Home Community Dropping the Mic – All Kenjinkai Karaoke Contest

Dropping the Mic – All Kenjinkai Karaoke Contest

Contestants and judges surround the winner Ms. Akemi Zee (center)

Photo and Article by Hiroshi Eto, For the North American Post

The Seattle-Tacoma Fukuoka Kenjinkai hosted the second annual All Kenjinkai Karaoke Contest at the Northshore Community Center on 21 December, 2019. Kenjinkai President Christina Swadener served as Emcee and provided the karaoke equipment for songs ranging from Japanese Enka to Taylor Swift. The undisputed All Kenjinkai Champion was Ms. Akemi Zee who won with a rendition of Misora Hibari’s “Ai San San”. She later provided an encore by singing Hosokawa Takashi’s “Naniwabushi Dayo Jinsei Wa”. Under the category of half of life being about showing up, the author of this report won best male vocal by forfeit and represented mankind with a shortened version of Eri Chiemi’s “Otemoyan”. It’s amazing how good it feels to hear songs from memory lane, but it feels even better to have a drop the mic moment.

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The North American Post is a community newspaper that celebrates Japanese culture in the Greater Seattle area. Founded by 1st generation Japanese-Americans in 1902, the publication is one of the oldest minority-owned newspapers in the region. Today, with bilingual articles in English and Japanese, the publication connects readers with diverse cultural backgrounds to Seattle’s Japanese community. Our articles include local news, event calendars, restaurant reviews, Japanese cooking recipes, community interviews, and more.