Tokyo: The Ultimate Secret Karaoke Place in Shibuya: Rainbow Karaoke

There are endless opportunities if you want to go singing karaoke in Tokyo; you can find everything from that shady place in the back alley to those intensely glowing neon-lit places where you dress up as your favourite manga character while singing.

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In this post I will however introduce a karaoke place that lacks the flashy neon-lights but instead has both a great location, style and price; Rainbow Karaoke in Shibuya. Despite the awesomeness of this karaoke place it remains a relatively hidden secret; unlike the karaoke chains that use all the neon-lights possible to attract new customers you probably won't run into Rainbow Karaoke unless you already know where to find it. In other words, if you like karaoke and have gotten tired of the Karaoke Hirobas you find at every corner then Rainbow Karaoke might be the place for you!

Rainbow Karaoke is situated in Shibuya in the newly opened MODI building, only a short 5-minute walk from Shibuya Station. There is a separate small entrance to Rainbow Karaoke on the left side of MODI's main entrance where you’ll find an elevator taking you up to the 8th floor. Their opening hours are from 11 am to 5 pm, and as you can imagine during the prime time hours it can get really crowded.

Karaoke room with drum set (credit: Hot Pepper)

Their rooms are all uniquely decorated, as you can see from some of the pictures below. They even have a room with a drum-set and stuff, so it is the perfect place to go if you want to take it all out.
As common in Japan all rooms are private, so you can sing to your heart’s content with your friends/family without having to worry about strangers listening.

New York style room (credit: Hot Pepper)

Another fancy room (credit: Hot Pepper)

When to Visit:

Raibow Karaoke is for some reason particularly popular among students in university and high school, and these students usually come in from 3pm. Around these hours it gets quite crowded and you might have to line up in order to get rooms. I have however only visited the karaoke place for Friday and Saturday evenings and I've surprisingly never had to wait for rooms at all.

On a side note, do you know the meaning behind the word karaoke? Karaoke can be divided into two parts, kara and oke. Kara (空) is the Japansese word for empty (as in karate - 空手 - empty hand), and oke is a shortening for orchestra. In other words, empty orchestra. As you know, at the karaoke you are the one responsible to fill in the vocal part.

Their 7PM-11AM menu (Note that all prices are without tax)

Prices:
Rainbow Karaoke's prices are surprisingly low! The original room charge after 7PM is 10 yen, and each person has to order one drink at costs starting at 480 yen (Note that all prices are without tax). It costs an additional 380 yen per extended 30 minutes. You could also opt for a all-you-can-drink soft drink course that costs 650 yen/hour, which also includes free ice-cream.

All-you-can-drink (softdrink)

If you plan on staying for a long time then you have the possibility to choose a max 8-hour stay plan including soft drinks for 1980 yen. Not a bad deal right?! With prices like that it won't even be a hassle to lose the last train..

What do you think? Pretty awesome right? My advice would be to go check it out before it gets "discovered" by the crowds..!

Here are some basic information about Rainbow Karaoke:

■ Basic Info