ABSTRACT
Karaoke is increasingly spreading to the countries around Japan. First, for Japanese businessmen, then for local users-this is a standard pattern of karaoke diffusion. The first step is more or less similar to the case of Western cities, since Japanese businessmen overseas entertain themselves after work in a similar way in a similar space as in Japan. Also, the Japanese karaoke industry exports a more or less similar package of hardware and software to small bars almost exclusively serving the Japanese. However, the second step, that for local users, varies from country to country depending on the pre-existing entertainment industry and practice of singing, as well as to the image of Japan and the technology available. The geographical proximity of each country to Japan and the musical affinity throughout the area (ballad and pop, for example) may encourage the diffusion of karaoke equipment (the notion of ‘proximity’ is slippery as we will see).
