Silver Week

These five days, from Saturday last weekend until tomorrow (Wednesday) have become Japan's first ever Silver Week (シルバーウィーク), which gets its name from Golden Week (ゴルデンウィーク), which is a long holiday in May every year.

It has happened for the first time this year because Respect for the Aged Day (敬老の日, keirou no hi) and Autumnal Equinox Day (秋分の日, shuubun no hi) have fallen one day apart, and Japanese law stipulates that if there is only one day between two national holidays then that day also becomes a holiday (国民の休日, kokumin no kyuujitsu).

This has meant that from last Friday night, Japanese people have crowded into trains and airports, heading for resorts or their hometowns, enjoying the five-day holiday.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the full Silver Week experience, because I had to go to University yesterday for lessons. But then I have today and tomorrow off. I don't know why they decided to do it that way, but I'm just glad I have two days off!

Yesterday afternoon, Rob and I went to our local big park, Koganei Park (小金井公園, Koganei kouen) to practice the routine for our Soul Run performance. The first thing that struck me was how busy the park was, and then how nice it was to see Japanese people having fun as a family. I don't see it often, so it was a bit of a surprise, but a very nice surprise.

Rob and I tried to find the most secluded spot in the park, but we still got some stares as we were jumping around and being traditional Japanese fisherman dancers. The section I call "the bouncing starfish" (don't ask) was particularly embarrassing, but I think I've remembered the order a little better now, which is good!

Today I spent the day sleeping and catching up with laundry and things like that. Tomorrow I need to do some homework, and enjoy my day off!

First Karaoke Of The Trip

Well, if you've read this blog for a while, you'll know I have a love for karaoke. Not something I ever thought I'd enjoy, let alone want to go to every week, but that's what Japan does to you I suppose!

We met a couple of friends who were exchange students at the Leeds University last year at the ultimate meeting place - Hachiko entrance in Shibuya. One of them had arrived in Tokyo from Fukuoka (on the southern island of Kyushu) that morning, and it was only her second time ever to visit Tokyo! The other lives in Yokohama, so she had less distance to travel!

We followed my old routine and went to a cheap restaurant about ten minutes walk from Shibuya station.

And after that we walked a couple of doors down and went into a karaoke bar I'd been in countless times before. We sang for an hour, which cost Y600 per person.

I was the first person to sing, and I had to do it. I sang my favourite Perfume song - Secret Secret. It's just so good!

I had an amazing time - I can't wait to go again! Maybe this weekend...

My Friend's Visit: Karaoke in Shibuya

My friend and I were still quite tired on Friday, so we had a very relaxed morning.

We went for a wander round my local area again, and we went to Hamacho Park to see some green. It hit 30C for the first time while I've been in Japan, and as we were out at midday the heat was a little overwhelming.

It was lovely and sunny though, even though the summer's omnipresent humidity made it a little less enjoyable. It is still rainy season, but recently it's just been blankets of grey cloud broken by the occassional sunny afternoon. The general trend for the day is that it's extremely humid in the early hours (around 98%) and cloudy, then the humidity drops to around 60 or 70% in the afternoon, when the temperature goes up and we might see some sun. Then the temperature drops and the humidity rises in the evening.

We went back to my guesthouse (maybe to recover a bit as we are British, and we're not used to this weather!) and waited for my Chinese friend who lives in Western Tokyo to arrive.

There was a vague plan to go to Shibuya for dinner and karaoke, so when he arrived at about 5pm we left after introducing everyone.

It was nice to catch up with his news, and he's started studying French at University so he and my French housemate chatted about France and he practised a little.

There were four of us that evening, and I took them to a karaoke place I knew called Utahiroba (歌広場). We went for two hours (which is quite a short time as it goes so quickly) and they do unlimited free non-alcoholic drinks. Including some food we bought, it was Y1,900 each.

My Chinese friend and David had never done karaoke in Japan, and my French housemate likes to listen more than sing, so it was up to me to start it off. I asked them if I should do an English or a Japanese song first, and they said Japanese, so of course it had to be Perfume.

Along with my usual songs, I did some duets of Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love', 'My Heart Will Go On' by Celine Dion, 'Suddenly I See' by KT Tunstall and Aretha Franklin's 'RESPECT'. You've got to choose the most embarrassing ones, otherwise it's not as fun!

Then we ate dinner in a nearby restaurant that I'd been to before and afterwards went for a walk round brightly-lit Shibuya, which was heaving as it was Friday night.

We then took the Yamanote line (山手線) to Shinjuku (新宿), as my friend had to go home, and we wanted to show David the skyscraper district at night.

We took one of the last trains home and helped one of my housemates choose her outfit for a night out. It took nearly two hours! David was falling asleep on the sofa towards the end of the fashion parade but it was fun, and good practice for my Japanese!

By the end of the day, we were both very tired and we fell straight asleep, with the air con on of course!

Japanese Music

There is a real mix of Japanese music out there. It ranges from the most bubblegumiest pop tune to the heaviest metal scream-out.

The TV in the living room in my guesthouse is usually on BBC World or MTV Japan, so I see a lot of new, popular Japanese music played through the day.

I hadn't heard much Japanese music before I came to Japan at all, just UVERworld, Utada Hikaru and Ayumi Hamasaki. So, with very limited knowledge, I had to find some songs that I enjoyed/ loved to hate.

Let's start with my favourite song. Secret Secret, by Perfume! (シークレットシークレット, Perfume.) It's exactly what you expect from Japanese pop; synchronised dancing, heavy product placement, and poptastic fun. I sang this song a few weeks ago at karaoke in Shibuya, not easy!

Perfume have also recently (this is mid-2008) done Baby Cruising Love, Chocolate Disco (チョコレイト・ディスコ) and Poly Rhythm (ポリリズム). I sang Poly Rhythm by accident at karaoke, having never heard it before, and that was a little bit difficult!

Other songs that were everywhere when I arrived in January were:

Soba ni iru ne, by Aoyama Thelma (そばにいるね、青山テルマ). This song was on all the NTT DoCoMo adverts for months, so I found myself humming it a lot. Aoyama Thelma has also done 19 Memories and My Dear Friend recently.

Namie Amuro! (安室奈美恵) Her What a Feeling was out when I first arrived, and I heard New Look a lot too. Most recently, she released a collaboration single with Double called Black Diamond. I actually like this song, I'm constantly singing it in my head, although I don't know the words! All of Namie Amuro's songs (at least the recent ones) seem to have a lot of English/ katakana English in them, so I can fathom at least some meaning.

Another song I like, and one of my housemate's favourite songs, is the debut single from Miho Fukuhara (福原美穂) [Japanese link only, sorry] called Change. I don't know if she'll be very popular in a few years, but she's doing well for herself now.

Aiko released Futari (二人) while I was here as well. It was played a lot, but then she seemed to disappear for a month or two. She'll probably release a new song very soon.

Yui has released two songs I enjoy hearing, one is Laugh Away, and the other is Namidairo.

Ikimonogakari have had two popular hits in the last few months, Hana wa Sakura Kimi wa Utsukushi (花は桜 君は美し) and Kaeritaku Natta yo (帰りたくなったよ).

Then there's the boy bands, like SMAP, who released Sono Mama a couple of months ago, and Funky Monkey Babys (not a spelling mistake on my part).

I quite like Monobright too, although I can't remember any of their song names.

Then there's the hugely successful Ayumi Hamasaki, who's most recent song is the hugely weird Mirrorcle World. It's not a song I can like, because it sounds like a jumble of lyrics and sounds to me.

Then there's the Western songs that become hugely popular in Japan, and whenever I hear them in the future, I'll be immediately transported back to Japan.

It's songs like Mariah Carey's Touch My Body (which I sang at karaoke, and never will again *shudders*) and Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland with Four Minutes that are everywhere at the moment.

And I left Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love behind me in the UK, only to find it was out in the US and Japan! I don't like her music, but I'm pleased that a British singer can get to Number 1 in the US charts and be popular all over the world so quickly.

And I can't do a post about Japanese music without mentioning Monica Wu. I've been to several of her concerts while I've been here, and each one has been fun and I've left humming her songs for days afterwards. I definitely recommend her music if you ever get the chance. You can listen online, and her new album, Shinkirou, is on sale now.

Well, there's a tiny snapshot of music in Japan. Maybe that will help you get an idea of what to expect if you're finding it difficult to find Japanese music from abroad.

I apologise if by the time you come to read this any of the information or links are out of date. People have a habit of removing music and videos from the internet a lot, so sorry if some are dead!

Karaoke in Shibuya

On Sunday night after work I took the train into Shibuya. I met up with some housemates and friends at Shibuya station's Hachiko exit (this is like the landmark in Shibuya for me). It leads right onto the world's busiest pedestrian crossing, and you can tell how it gets that title.

I was very tired as I hadn't slept well the night before and had then worked all day, but I was looking forward to the night out.

We went to a cheap ramen (Chinese noodles) restaurant, where I had gyoza (Chinese dumplings), ramen soup and a rice bowl for Y850 (£4.25 - you've got to love Japan).

After that, we met up with some other friends who had just returned from Kamakura. Then we headed off to a cheap karaoke place that one of my housemates knew.

More people joined us halfway through and we ended up with nine people in a booth made for six. But there was plenty of room for all of us.

New British housemates came too, for a taste of real Japanese karaoke, and I think they had a great time. I certainly did. I was coerced into singing many songs that I wouldn't have chosen myself, like You're Beautiful by James Blunt. These were mainly requests for duets from other people, and then they later told me that they only knew the chorus! Another song that I ended up singing alone was Touch My Body by Mariah Carey (whenever I hear this song in the future I'll immediately be transported back to Japan, because it's literally everywhere). I'd never listened to the lyrics before, and let's just say that they were rather embarrassing to sing to a roomful of people.

I sang my karaoke special, the Titanic theme tune, which was lots of fun. I never claim to be a good singer, in fact I'm often heard to proclaim the opposite, but I do enjoy making a fool of myself.

I even tried a solo of my favourite cheap Japanese pop tune, Secret Secret by Perfume. The video is constantly played on MTV so I know the tune off by heart, but the words were another matter. I tried my best to read and sing along but it was so fast! It was loads of fun though, I couldn't help laughing halfway through.

It was a really great atmosphere by the end of the night (we sang for 3 hours, but it goes really quickly).

Everybody sang I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston (the Bodyguard theme tune e.g. And Iiiiiiiiiiiiii....), which was hilarious, as you can imagine.

We also did a rousing rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and ended with a surprisingly uplifting version of Reach by S Club 7.

Oh what fun... I don't know what it is about karaoke that I like so much. I'm always really nervous beforehand, and the first few songs I sing have a trembling nervous vibrato on them, but once I relax into it, it's loads of fun.

It's not popular at all in the UK, and it's probably generally viewed as downright weird, but I must find a place and drag some of my friends there when I go back. I don't know if places like Japan where you book a booth for a few hours are common, or if there are only bars or pubs that offer karaoke. I know London has some booth-style places but they're bound to be really expensive.

Karaoke is really popular all over South-East and East Asia but it didn't spread to the West as much.

Be prepared, friends of Miles... you will sing!

After karaoke, we found a purikura (photo booth) place, where you go into a booth and take 7 photos with an effect or border of your choice. Then you choose the photos you want, and can mess around with them on a computer screen, adding sparkles, wigs, writing, animals etc. The outcome can have you in stitches.

If I can find a way to scan the photos into the computer, I'll post them here. If not, let your imagination run wild.

After that, we decided we better get back to the station. It was a good job we did, because it was Golden Week (the week when virtually all of Japan goes on holiday) and the last train was at 11:30. We caught that train back home, and then chatted for a while before going to bed.

I love going out in Tokyo. There's always some new strange thing to discover, and it's always loads of fun.

Birthday Karaoke

I had an amazing time on Wednesday night.

I was a bit nervous before I even left, so I had a beer and a glass of wine to calm me down. I didn't have any dinner, which was a big mistake!

My housemates came home at about 18.30 and we left for the Big Echo karaoke place in Ningyocho, about ten or fifteen minutes walk away.

One of my housemates, Dong, had come with me the previous night to see what it was like. His Japanese is excellent so he did the talking. He bought a Members Card (for Y500), which reduced the price by about Y100 per person per 30 minutes.

There were only a few of us going, so we didn't rent a Party Room or anything, but decided to reserve a room and then pay per person, which worked very well.

When we got there, we were shown to our room, and we asked how to use the equipment, which was all in Japanese, but it was very simple.

There were five of us at the beginning, but Kyoko, who helped me buy my Softbank phone in February, arrived later.

Once we were settled, and food and drink had been ordered, Dong produced a cake which he had had specially made at a expensive store called Mitsukoshi with my name on it!! He had also asked for candles and matches, and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me.

I was so incredibly touched by everyone's kindness, especially Dong's, who made such an effort, and went completely out of his way to make that day special for me. And it really was. I thanked him over and over, but somehow the words 'Thank you' don't express all the gratitude I actually feel. They wouldn't even let me pay my share, so I had three hours of free karaoke, food, drink and fun!

I, annoyingly, forgot my camera, so I don't have any photos or videos. But that's probably a blessing in disguise as you probably wouldn't want to see, or hear for that matter, me singing!

The range of songs to choose from was crazy! They had Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese songs there, and a really good selection too, not just Madonna and The Beatles.

If you're interested, these are the songs I sang:

Beyonce - Beautiful Liar, Deja Vu, Crazy in Love, Irreplaceable (okay, I admit it, I do like Beyonce)
Linkin Park - Numb
Madonna - Sorry
Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On (Titanic) - that was really hard on my throat but everyone cheered afterwards!
Shakira - Hips Don't Lie and some song with lots of Spanish rapping I'd never ever heard before but I gave it a go
Some Japanese songs - again, had no clue that they existed but read the characters on the screen and guessed the tune

With the songs I'd never heard before, I was surprised at how undisastrous they were. Especially the Japanese ones with no English subtitles. When I said that I'd never heard the song before, everyone was really shocked, which I was pleased about!

I asked what my singing was like, because I had no idea as I was singing. People said that I had a nice, powerful voice, but they had to be nice to me as it was my birthday!

The evening was really really amazing. I loved it. It was so fun! Who would have thought that making a fool of yourself could be so great!

I have done karaoke twice in my entire life, both times in the last 10 days in Japan, but I am very keen to go again. I have become a karaoke fan!

Once again, I just want to thank everyone who made that day special, and everyone who supports me here, whether it's from the room next to mine, or from the other side of the world, I want you all to know that I am so grateful, and English doesn't have the words to describe it! Maybe Japanese does...

Monica Wu's Concert

A few weeks ago, I posted about the Taiwanese singer Monica Wu, who is currently performing her new album, Shinkirou, in Tokyo.

Two nights ago, I went to see one of her shows at the JAL City Hotel in Yotsuya, near Shinjuku. It cost Y4,500 (£22.50) for entrance, including a five-course meal, which we ate as she sang three sets throughout the evening.

It was beautiful, and the food was very tasty. And, the singing was amazing. It was great to be so close to her as she sang. Lots of people from the bus tour to Chiba were there and I "chatted" to them in my limited Japanese.

And, as always happens whenever I venture anywhere, I had a microphone shoved in my face!
The conversation between Monica and the announcer lady turned to English words and how Japanese people pronounce them and how native-speakers pronounce them. Monica said 'water' and the announcer couldn't get it quite right, and then Monica pointed me out of about 50 people and said 'He's English, ask him!' Oh dear...

So the announcer brought the microphone over to me, and asked me questions in Japanese! I didn't really understand what she said, but the first word was 'mizu' (water), so I guessed she wanted me to say it. So I said 'water' and everyone clapped. Then she asked me my name (I think) so I said 'Watashi no namae wa Miles' (My name is Miles) and Monica said 'He doesn't speak Japanese' so everyone clapped and the announcer left me be. Why me!? Well, I suppose I was asking for it, being the only foreigner in the restaurant! It was a really nice evening, and you can see the photos and videos below.

If you like what you see, Monica has gigs coming up in Tokyo soon. The next one is on Saturday 5th April in Chiyoda-ku. The details are on her website. I really recommend going, the singing is great, and the conversation is lively and entertaining. Don't miss it!

Up-and-Coming Star

I have stumbled upon the music of Monica Wu, an up-and-coming rising star who has conquered Taiwan and will soon make it big in Tokyo. She has gigs coming up in March so if you want to check her out, then definitely do so! She's a great performer and a wonderful singer. Her album is also out now.