Ask any Asian what karaoke is, and you will probably get the correct answer right away: the music machine for wannabe singers. Karaoke - the word famously means 'empty orchestra' - has become an everyday part of daily life all over the region.
In Japan, where it all began, karaoke bars, boxes and booths can be found even in the remotest hamlets.
But who knows the inventor of the tune box? Many first heard the name of Daisuke Inoue only six years ago, when Time magazine featured him among the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th century - along with Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Mao Zedong .
Now a movie about Mr Inoue's life is currently playing across Japan. Karaoke, Life by a Twist of Fate is the story of how the now-65-year-old man launched his invention 34 years ago, but never applied for a patent. Had he done so, it's estimated his annual royalties would be in the 10-billion-yen ($700 million) range.
Born in Osaka, Mr Inoue was a music-loving, easy-going young man in the 1960s. A drummer in a secondary school band, he quickly became a session player on the nightclub scene. After graduation he tried his hand as a securities broker, but that foundered on his entertainer's taste in loud clothing and a slick hair style. So he returned to music, forming a small band in Kobe.
The film recounts his flair at playing for tone-deaf customers, helping them sing along with slow tempos and simplified tunes. His big break came when a customer asked him to make an instrumental tape of songs he could sing on a company excursion. That was a big success, and the president came back for more tapes.