Japanese Learn How to Have Fun for a Song : Entertainment: <i> Karaoke </i> bars have become too expensive for the average person. So small, rented rooms with similar amenities are now the rage.

Sataru Kitamura and his co-workers at a small trading company used to rent rooms at a country inn for their bonenkai , the annual office party that caps each year.

But for this year’s party, on a recent chilly night, nine of them squeezed into a van parked in a vacant downtown lot. Sales at the trading company are down, says Kitamura, so the company was trying to save some money by choosing this unusual site.

The situation, however, wasn’t as grim as it might sound. The van, one of 30 parked in what looks like a trailer camp, comes equipped with tens of thousands of dollars worth of the latest sing-along, laser disc karaoke equipment. And a nearby van sells drinks and Chinese food.

The party for Kitamura and his co-workers was an example of a business that is thriving during economic hard times: the renting of private rooms equipped with karaoke machines. Japanese are flocking to “karaoke boxes”--also known as karaoke cabins, party rooms or studios--to drink, eat and sing in relative privacy. For most Japanese, it’s the closest thing to a living room that they have experienced.

Karaoke bars have been popular with Japanese businessmen for more than 15 years, but enthusiasts are required to pay outrageous prices for drinks while waiting, often up to an hour, for their turn to sing. Teen-agers and housewives, lacking expense accounts, generally don’t have access to the bars.

Karaoke boxes solved that problem. At first they were simple affairs, often no more than steel shipping containers lined up in empty sites in the suburbs and furnished with a couch and a karaoke machine.

But karaoke boxes later spread to the major cities, bringing a huge surge in investment. Karaoke Business magazine estimates that $1.3 billion was spent this year building and equipping 25,400 new karaoke boxes. Nationwide, says the National Police Agency, there are more than 96,000 karaoke boxes.

Apartment buildings, old cinemas and discotheques have been converted to karaoke boxes. Some are not much bigger than two telephone booths and are stacked in narrow, 10-story buildings. Teen-agers wait in long lines for the chance to hold a microphone and mimic their favorite idols while a video screen displays the lyrics and scenes meant to depict the typical melancholy tone of the songs.

As the number of karaoke box establishments has increased, competition has stiffened, prompting operators to add new features to attract guests.

After three years of rapid expansion, some analysts say the karaoke box phenomenon may be ready for its swan song. But equipment suppliers and operators hope that the business will sweep the rest of Asia, where karaoke bars are already a hit.

Hundreds of companies have sprung up to supply the new market. One company offers “Dreamy,” a machine that spews forth a thick mist around the singer, giving the same effect as dry ice.

“The idea is to make the singer feel that, for one moment, they are the real star,” says Hiroshu Suzuki, an editor at Karaoke Business.

One popular establishment, Hollywood Star, boasts 10 theme rooms, including a Tarzan room painted with jungle flora, and a Dick Tracy room with bright cartoon colors. The Don Quixote room, meant to resemble a castle dungeon, has a curved brick ceiling and a huge lead bat with stained glass eyes and wings.

“It is nice to be here with just our own group and not worry about others,” says Kimie Akai, who works for a securities company. In past years, Akai and her fellow employees used to have dinner, then go to another location to sing karaoke.

This year, to save money, the group of 16 decided to eat and sing in one place, choosing the brightly colored Tarzan room.

The karaoke box boom isn’t without its problems. Some towns are trying to pass ordinances banning them because, it is said, teen-agers use the rooms to drink, smoke and engage in other “sinful” activities. Others complain of noise.

Karaoke box operators are responding to some of the problems. To make it difficult for teen-agers to use the rooms for sexual liaisons, most operators have placed windows in the doors. Some boxes have hidden video cameras to make sure everybody is behaving.

Meanwhile, the McDonald’s Corp. fast-food chain is adding new converts to the craze. In November, the U.S. company installed karaoke equipment, on a pilot basis, in two of its “Party Buses” in Tokyo used for children’s Christmas and birthday parties.

Six-year-old Hirotaka Komatsu had a combined birthday and Christmas party for 19 friends on the second floor of the red London-style bus.

Hogging the microphone, Hirotaka led the children in a bus-shaking rendition of songs from favorite television programs.

“If we had the party at our small home, we wouldn’t be able to invite more than four or five children,” says Hirotaka’s mother, Kiyo. “This way, we can talk quietly while they make noise in the bus.”