Are there still nightclub singers in Japan?

Question:

I've never been to Japan, and I don't know much about nightclubs in general apart from what I've seen in movies. So I'm very curious. Does Japan have nightclubs that hire regular live performers? I've tried Internet searches, but haven't gotten much information, since all the sites are written in Japanese.

Answer:

Curiously enough, a large number of nightclubs in Japan disappeared all of a sudden when karaoke became popular in early 1980's. Before the advent of karaoke, customers were listeners to those singers and the band music.
But karaoke revolutionary changed entertainment business in Japan. Customers started singing on karaoke by pushing professional singers away from the stage.
There is no nightclubs in Japan today (except for a few shabby looking ones in rural areas). Nightclub culture in Japan has completely extinct, sociologically speaking.

In addition to above,

As a result, many "nightclub singers" and their band members lost their jobs. Most of them were "Enka" and "Kayokyoku" singers. Even though they were not known nationwide, they could make a living by traveling around small nightclubs throughout Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa. But, as I said, a large number of the clubs went out of business with the advent of karaoke. Not only club singers, but their band members (many of their professions were jazz, blues and R&B, believe or not) lost their source of income.

I know majority of those musicians were unwillingly playing behind the club singers just for their limited income day by day. In fact, when their singers were off stage, they used to play those famous jazz numbers of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Glenn Miller. They were pretty good. But majority of Japanese customers back then had no musical background to appreciate them, which is really deplorable!

My point is very simple: karaoke destroyed nightclub culture in Japan and deprived many singers and musicians of their precious venues to perform.