From singing to sizzling...in Japan

My friend told me that recently kareoke clubs in Japan have hit hard times.  These are places that have kareoke-equipped rooms for rent.  My college students used to spend 6-8 hours at a time in these rooms with their friends.  I thought, well, getting together to sing all day is a good, social thing to do.  My friend said that to increase business, kareoke clubs are appealing to individuals to come and sing by themselves and that this is catching on.  While I tend to sing in the shower by myself, I can't imagine renting a room to do so.

Recently, I saw a short news video of a Japanese young man promoting posters of famous people which can sense when you get close and actually animate a kiss with you, and then giggle in embarrassment.  The young 20-something guy said that as he was looking at the posters on the walls of his room, he thought it would be great to actually interact with them.  He looks forward to the day when these posters will become part of the (over-crowded) outdoor advertising world so that passersby can kiss them (be kissed by them?).  Think epidemic...

People here tend to retreat into their own worlds, and that tendency is only getting stronger.  Normally, as a marketing type, I would be telling you have to take advantage of a trend.   But I don't want to be any part of making matters worse.  What people need is a good replacement for group kareoke, something to get them out and interacting with un-posterized human beings.  

One strong, positive component of the image many have here of America is the back-yard cook-out.  It looks so friendly, relaxed and casual.  Japanese also will sometimes have cook-outs at the park with friends, and I have attended a few of these.  What I remember most about them is waiting for hours while a group of people worked desperately to get the charcoal to catch fire and actually burn.  I took my turn and found the little bricks to be fire resistant.  I was so foolish as to buy a small grill so I could cook out on my veranda, but the charcoal just beat me up and spit me out, and I gave up. Needless to say, the cook-out, per se, just hasn't caught on here.  Can you see where I'm going with this?  


We don't need more social networking technology, which only feeds our tendency to withdraw; we need good ole American charcoal that will catch fire in seconds.   Any charcoal marketers out there ready to start a new social trend in Japan?  Contact us at  www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/