Parapara dance game next big thing?

USA Today

Iris Mori, 27, tries her dance steps on the parapara game machine at Hawaiian Brian's Billiards. Photos by Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

They've moved on to a newer phenomenon from Japan: parapara dancing, a craze that has hit Hawai'i in small measure.

Parapara looks a little like American line dancing: Teenagers line up for the routines; dancers shuffle their feet back and forth, almost listlessly, to a saccharine pop beat. The real action is in the arms and upper body. Dancers memorize arm motions — pointing, circling, flicking their wrists — for each song. And there are hundreds of songs to learn.

"Dance Dance Revolution is just moving your feet," says Hong Kong high school student Kaka Li, 18. "Parapara is moving your whole body."

Hong Kong teenagers congregate by the dozens, even the hundreds, in Kowloon Park and in shopping mall arcades to practice parapara moves and exchange tips. Some study new moves on instructional videos or download them from the Internet.

Parapara has been around for more than a decade in Japan. But it took off in 1999 when Japanese heartthrob Kimura Takuya, a singer and actor, started showing off parapara moves on television. The sensation spread across Asia when Konami — the Japanese company that makes Dance Dance Revolution machines — began marketing its ParaParaParadise machines in arcade parlors across the region. Now the parapara craze stretches from Seoul, South Korea, to the United States.

On the ParaParaParadise screen, an animated dancer in a bikini top and bell-bottom pants shows dancers what to do. Infrared sensors monitor how well the dancers follow the routines. A few arcades in the States have acquired parapara machines, including Hawaiian Brian's Billiards pro shop in Honolulu.

Since its arrival several weeks ago, the game has attracted dancers of all ages.

Stanley Yu, 14, tries his hand at the game at Hawaiian Brian's.

She and her Central Intermediate classmate Lita Nguyen go to Brian's to play parapara almost every day, spending as much as $20 each time. And Kele Miranda, a Leeward Community College student, said he likes parapara because it's challenging.

It's not just about dancing, its fans said: Friendships have formed between parapara dancers who once were complete strangers. Nguyen said she first met Miranda at a Dance Dance Revolution contest and approached him because he was wearing pajamas as a costume.

According to a manager at Hawaiian Brian's, both the parapara and Dance Dance Revolution machines enjoy heavy play time.

Others have also tried to cash in on the craze.

A recent Hong Kong movie — "Para Para Sakura" — sought to graft a parapara theme onto a traditional love story.

Didn't work, complains parapara devotee Li, who gives the flick a lackluster three stars out of five.

"Most of the film is a love story," she says. "It is not a parapara movie."

Advertiser staff writer Jean Chow contributed to this report.