Karaoke Revolution JPN Version Questions

[MiiChan]

I'm interested in investing in the　Japanese versions of Karaoke Revolution, and had a few questions. I did a search, and couldn't find anything that could answer my questions.
First, I can read hirigana and katana easily, and I know about sixty kanji at the moment. Is this limited amount of knowledge enough to read the lyrics in the games? If they have furigana for kanji, I think I should be alright. I'm mainly interested in getting into the game to practice my Japanese through singing. ; Any extra practice outside the class is good, right? ;
Second, What kind of mic should I look into getting for my PS2? Do I have to import the Japanese one? My PS2 is modded with a DMS3, so it can play any PS2 game on it (but PAL, but that doesn't concern Japanese release).
Finaly, any suggestions on which mixes to look into? The anime ones look interesting, but what about the others?

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks
みいちゃん

[Junior Asparagus]

I don't really know about the individual mixes, but just in case you didn't know, the Japanese KR games do not contain the US system of grading your pitch and whatnot; they just display the words on the screen like normal karaoke.
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[MiiChan]

I really don't care about the grading system. I just wanted to sing along to Jpop for cheap. As long as it displays furigana for any kanji that appears when singing along, I'll be fine.

[Razma]

if by Furigana you mean the hiragana or katakana above a kanji, then yes, its there.
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Mercedes Benz 230

[Baka of the Orochi]

But not in all songs.

If you've gone Japanese karaoke-ing before, then you'll know that not all songs have the furigana. In most places I go, Spitz's Cherry has very little, Hysteric Blue's Haru ~spring~ has little, Ken Hirai's Life ~another story~ has almost none, and so on. For the most part, they're not provided because they're commong words (like kokoro, ai, omou, ima, kyou, etc.).

And thus, KR Japanese also carries that same tradition (at least all the versions I've gone through). Not all songs have furigana. So get crackin' on that kanji.
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[MiiChan]

Damn. How much kanji do you think one needs to know to be able to get through songs? Do I need to know enough where I could read the newspaper, which is about a 1000 kanji IIRC? If so, I have a long ways to go. :/ But, one day I'll be able to (my major is Asian Studies/Minor Japanese), so I should have my kanji vocab up there in the near future. Is it a bad idea in investing in these now if my kanji knowledge is too limitted? Any suggestions to fill my "Wanting to sing Japanese" void until then? Heh. ^^:;

[Baka of the Orochi]

I know about maybe 200-300, but if you know 500 (considered intermediate), then that's plenty.

If you do enough Japanese karaoke, you'll be able to recognize a lot of kanji that's used, because a fair amount of songs use the same words. You know, just like any other song in any language (esp. love related words, for example as I said earlier, watashi 「私」, ai 「愛」, kokoro 「心」, kimi 「君」, ima/kyou 「今」/「今日」 ashita 「明日」, hi (day) 「日」, mi(ru) (look) 「見る」, and a bunch of others I can't of right now).

For the meanwhile, try to find an Asian karaoke place, or there are PLENTY of sites with romanized lyrics. Practice lots. If you get a chance to find the lyrics in Japanese, try to read along, and when you hit a kanji you don't know, remember what the romanized lyrics said that kanji said.

Chances are, if you don't run into that kanji again, it'll be put in furigana if you go Japanese karaoke, or get the Japanese KR.
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