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Exhausted duty-free shopping, card games and the food hall? An airport in Japan has become the first in the country to install a karaoke booth for passengers to pass the time by performing before boarding.
Kyushu-Saga International Airport in Saga introduced the open mic airport activity on 22 January.
The karaoke booth dubbed “Saganosora” (Saga sky) costs 100 yen (53p) to use per song, with two microphones and four sets of headphones.
Daiichikosho, a Tokyo-based company that specialises in karaoke equipment, made the karaoke booth for international and domestic travellers to enjoy.
It told Japan News that the karaoke booth offers a good way for departing tourists to use up “Japanese coins that they won’t be able to exchange”.
The private telephone box-size space sits on the third floor of Saga’s international terminal building following a trial run near a central stairway on the first floor.
An in-booth clock has been installed to make sure passengers are not late to the departure gate following lyrical layovers.
Sho Akikawa, an airport official at Kyushu-Saga International Airport, told Japan News: “We feel there’s something surprising about seeing a karaoke booth inside an airport, and so we thought it would be a good way to offer a new kind of amusement.
“It can be used by people other than the passengers themselves, so we hope this will serve as an opportunity to promote Saga Airport as a visitor-friendly location.”
The Japanese airport isn’t the first to make music a part of the traveller experience.
Last summer, London’s Heathrow Airport built a stage to showcase emerging British performers for the first time. The programme was so successful the airport hopes to bring it back in 2025.
Nashville International Airport similarly has five stages that host more than 800 performances per year, from country musicians to jazz combos.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
