Karaoke: Japan v UK カラオケ: 日本 v UK

Karaoke in the UK is quite different from karaoke in Japan. The main difference is that in the UK it is mainly in pubs, whereas in Japan it is mainly in smaller, more intimate settings.
When I saw karaoke in London, Manchester and Brighton the singer had to go up on stage in a huge pub before an audience largely composed of strangers; it was solo, and a 'performance' rather than self-entertainment for their group; it was kind of just for laughs and it raised a few; it took courage - Dutch or otherwise. Not everyone gets to sing - or wants to - and many would like to but dare not.
In Japan, karaoke is not so daunting. Japanese bars are incredibly small and karaoke bars in particular are ooh very dark; you sing in your seat, surrounded by your friends, and there are two mics or more up for grabs. Everyone gets a few turns. There are songs in both Japanese and foreign languages - sometimes with spelling mistakes and funny English. Lately, 24-7 karaoke boxes are gaining popularity over the karaoke bar. In a karaoke box you rent a private room to sing with/for your friends (or alone) so if you don't want to sing to strangers, or if you just want to be with your own mates, or if you want the mic to go round quicker so that you get more chances to sing, the box is even better than the bar. You can alter the pitch of the song, order room-service (of food and drinks) by intercom and stay as long as you like. In the highest state-of-the-art boxes you can even get a score based on how in-tune you were! They're booming such that more multi-storey karaoke-box complexes are being built all the time in spite of zero population growth.
Link: How to do Karaoke the Japanese Way