Sunday turned out to be a Japanese-themed day. First we were invited to the second-annual Japanese children's festival, Kodomo no hi.
It was originally just to celebrate boys but they've gotten with the program and now include girls as well. Chet's friend's mom put out the traditional carp kite and laid out a spread of traditional Japanese delicacies. Having lived in a small town in Japan for four months I knew that what looked like chocolate was really sweet red-bean paste but I didn't tell the kids that hoping to fool them into trying something new. Didn't work. Oh well.
Afterwards we rushed downtown to Koreatown where American friends had rented a karaoke room. I've been to big drunken karaoke bars and the whole public humiliation thing or the insufferable amateur showing off thing never grabbed me, however here we had our own little room with a futuristic wireless karaoke set up and disco lights. The kids weren't the only ones in heaven. We all shouted our heads off to Smashmouth's "Rockstar" and "Let's Get it Started in Here." For Chet and his young kindergarten friend Benny, reading so quickly was a challenge, especially the uptempo songs, but they did great. Some song choices were a little dicey. When my friend Steve punched in the numbers for Eminem Ava giggled her head off at the parade of bad words. Dominique, Steve's wife, sounded like a real rockstar.
If you've got a Korea or Japantown where you live try out a karaoke bar with the kids. It would make a great place for a birthday party too.
