Karaoke in Japan: part 1 of 2
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[I haven’t been to karaoke for years, mainly due to being tone deaf and preferring to go home rather than staying up boozing until all hours! A Swiss friend of mine used to go to sing enka on the whole, and take full advantage of the all-you-can-drink offer they ran at Jumbo Karaoke by knocking back at least five pints of Asahi in two hours! To find out how the average Japanese views karaoke, DIMSDRIVE Research conducted a survey on this very topic.
Demographics
Between the 12th and 20th of December 2007 9,271 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. 54.9% were female, 1.5% in their teens, 15.5% in their twenties, 36.1% in their thirties, 28.6% in their forties, 12.7% in their fifties, and 5.6% aged sixty or older.
When I once went to karaoke there was a great Japanese punk song that had nonsense English lyrics that when sung sort-of sounded like Japanese, but I never found out the name of the song. That was a pretty dull anecode, I must admit, but it’s the best I’ve got… I got rather disenchanted with the whole affair after going there with Japanese colleagues who spent their time singing 1970s ballads and anime theme songs.
Research results
Q1: Where do you usually do karaoke? (Sample size=9,271, multiple answer)
Karaoke box, karaoke hall 65.1% Pub, other drinking establishment 14.2% Home, friend’s home 3.9% Hotel 2.6% Public hall, sports centre, etc 0.2% Other 0.4% Don’t do karaoke (to Q11) 30.1% Q2: What genres of songs do you often sing? (Sample size=6,477, multiple answer)
J-Pop 87.2% Anime song 32.9% Rock 25.0% Enka 24.9% Western music 15.6% R&B 9.0% Hip-hop 7.7% Children’s songs 3.8% Other foreign music 3.3% K(Korean)-Pop 1.5% Other 2.1% Don’t know, nothing in particular 2.6% J-Pop is more popular with women, but men prefer anime songs and Western music.
Q3: Do you have a favourite repertoire? (Sample size=6,477)
Yes 60.9% No 39.1% Q4: Which criteria do you mostly use to select which song to sing? (Sample size=6,477, multiple answer)
Songs I’m good at 71.5% Songs that will raise the mood 47.7% Songs by a favourite artist 47.5% Songs I’m used to singing 46.5% Songs that can be sung enthusiastically 33.4% Songs that everyone knows 32.3% The usual numbers 23.4% Even though no-one knows, songs I like 20.1% Songs I want people to hear 19.5% Songs I’ve never sung before 18.2% Songs I can score big points on 5.5% Songs that will impress the opposite sex 5.2% None of the above 1.4% The most interesting (but not really surprising, I suppose) figure when looked at by sex was that over twice as many men as women choose songs to impress the opposite sex!
From Q1, those people who do not go to karaoke halls skip to Q12, leaving 6.035 to answer the following questions.
Q5: How often do you go to a karaoke box, karaoke venue? (Sample size=6,035)
Thrice a week or more 0.3% Once or twice a week 1.5% Twice or thrice a month 7.1% Once a month 13.2% Once every two or three months 24.2% Once every six months 23.5% Once a year 13.0% Less than that 15.9% Don’t know 1.3% Q6: Who do you often go with to karaoke box, karaoke venue? (Sample size=6,035, multiple answer)
Friends 64.2% Work colleagues, boss, underlings 30.5% Spouse 30.2% Children 21.1% Girlfriend or boyfriend 10.4% Other family 9.5% Hobby circle acquaintences 8.8% Parents 3.7% Alone 3.2% Neighbours 2.1% Other 0.4% Don’t know 0.6%
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