I'm Turning Japanese, I Really Think So

Now that we have a baby-sitter, Matt and I are party animals. Matt had the weekend off, so we decided to go out again. We heard about this half-off sushi restaurant last week. Sounds a little scary, we know, but really the place is new and just trying to drum up some initial business. So, we ventured to Ichiban Sushi with our friends Jamie and Jerry. It was delicious.

After, we were supposed to meet up with some people Matt works with. Jamie and Jerry wanted to go see a movie, so they decided not to join us. Little did they know, they were making a very, very bad decision. The following is all true:

Matt got a text that we were meeting at karaoke bar called Blue Karaoke. We did not know that people in Ann Arbor use the term "bar" quite loosely. We looked up directions on Matt's Blackberry. It directed us to a rather residential part of town. I was skeptical, but we trusted Matt's amazing phone and walked up to what looked more house-like than bar-like. It did say Blue Karaoke out front. As we approached, I asked Matt why the sign also had Asian characters underneath. He did not respond, and we entered. We were met by three girls who did not speak English. Luckily, we ran into someone we knew and they directed us downstairs to the 8x12 room in the basement, where the real fun was happening. No, nothing illegal or inappropriate. Just really, really weird.
Everyone was sitting on couches, except for the lead karaoke man, who was following along to the big screen. It was a BYOB event. We assumed we were going to a bar and so did not BYOB. Our fellow karaoke-ers were generous, however, and offered me a Miller High Life. Let me just say, I don't care what propaganda Miller is selling, that stuff is certainly not the champagne of beers.
So there we were, in a hot, stinky room saturated with sweat and the sweet sounds of "Africa" by Toto. Drinking High Life. One of Matt's co-workers informed me that this type of situation is all the rage in Japan, where he spent some time. It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. But, we did what any self-respecting parents of two with a teenage baby-sitter at home would do--we drank our High Life and Matt belted out boy band songs, complete with dance moves.
Here are some pictures we sneaked to prove this is not made up:

Drinking my High Life and trying to figure out what all those signs mean.

We were standing in the corner of the room, just inside the door. This is really all there was. We also got yelled at by the girls upstairs when we opened to door to let some fresh air in.

I don't feel this post really reflects the strangeness of our situation. However, when any of you visit us in Ann Arbor, we will gladly take you to experience it for yourself. We'll just have to call Matt's friend because you have to speak Korean to reserve a room, or so we were told.