The All Mighty Karaoke Bar (Kinda)

Published on June 23, 2005 By Death_By_Beebles In Entertainment

Today I stumbled across a Korean newsite that's written in English. That's fun.

Running over to the cultural section of the paper/site I came across this article.

Link

Karaoke Bars Lose Favor in After-Hours Socializing

The all-important after-work socializing of Korean office workers could see something of a quiet revolution as the focus shifts from pubs and karaoke bars to more salubrious gourmet restaurants and cultural events, if a survey by jobsearch site JobKorea is to be believed.

The survey polled only 414 office workers, but 43.5 percent of them cited “gourmet experience” as their favorite way of gathering with coworkers, followed by “drinking and singing” with 18 percent, and “excursions” like going to amusement parks, skating rinks, and baseball parks with 13 percent, while a respectable 10.9 percent named “cultural performances” like movies, concerts and plays. That was closely followed by “leisure and sports” like skiing, fishing, and hiking with 9.4 percent.

Gourmet food was top of the list for both men and women with 43.7 percent and 42.9 percent. But drinking and singing remained in second place among men with 22.3 percent, while women cited cultural performances next with 17.1 percent.

Yet while barbecue and sushi restaurants (57.7 percent and 32.1 percent) were the places where most groups started the night, things went downhill from there. Next up were pubs for 52.7 percent or karaoke bars for 37.4 percent, while 58.3 percent waited until a still more advanced stage of the evening to do their singing in a dimly lit environment.

The unregenerate rest went to what they delicately called “exotic bars” (14.3 percent) and pubs (13.7 percent) to end the evening. This suggests that despite their stated preference most workers did end up in a karaoke bar sooner or later. Perhaps their older bosses insist.
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Wow.

Now, I don't know about the US, but isn't the karaoke industry a mainstay in public entertainment in East Asia? And if you look at it, it really is just people going and getting tipsy, and singing. In America, we just have the bars. You go and get drunk, and forget the singing.

According to my readings, social activity with the boss and co-workers is a big deal in E. Asia, but is not so over here in the US, or for that matter, I'll go out on a limb and say the entire Western culture.

I guess that this "company is family" thought process makes it so that a person wants to help the family, so s/he over produces to make sure the family succeeds. You never hear of Americans working themselves literally to death, now do you? Could this be the reason all our jobs are going over to China and Japan? The all mighty karaoke club and the thought that the company is family?

Comments

scatter629

on Jun 23, 2005

that's certainly a thought. As far as work ethic is concerned over-all you see the same focus and energy in many parts of the US that you witness as a whole in the emerging economies of Asia. Although the cultural aspect (karaoke) stands out , it may help as per worker efficiency only in countries like Japan, Korea,Taiwan and the Philippines,where karaoke holds sway. It's probably more of the urgency of being the underdog economy that makes their workers go the extra mile. But developed economies are transforming culturally as a nation and our version of what serves as the karaoke bar just might emerge. With just the booze, one can readily do that alone and it can by itself become a dead end.
With karaoke,The singing is the socialization process, the liquor comes in second. With that kind of mix, you don't have to exclude non-drinkers from the process (even non-singers, for that matter). Good article !

Death_By_Beebles

on Jun 23, 2005

With karaoke,The singing is the socialization process, the liquor comes in second. With that kind of mix, you don't have to exclude non-drinkers from the process (even non-singers, for that matter). Good article !

Very true, and thank you!

MasonM

on Jun 23, 2005

I recall one particular week while driving over the road that every night that week I happened to be parked at a place that had a pub nearby. While not a heavy drinker, it's nice to be able to sit and socialize a bit, even if a total stranger in that place.
This particular week it was my luck that it happened to be karaoke night at every single place I visited. I truly thought I had died and gone to hell.

As for work ethic, it does seem that Asian cultural values do produce an employee who is far more dedicated to the company than their western counterparts. I am not so certain that they value hard work more than we do, but are simply more loyal and dedicated to the company than our more mercenary and capitalistic selves.

Death_By_Beebles

on Jun 23, 2005

It's interesting, though, to mention that there is a lot more management-worker relation outside the job in Asian culture, As well as to mention that there is a large amount of priority placed in communication and bonding within the company. I do not know why or how this comes about, but it does have something to do with the mindset of the Asian populace.

It's almost refreshing compared to the capitalist hyenas that dominate current American business.

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