Karaoke (カラオケ) means "empty orchestra." Kara means "empty," and oke is short for ōkesutora, the Japanese form of the English word "orchestra." The music is there, but the singer is missing, and you fill that gap. Karaoke began in Japan in the early 1970s. Since then it has spread almost everywhere, though usually in a different form.
The room, not the stage
Outside Japan, karaoke usually means singing in front of a bar full of strangers. In Japan it almost never does. People go to a karaoke box, a building full of small private rooms that you rent by the hour. There you sing only for the people you came with. You order drinks and food from a phone on the wall. The machine keeps a queue of everyone's songs, and a screen counts down the minutes you have left. That is why karaoke works so well in Japan, even for people who would never sing in public. The whole audience is already your friends.
What it is for
Karaoke is the usual second stop after dinner and drinks, especially for work colleagues, and it has a clear purpose. A night out with the team is one of the few times when the usual formality relaxes. Singing badly in front of your boss is part of how that happens. Everyone needs an ohako, a signature song to fall back on. Many people also go alone. This is common enough to have its own name, hitori karaoke, and some chains sell it as a service. You get a small room, a good microphone and nobody listening at all.
Words & idioms to take away
Idioms & proverbs to carry away
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十八番 (ohako): your signature song, the one you always sing. The word comes from kabuki, where it meant the eighteen most famous plays of one great acting family.
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一人カラオケ (hitori karaoke): "karaoke alone," going on your own to sing with no audience. It is common enough that karaoke chains advertise it.