toyooka_thingstodo

Videos & TV:
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ENTERTAINMENT

THINGS TO DO IN TOYOOKA

1. Shopping 2. Entertainment 3. Bars 4. Restaurants 5. Outdoors

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Karaoke, concerts, and pro-wrestling, oh my!

You are goin' DOWN, sucka!

    KARAOKE     As you might expect, karaoke is extremely popular here. In Toyooka, many bars (mainly of the "sunakku" -- i.e., "snack" -- variety) have karaoke, and there are several "karaoke boxes" (venues where you can reserve your own private room to sing karaoke with a group of friends). My favorite place is Bow Wow, located on the Bypass road, near KFC. I don't know your stance on karaoke (I have friends back in the States who absolutely loathe it), but I think it can be a lot of fun. Inevitably you'll find yourself being handed a mike, and asked to "sing something!" If you know any Japanese songs, brush up on the lyrics before you come! Everyone will soil themselves with delight if you can sing something in Japanese (I personally never bothered). Don't sweat it if you don't know any Japanese songs, because if you just sing anything by The Beatles or The Carpenters, you'd be very popular indeed (this country seems to love The Beatles and The Carpenters a little too much).

    CONCERTS ETC.     Toyooka also occasionally has concerts and other events. Some well-known Japanese musicians sometimes perform right here in town; but if you want to see big J-Pop musicians, or bands from abroad, Osaka is the place to go. There are also some DJ events here in Toyooka; including events that my friends and I organize. (I sometimes DJ at these events) But, of course, for big-name acts, you'll have to go to the big cities.
      In addition to these concerts and events, about once a year, Japan Pro-Wrestling comes to Toyooka! I'm not a huge fan of pro-wrestling or anything, but I went to the match (performance?) two years ago, and it was a lot of fun! On the other end of the wrestling spectrum, sumo wrestling has also come to the area. Last year, a sumo tournament was held at the Tajima Dome, located in Hidaka (the next town south of Toyooka).
      As for art exhibitions, there is a small art gallery at the Maruyamagawa Park, located practically around the corner from Minato JHS. I hear it hosts some good exhibitions...

    CINEMA     Aside from alcohol, there are other ways to entertain oneself in Toyooka. There is a movie theater with two screens, and which usually play the more popular new Hollywood releases. Recently, for example, it featured "Hannibal" (personally, I thought it was awful!), "The Mexican" (no thanks) and "Charlie's Angels." However, the movie theater is really old and a bit expensive (as with most cinemas in Japan, it costs about 1800 yen per ticket!!).

     VIDEOS    Due to the steep price of tickets at the movie theater, I tend to rent a lot of videos. The two main video rental stores are Video Plaza and Tsutaya. Both are within a five- or seven-minute's walk from the apartment, and both offer a wide range of videos, Japanese and foreign. Most of the foreign videos (well, the ones from English-speaking countries) are available in either English w/Japanese subtitles, or dubbed (voiced-over) in Japanese. (When you rent, be sure to pick up the subtitled ones!) Personally, I think the selection at Video Plaza is better, but Tsutaya also has CDs for rent! In order to apply for membership at either store, you will need your Foreigners' Registration Card ("gaijin card," as we like to call it), so you probably won't be able to join until a couple weeks after you arrive in Toyooka. By the way, in case you don't already know, the video system here is the same as North America, but different from the UK, etc., so you may not be able to view video tapes from your home country...