Interesting Facts Karaoke The term karaoke comes from the Japanese words karapoo, meaning empty, and oke, meaning orchestra. The term was coined in the sixties when 'Karaoke boxes' began springing up in major cities in Japan. The story goes that a guitarist failed to turn up one evening in a local snack bar in Kobe, and the resourceful owner stepped in and took over the mic. The rest is history and there are now something in the region of 100,000 karaoke boxes in Japan.       Manga The illustrations shown on this site are from a a Japanese style of cartoon called Manga and are original drawings created for this site by Mai Kimizuka who works at the club.