Just in Tokyo by Justin Hall
Page #55
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    55
    Commercial Amusement
    Much of Tokyo may seem like commercial amusement, but there are
    places that present more thoroughly manufactured artificial pleasure.
    Odaiba
    They filled in parts of Tokyo Bay and built the shopping city of tomor-
    row. Sure to look increasingly aged, Odaiba today is a contemporary
    commercial entertainment mecca. Mall-type stores, a Sega game
    palace, movie theatres, a car history museum and new car show-
    room / amusement park presented by Toyota.
    Disney
    Disneyland in Japan is much the same as it might be in Europe or
    America, except stuffed with Japanese people. Some visitors might
    seem to you to be unsettlingly fond of Winnie the Pooh, for example,
    but I could introduce you to some Americans who are similarly
    devoted. Japan has the DisneySea resort, that is unique to this
    island nation: It's the usual artful artifice from Disney, coupled with a
    few thrilling rides and a lot of walking between middling food stands.
    Makuhari Messe
    Tokyo's convention center offers a regular stream of giant exposi-
    tions. If you show up with a plausible-enough business card you
    could claim to be press and you might find yourself wandering
    amidst consumer electronics, video games, cars or flowers.
    Karaoke
    Karaoke means empty orchestra. Karaoke also means inhibitions
    lost, and small group good times. Most people around the world
    have some tradition of social singing; karaoke takes pop songs,
    removes the vocal tracks, and presents this music to you with a
    microphone and the lyrics so you can entertain your friends with your
    favourite songs onscreen.
    Karaoke in America is typically one big room where one person
    performs at a time, for a crowd. Besides Karaoke in bars, most of
    the inner-city Karaoke in Japan consists of buildings packed with
    small rooms for rent. Groups of one to six people can sit comfort-
    ably around a private TV and sing their songs for people in their
    group. You can order snacks and beverages here as well. Word
    has it hard-up teenagers rent these rooms to crash or get it on.
    ka-ra-o-ke
    Pleasure -