Tag Archive for 'karaoke'

Daily Journal Entry #11847 06/06/08 Fri

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Jason C. Romero
on July 16, 2008
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Shinjuku, Philosophy, Homeless, and Josh

In the early evening I met up with Josh at Shinjuku station. We got Starbucks and sat on the Southern Terrace. I talked to him about humans as nodal points in networks, and experiencing both direct and indirect cultural meta-levels of pleasure, such as when we enjoy the actual act of reading a book but also enjoy the fact or idea that we are reading a book.

While we were there a homeless man came and asked us for money in Japanese. Josh gave him some, and a while later he came back to thank Josh after, we presumed, he’d had his meal.

Taku and Izakaya

Josh’s friend Taku met up with us and we went to the Toho-Kenbun-Roku izayaka. Taku explained that this is the Japanese title of Marco Polo’s book, The Travels of Marco Polo.

They served us this lotus root that had a nice sauce but had the texture of and tasted like raw potatoes.

I told Taku that I was thinking about pursuing suicide as a future project, and he told me that many websites said to use charcoal. He also said that there are different “suicide fads” — the latest is to mix detergent with some other agent, that releases a deadly gas. Some people even put up signs to warn others of the gas. The Chuo line is also apparently a popular site for suicides.

Chris and Karaoke

Josh’s other friend Chris showed up, and we went to karaoke.

I was glad to have someone (Chris) with similar musical tastes in the room, though it did get quite smokey at times. I think we sang some Cure and Erasure “duets.” It would have been nice if there’d been some Joy Division.

Daily Journal Entry #11841 05/31/08 Sat

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Jason C. Romero
on July 3, 2008
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Jet Lag

I woke up around 9 a.m. I would have gotten up a little earlier, but my roommate in the bunk below mine was still asleep, and I wasn’t ready to make noise.

I don’t think I am going to experience jet lag. I was awake for such a long time with such little rest before I slept on the plane, and I have so much trouble with sleeping as it is that I have a lot of experience dealing with this issue.

I texted my sister over email and called my parents’ landline through Skype to let them know I was okay.

Surprise Josh

Josh, a friend from Purdue who is now living in Japan, learned that I was in Tokyo via my IM status, responding with a WTF? and an OMG. We spent the evening at an izakaya and karaoke in Shibuya.

Izakaya

The izakaya we went to was Nijyu-Maru. It was really dark inside, beautifully decorated, and the table we sat at was quite secluded. There was also a digital menu at the table that we used to order food and drinks.

Karaoke

I think the song I enjoyed singing most was Justified and Ancient by the KLF, though I got on a rap kick near the end and sang “Hypnotize” by the Notorious B.I.G., “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy, “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang, and “The Breaks” by Kurtis Blow.

I didn’t sing any of my regular repertoire, such as “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie, “Only the Lonely” by Roy Orbison, or “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell.

For some reason this karaoke experience made me pronouncedly sad that I will never be a successful musician.

Sleeping Schedule

We stayed out all night and caught the first train home at 5 a.m. So much for maintaining my sleeping schedule.