Okinawa that was very pretty. They sing many songs, with gusto, with abandon, it was perfect.

And then later, the bartender, who again, was pretty quiet up to this point, was inspired enough to sing for us. She said she was quite nervous and fidgeted a bit then queued up "Hello" by Adele. I think you can see where this is going. If you are working at a karaoke bar, and choose to sing Adele, well, you got pipes. And she did. She sang everything phonetically off the prompter and sounded like a pro. My wife, who is not easily impressed, asked to sing a few more. Keep in mind that we are paying to sing, yet are asking her to sing, it was that great. 

We spend two hours there, and you do the math, it got a bit pricey, but worth every penny. However, my partner's battery was well used up and was ready to go home. So we back our bags and start heading back to the hotel. But then I remember, there is one very unique karaoke bar nearby, Dining ＆ Music BAR 音STAGE. It doesn't just have a drummer, it has a full band, ready to back you on your quest for karaoke glory. An entire , professional band. Drum, bass, guitar, keys. Insanity! I had to at least see it.

So I, even without any polyester in sight, decide to brave this karaoke place by myself. It's reviews are more of an artist/musician vibe, so solo  nerds would not be SO out of place. I hoped.

I walk down the stairs where there is a small group of patrons waiting to get in. One of them sees me, spots a tourist a mile away, and practices his English saying, "This place is the best". I nod because I have no other thoughts on this other than whatever masaking0914 had to say about it in Google Reviews.

Most karaoke bars just have pictures of the drink of the day or something...

Damn, so it's true. A real band.

So, remember what I said in a previous post about the sort of people who sing in karaoke bars?  Well, at a place with a live band, it's just the singers who feel pretty darn confident about their ability. I sat there and listened and not a single person didn't crush it out of the park. One lady did some amazing Marvin Gaye. Another fella did some pretty wicked. Asian death metal? I'm not sure what it was, but it sounded pro. This was the center of the karaoke world for me. Real music, and a crowd who was here to listen to people giving it their all.

This dude C++'s

It was late, I had had too much shochu, and then another guy there by himself started chatting me up. He had the odd look of programmer, a bike courier who did side experiments with edible chemistry, maybe a rapper who wrapped only Old Norse. He spot only slightly more English than I spot Japanese. But he was super friendly and enthusiastic. We cracked some jokes, had a good natured if halting conversation. Turned out he was a programmer, at Oracle of all things. 

Being well sloshed, and feeling the vibe, I tossed out the idea, 'Thinking about singing. Radiohead'. He gave a big thumbs down and made a raspberry. I had to laugh. Ain't sugar coating his hate on Radiohead, gotta respect it, even when a stranger is saying they might go up and give it a go.

Now I wasn't really entertaining it, just hoping to get some encouragement from this new bar buddy. He wasn't having it. Programmers can be pretty blunt sometimes. Not telling the truth just results in programs crashing.

 
So I was going to let it lie, and just walk home, with the warm glow of a band to coast me home. But, honest to god, and likely this thought has never been thought since, say, 2007, "Oh, but this would really round out my blog". You know. To do that one song I had learned I should probably never do. But I'd have the entire band playing the key in my ear, and these patrons were not the sort who 'sang along', unless, of course, the singer made it part of their schtick and held out the mic to them, I suppose.

And so, I walk up to the guy manning the computer in the back, like a real sound tech, and tell him to queue "Creep", by Radiohead. When it's my time I march to the front and say in my very halting Japanese, that I'm from Vancouver, hoping that this might get me some pity points.

The music is good, I'm in the groove, and just belt out the song like some nerd who has something to prove and would like a nice story to round out his karaoke arc on his personal blog. I think they liked it, I was at least not booed off stage .But it felt good. Hit the crescendo, remembered to breath. 

I make it back to my spot at the bar, ask my new buddy if he liked it. Got the same response. This programmer just does NOT like "Creep", or Radiohead, or my singing, but I feel the odds are in my favour.

Exhausted, pretty pleased with myself, I head back to the hotel. Started thinking about how polyester is really a breathable garment. And really low maintenance, as a matter of fact.