Me Doing Magic at a BDSM Event

The last Friday of November, I did a magic show at the Rootstock Side Action 2013 bondage event. There were performances by bondage teams, by several bands (rock music), by a funny transvestite, and there was my magic show and a laser show. About 160 people showed up to watch, and there was a quite big stage to perform on. Apart from the performances on the stage, there were snakes and birds of prey to play with, food, drinks, strange clothes and fashion accessories on sale, and you could have tattoos and fangs fixed for you on the spot. You could also try being tied up by bondage experts.

11月の最後の金曜日にルートストック・サイド・アクション2013年というSMイベントでマジックショーをやった。SMショー2組が縛りとかのパフォーマンスをしたし、バンド3組の生演奏もあったし、面白いオカマがいたし、レザーショーもあったし、僕のマジックショー以外も色々あった。お客さん160人くらいが来たそうだ。割と広いステージがあった。ステージのパフォーマンス以外も色々あった。例えば、蛇やふくろう（本物）・フェッチのファッションアクセサリ・牙・タトゥー・飲み物・食べ物。SMのプロに縛って貰う体験コーナーもあった。

I was asked to show up and do my show as a zombie, and if possible to do some bondage themed magic tricks. After leaving work at the university I rushed home and started painting my face. I arrived more or less in time to see the first performance on the stage. My own performance was much later, so I was a bit worried that my makeup would melt away if I started sweating, so I tried to stay away from the hotter rooms and not to exert myself too much.

マジックショー頼まれた時に、ゾンビの格好でやって下さいと言われた。SMショーっぽいマジック何かあったらやって欲しいと言われたし。大学の仕事が終わって、家に帰って必死にゾンビメイクで頑張った。最初のステージパフォーマンスをぎりぎり見れた感じで会場に着いた。僕のパフォーマンスがもっともっと遅い時間だった。メイクが水の弱いので溶けるかって心配していたから、暑くない部屋に行ったり、出来るだけ運動しない様にしたりしていた。

Talking about mind reading

The magic show went fairly well. People seemed to enjoy my tricks. I started with a Tenyo made magic coloring book. It is a fast trick (less than a minute) that is visual, easy to see from far away, and easy to understand even for people who are not listening to what the magician is saying. I often use this as an opener to quickly introduce myself.

マジックショーは割りと無事に終わった。喜んで貰えたみたい。最初はテンヨーネタの絵本を使った。すぐ終わるマジック（1分もかからない）で、ビジュアルで分かり易いマジックで、遠くまで見れるマジックで、説明をちゃんと聞いていなくても伝わるマジックなので、最初の紹介ネタに使う時が多い。

Explaining that the mind reading waves are too weak so the antenna (nail) I am holding in my left hand might be necessary

Next, I had a card picked from a jumbo sized deck of cards, and then tried to mind read what the selected card was using telepathy. The telepathic waves were not strong enough, so I used an antenna (a nail) that I hammered into my nose. Then I could mind read the card.

次、ジャンボサイズのトランプからカード1枚選んで貰った。エスパ的に読み取ろうとしたが電波が悪くてなかなか読み取れなかった。もしかしたら、アンテナが必要ではないかって自分で分かった。アンテナ（釘）を鼻に刺した。刺してから、カードは何のカードだったか、読み取れた。

Hammering the antenna (nail) into my nose

Next I did a short rope trick, since the other performances relied heavily on ropes (tying people up and then whipping them). First I used a Tenyo rope with a Pikachu on it. The rope turns soft or hard depending on magic power. I also used a normal rope which I had a spectator cut in half, and then I made the rope whole again. I also pulled the rope through my body.

その次、ロープマジックをした。SMショーの人たちがよくロープ（縄）を使っていたから、ロープマジックもいいかなと思った。最初テンヨーのピカチュが付いた硬くなったり柔らかくなったりするロープを使った。その後、普通のロープを出して、お客さんに真ん中辺り切って貰った。切られたロープの復活の後、ロープが僕の体を貫通した。

Hammering the nail in the last few centimeters too

Next, I had a card selected, stuffed the whole deck of cards into a slightly suspicious looking bag. I also put the rope from the previous trick into the bag, and stuffed a stuffed rabbit toy in there too. I then had a woman use one of the bondage teams' whip to whip the bag. She was one of the "S" people from one of the other performances, so she whipped me (my hand) hard several times, before actually doing what I asked her to do, haha. After whipping the bag, when pulling the rope out it turned out that the stuffed rabbit had been tied up with the rope into a bondage position, and it had the selected stuck in the rope creations too.

普通のトランプから1枚選んで貰って、若干怪しげな袋にトランプ全部入れた。さっきのマジックのロープも入れた。最後に、ぬいぐるみのウサギも入れた。鞭のプロに鞭で袋たたいて欲しかったがやっぱりSの人で、最初の何回かは僕の手をたたいた。結構痛かった（笑）。やっと頼んだ様に袋をたたいて貰ってから、袋からロープを引っ張り出すとウサギが亀甲縛りになってて、あるところに選んだカードも付いていた。

Me with a nail stuck in my nose, successfully doing mind reading

I gave away the tied up stuffed toy to someone in the audience. I threw it pretty far away to someone who shouted that they wanted it. A month later, I saw the same toy rabbit hung in a bar I visited, so I guess the person who received either visits there or works there.

亀甲縛りになったぬいぐるみを奥のほうのお客さんにあげた。誰が貰ったか、よく見れなかったがその1ヶ月後、たまたま行ったバーに僕が使っていたウサギが飾ってあった！貰った人がそこのお客さんか店員か分からないが偶然でまた出会ったね。

The rabbit from my show, found by chance in a bar a month later

My final trick was a card trick where I signed card ended up inside an unopened (factory sealed) PET-bottle. I gave the PET-bottle with the card inside away to the girl who had signed the card.

最後にカード1枚選んで貰って、サインして貰った。サインされたカードが新品のペットボトルに入った。そのペットボトルをサインしてくれた女の子にあげた。

Me and the event organizer

The other performances were very good. I liked the bondage performances very much (I had only seen one bondage performance before this, when the event organizer took me to a bondage club to see a show so I knew what goes on in such shows so I could make magic tricks with a similar theme). The transvestite was very funny, I am told, though I missed almost all of it since I was on after him and had to be backstage getting ready. The bands were also very good, and they were super nice to talk too at the after party too. The things on sale were interesting, and the food was good too. The spectators were funny too. Some people showed up in quite spectacular outfits.

他のパフォーマンスも良かった。SMショーが両方凄いきれいだった。その前にSMショーを見たことが1回しかなかった。SMショーに合わせたマジックをやって欲しいと言われて、イベントの人と勉強のためにSMクラブのショーを見に行った。イベントのオカマも凄く面白かったと言われたが僕のパフォーマンスがその次だったからほとんど見れなかった。バンドも良かった。打ち上げでバンドのメンバーと話すのも楽しかったし。ブースも面白かった。食べ物も美味しかったし。来てくれたお客さんも面白い人がいっぱいいっぱいいた。面白い格好の人も沢山来ていた。

I also wrote about Rootstock Side Action 2013 and uploaded photos I took myself to my non-magic blog about things that happen to me in Sapporo.

ルートストック・サイド・アクション2013年の写真とかをマジック関係ないブログにもアップした。

Christmas Magic Show at Bottom Cafe

A Santa DJ, me, my funny t-shirt, and some Christmas chicken.

On Christmas Eve I did a magic show at the bar "Bottom Cafe" (a strange name for a bar, by the way). They had a Christmas Eve party featuring roasted chicken (which is what Japanese people think is Western Christmas food), my magic show, and different DJs performing.

クリスマスイブにボトムカフェというバーでマジックショーをした。クリスマスパーティーがあって、ローストチキンとかもあったし、DJもいたし。

I did a 20 minutes parlor show, in front of a lot of people who seemed to enjoy the show very much. They laughed at the supposedly funny bits (and did not laugh when I was not trying to be funny). I started with a magic coloring book, which I like to open with because it is a very quick trick, very visual (people who cannot hear what you are saying still notice something strange happened), and is quite magical. I then did a card effect where I mind read the chosen card from the spectator's brain, with a little help of a nail (antenna) hammered into my nose.

僕は20分くらいのサロンマジックのパフォーマンスをした。人が結構いて、皆楽しんでくれたみたい。笑って欲しい時に笑ってくれたり、笑って欲しくない時に笑わなかった。最初は魔法の絵本を使った。ビジュアルで、何って言っているか聞き取れなくても不思議に見えるマジックで、1分もかからないマジックなので、始まる時のネタにいいと思うなぁ。その後、トランプ1枚引いて貰って、エスパ的に何のカードだったかを当てた。電波が悪くて、鼻に釘（アンテナ）を刺す必要もあったけど。

Me trying to mind read what the chosen card is (if only I had checked Facebook and seen this photo showing the card!).

Hammering a nail (antenna) into my nose.

With the help of the nail (antenna), the mind reading succeeded.

I then did a trick I have that uses pictures of famous people to determine the "perfect match" for a female spectator. If Brad Pit shows up, her best match would be people similar to Brad Pit (i.e. "cool" people) and if Einstein showed up her best match would be intelligent people, etc. She was unlucky, and the picture that kept showing up over and over again was a photo of me... But when she decided to change her mind and go a bit farther down the pack, the one she changed away from turned out to be Tom Cruise, etc. A trick I have made myself, that I like quite a lot.

その後、有名人のトランプを使った相性占いみたいなマジックをした。女の子がカード1枚選ぶ。例えばブラピになったら、ブラピみたいな人（格好いい系人の代表）が一番相性いいということ。アインシュタインになったら、頭のいい人との相性がいい。引きが弱い女の子だったね。毎回毎回僕の写真しか出なかった。悩んで、やっぱりこのカードではなくて、変えると言った時に、まさかトム・クルーズだったし。変えないほうが良かった。自作のマジックで、結構好きだ。

I did a mentalism type card effect, predicting which cards people would yell out at me from the audience, and then did a joke with a silk-to-panda toy with a Christmas theme (which I shamelessly stole/borrowed from the owner of our magic bar).

その後メンタリズムっぽいカードマジック（予言）もしたし、シルクとパンダのおもちゃを使ったギャグマジックもしたし。個人的に超好きで、マジックバーのオーナーが考えたマジックをそのまんまぱくった（道具も貸して貰ったし）。

Finally, I had people shuffle a deck of Japanese alphabet cards and then we flipped over cards to reveal them spelling out a Japanese phrase recently popular on TV. After that, I had a card signed and it ended up inside an un-opened (factory sealed) PET-bottle from the convenience store below.

最後にお客さんが混ぜたひらがな付きトランプを出してみたら、最近の流行の「おもてなし」が出てきた。最後の最後、トランプ1枚にサインして貰って、そのカードが新品のペットボトルに入った。

A signed card appeared inside this un-opened PET-bottle.

The food was great. The audience was great. The DJs were good. Many friends of mine showed up (two friends visiting from Sweden, a colleague from Hokudai, an American magician visiting Sapporo, a girl who dressed up as a zombie for Halloween with me, and more). My magic show seemed to go over well, and  I was fairly happy with the performance myself too.

食べ物がかなり美味しかった。お客さんが皆いい人だった。DJも良かった。友達いっぱい来てくれた。スウェーデンからの後輩2人・北大の同僚1人・アメリカからのマジシャン（札幌に遊びに来ている）・ハロウィンに一緒にゾンビになった女の子、色々な知り合いがきた。マジックもうけたみたいで、僕も自分で割りと満足した。

One girl came up to me after my show and said that it was the first time she saw me do magic and that I looked "500 times cooler" when doing magic. I said 500 times 0 is still 0, but she said "ah, you are not a 0, you are more like 0.2"... An idea for a New Year resolution is perhaps to try to crawl my way up to a 1 on a a scale from 1 to 10...

ショーの後、女の人が寄ってきて、「初めてヨーナスのマジックを見た。500倍くらい格好良く見えた！」と言われた。「500掛ける0はまだ0だけど」と言ったら、「あ、ヨーナスが０ではないよ。0.2くらいあるんじゃない？」と言われた…低っ！（笑）来年の目標は1から10で、1を目指そうか…

Roasted chicken, stuffed with rice.

Fried potatoes, hashed potatoes, and chicken salad sandwiches.

DJ Santa had a present bag. When I asked what was inside, he gave me a piece of candy from the bag.

The rice inside the chicken was very good.

There was a small Christmas tree in front of the DJ booth.

The Christmas tree kind of worked as a disco light too, and would shine strongly and blink from time to time.

Christmas, magic, miniskirts

December 23rd is a holiday in Japan (the Emperor's birthday), so recently people have Christmas parties on the 23rd (Christmas is not really celebrated here, and all the Christmas days are normal working days). One of my Japanese friends works in a bar called One Star Bar. He told me that on the evening of the 23rd they were going to have an event called "Sabisinbo Night", the night for lonely people. In Japan, Christmas is the season for going on romantic dates with your girlfriend/boyfriend, so this party was for people like him that do not have a girlfriend.

12月23日が祝日なので、友達が働いている「One Star Bar」という店でクリスマスパーティーがあった。友達は彼女がいないから、デートの時期のクリスマスに友達の為の「さびしんぼナイト」というイベントになっていた。彼女の居る人は来ちゃ駄目な感じだった。僕は残念ながら、セーフ。

He promised he would be working in a Santa costume, one made for girls. He also asked that I show up and perform some magic.

友達が「サンタのコスチュームで出るよ」と言って、「ミニスカートのね」って。マジックをして欲しいからおいでと言われたし。

When I showed up, my friend was indeed wearing a mini-skirt Santa outfit, and a blonde wig. His boss was also wearing a sexy Santa costume, and had a rope and two bells attached to his groin. They were a smaller version of the rope you use to ring bells at Shinto shrines in Japan (to make the gods aware of your presence so they can see your donation and hear your prayer). You could pull the rope and ring the bells if you wanted, without making any monetary offerings.

行ったら、本当にミニスカートと金髪のカツラで働いていた。店長が別のセクシーサンタのコスプレセットを着ていたし。神宮にある紐みたいなのも股間からぶら下がっていた。お金投げなくても引っ張っていいよと言われた。

When I was asked to do some magic, my friend suddenly decided (after a few tricks) that: "The rest is non-free! Who is willing to pay?" One guy offered to pay 2000 yen to see more, but my friend jumped in and started negotiating the price, so people ended up putting all their small change on the counter instead. Six or seven people pitched in, and together they got up to 767 yen... After starting at 2000 yen. My friend's negotiating skills are not great. I gave all the money to my friend (he charged me that amount for a drink he figured I had ordered for him to drink).

マジックをちょっとやったら、友達が突然「これから有料になるから！誰がお金を出す？」と言い出した。最初誰かが2000円を出そうとしたが友達がそこで入って、値段の話をし始めた。その後、お客さん全員が小銭を出し始めた。合わせたら、767円になった。2000円のスタートから…友達、お金の話が下手だなぁ（笑）。そのお金を友達にあげた。というか、僕が友達に買ってあげた1杯の料金になったが買ってあげる記憶がないなぁ、ｗ。

I did some magic at the counter and some more magic at some sofa seats in another part of the bar. I hammered a nail into my nose, and I produced a lot of sponge rabbits. My friend loves the "ambitious card", a very old card routine (a selected card is put into the deck but keeps returning to the top of the deck) so he also requested that I do that. I used to do a version of the ambitious card 5 years ago when I did table hopping in a restaurant, but nowadays my boss in the magic bar does his ambitious card routine, so I have not performed it in a long long time. It went over quite well, though.

カウンターでもソファー席でもちょっとマジックを披露した。鼻に釘をさしたら、スポンジのウサギを大量で出したりした。友達は「アンビシャス・カード」というマジックが大好き（真ん中に入れたのに、選んだカードが上に上がってくるやつ）で、それもやりなさいといわれた。5年前にレストランでテーブルを回ってマジックをした時によくやっていたが今マジックバーの店長がアンビシャスカードをやっているから、僕が何年ぶりにもやっていない。まぁ、慣れていなくてもうけたけど。

Christmas magic show at Bottom Cafe ・ 24日にボトムカフェでマジックショー

In Japan, Christmas is the day for romantic dates. Other than that, Christmas is not really celebrated here (other than by eating KFC, which for some reason is believed to be what all Westerners do for Christmas, but I digress).

日本ではクリスマスは主にデートをするってことだね。謎のチキンを食べる習慣もあるし、笑。

A few days ago, I was asked: "Are you free on the 24th?" [the "romantic date day"]. Sadly, it was a guy who asked me, and mainly because he assumed I would have nothing planned and he wanted me to do a magic show. Even sadder, he was right.

この間「24日の夜空いている？」と聞かれた。残念ながら、男の人に聞かれた。そして、勿論予定ないと思われていたから聞かれた。間違ってはいなかったし…悲しいことに聞こえるがマジックショーして欲しいから聞いてきた。ということは、24日の夜にマジックショーをやることになった。

 But on the bright side, I am doing a magic show on the 24th.

December 24, at "Bottom Cafe" (Susukino, New Keiwa Biru 2F), from 22:00 (or maybe from 21:00, the time is not fixed yet). For 1000 yen you get to see the magic and you get roasted Christmas chicken. For 3000 yen you get chicken and free drinks.

12月24日に、ボトムカフェ（南5西6ニュー桂和ビル２F）でマジックショー！22時スタートになりそうだが時間がまだ決まっていない。早くても21時スタートだ。イベント自体が20時スタートで、1000円でローストチキン食べ放題だ。3000円で飲み放題＋チキン食べ放題。楽しみだ。

Another huge changing room

Today I did magic at a wedding at the JASMAC hotel here in Sapporo. Again, the bride and groom were very cute. I went around to all the tables, doing very short performances of magic at each of the 14 tables. Everyone seemed very happy with my magic, and some very young kids (3 years old?) sat with their mouths open in a very stereotypical look of surprise, which their parents thought was hilarious. Very cute.

I had a huge changing room all to myself, where I sat around waiting for over an hour before it was my turn to perform (they asked me to show up early but then the wedding schedule got a bit delayed). Lots of fun, and very nice people.

今日JASMACホテルでまた婚礼でマジックをやってきた。可愛い新郎新婦だった！テーブルを回って、マジックを見せた。１４テーブルもあったから、各テーブルで結構短いパフォーマンスになった。それでも皆喜んでくれたみたい。若い子供（３才？）が驚きすぎて、口が開いたまんまで可愛かった。ご両親も笑っていた。

僕だけのためのめちゃくちゃ広い控え室もあった。そこで１時間以上待機していた。早めに来て欲しいと言われたから、かなり早く着いた。その後、スケジュールがちょっと遅くなったみたいで、結構待っていた。楽しいイベントだったし、いいお客さんだったし、良かった。

Movies shot with cell phones

My boss in our magic bars has recently begun putting up short clips of magic on his Facebook feed, calling them "Today's magic". This is a fun idea, and I have been asked to participate from time to time. I figure I might as well reuse the movies and put them on YouTube too. The first to clips starring me show me doing the baguette production and the Tenyo Ghost Cards. Two tricks that work extra well for the camera :-)

Since these are shot with someone's cell phone, the image quality is not that great, and it is very much not widescreen... But the magic is still pretty nice.

最近、マジックバーのボスがFacebookに「今日のマジック」という動画シリーズで短いマジックの動画を沢山載せている。僕も参加した。動画があれば、ユーチューブでも再利用しようと思ったから、僕の最初の２本をアップした。また手からフランスパンを出すマジックとテンヨーの新作の「ゴーストカード」になった。動画に良いマジックだよね。

誰かの携帯で撮ったので、画像質がそんなに良くないし、立てになっているし…でも、面白いマジックだと思うなぁ、笑。

Tenyo 2014: Ghost cards and MRI ・ テンヨー2014年のゴーストカードとマジカルMRI

Today I noticed that one of the stores in Sapporo was selling the new Tenyo props. I was looking for Halloween stuff, but walked home with two new Tenyo tricks instead. I bought the "Magical MRI" and the "Ghost Cards". I considered buying the "4D printer" too, but I will buy that from a different store instead.

今日ハロウィーンに使いたいものを探しに行ったら、東急ハンズでテンヨーの2014年の新作が置いてあった。ゴーストカードとマジカルMRIという新ネタを買って帰った。4次元プリンターも気になったが別の店で買おうかなと考えた。

The Magical MRI has a very clever gimmick. The effect is that the spectator puts things on his side of a metal plate (so you cannot see them) and you manage to figure out what is on the other side. Two dice are included in the box, and you can have the spectator put one of them on his side, with whatever number he wants facing up, and you put the other one on your side showing the same number. The spectator can use both dice on his side, and you can write down what numbers he chose (or just tell him). Basically, you can see things on the other side, so you can have the spectator put other things there too, and an idea with a playing card is described in the instructional leaflet.

マジカルMRIが凄い仕掛けだ。現象は金属の鉄板の後ろに（マジシャンが見えないように）お客さんがものを置く。見えていないはずなのに、マジシャンが何が置いてあるかを当てる。道具にサイコロ2つが付いているからお客さんがサイコロ１つを置いて、マジシャンがもう1個のサイコロをマジシャン側に置いて、同じ数字になる。お客さんが2個をお客さん側において、マジシャンがサイコロの上の目を書いて当てる（言うだけでも大丈夫）。基本的に、マジシャンにちょっと見えているので、サイコロではないものでもマジックできる。解説書にカード当てのやり方１つ書いてある。

You can hand out the metal plate with no fear of anyone discovering anything incriminating. You can hand out the plastic frame too, with fairly little fear of discovery too. There is also a stand to put the frame in, which can also be handled by the spectator.

This trick is my current favorite of the Tenyo 2014 items. It seems like it could be very useful.

鉄板をお客さんに渡しても、ばれる可能性がない。プラスチック製フレームも渡しても（多分）大丈夫だ。フレームのスタンドも特にばれることがない。

2014年のネタの中、これが一番好きだ。色々なように使えそうだ。

The Ghost Cards are a fun effect, and look great on video. You have a few playing cards in your hand and you push a large part of them into your face. You can retrieve the parts that disappeared from behind your head if you want to.

ゴーストカードが面白い現象だ。動画で観たらかなり不思議に見える。トランプ何枚かを持って、顔に刺し込む。顔に入った分は頭の後ろから出すことも出来る。

This trick looks good live too, if you use the little plastic cover thing included. You can do it without the cover too, but then you have to have a fairly large distance between you and the spectator or they will see how the trick is done. The plastic cover is ungimmicked and can be handed out. The cards cannot be handled by the spectator (at least not all of them), neither before you push them into your face nor after. You can push the cards into anything, but things that are soft look best (like meaty parts of your body). The angles are pretty good, though the side of the cards have to be covered at some times. You can have people standing behind you without them seeing how the trick is done (though they will not see the effect either), unless you want to produce the cards from behind your head (which you could still do depending on what clothes you wear).

生で観ても、付いているプラスチックのカバーを使えば、不思議に見える。カバー無しでやっても大丈夫だがお客さんが近かったら、やり方すぐばれる。プラスチックのカバーはギミックではないので、お客さんに渡しても大丈夫だ。カードは刺し込む前にも終わってからでも、手渡しが無理。顔ではなくても、何のものにも刺しても大丈夫だ。やわらかいもの（体の肉の分とか）がきれいに見える。角度に割りと強い。カードの横側を隠さないと行けない時があるがそれくらいだ。後ろに人がいてもばれない（現象は伝わらないけど）。頭の後ろからカードを出すこともやったら、後ろに人がいたらちょっと服のカバーしないと難しい。

I like this trick, it is a funny idea to push cards into your face.

面白いマジックだと思う。変な現象が好きだ。

Bread from thin air (almost) again

Today I got bored and decided to redo my video of the "producing a baguette from a suspicious looking hand" magic trick. I like this magic trick but rarely perform it. I have done it less than 10 times I think. I have problems coming up with an interesting story for presenting this trick.

今日退屈になったから「怪しい手からフランスパンを出す」マジックの動画を撮り直した。このマジックが好きだがお客さんの前だあまりやらない。面白いストーリーが思い浮かばない。

Magic Mania Meeting at Magic Bar Red King ・ マジックマニア会＠マジックバーレッドキング

My magician friend Shogo has got a new job in the magic bar "Red King" in Sapporo and the thought we should start having "magic mania meetings" again. Yesterday we had the first magic mania meeting in Red King with 6 participants.

マジシャン友達の丞吾が新しい仕事出来て、今「Red King」というマジックバーで働いている。前によくマニア会をやっていたが最近やっていないから、またやろうよっていう話をしていた。昨日、レッドキングでの初めてのマニア会があった。6人もいた。

Shogo himself has mastered a very nice bottom deal, but did not want me to upload a clip of him doing his bottom deal because he thinks it still needs more work. Instead, we did some gag type of tricks, and some flourish type things.

丞吾が最近ボトムディールを練習して、かなり上手にできている。動画を撮ったがまだまだ練習が必要だから載せちゃ行けないと本人に言われた…その代わりにギャグネタやフラリッシュの動画を撮ったから載せる。

Here is a coin magic trick which is of the slightly "mania" type (i.e. difficult).
ちょっとマニアっぽい（難しい）コインマジックの動画。

A first time participant showed a difficult card move.
初めて参加した人が難しいカードのロールダウンを見せてくれた。

I like gag style magic, as do some of my friends. This is a friend who does some seriously difficult magic too, but this trick is just for fun.
僕はギャグネタが大好きなんだ。そういう友達もいる。この動画では難しいというより面白いことをやっている友達だが他に大変難しいマジックもする人だ。

This is me showing off a business card trick. One of our customers asked if it was possible to do a famous card trick called "Size Surprise" (I think) with business cards instead. I made up a set of business cards the next day, and the result was so-so. You can actually hand out any size of business card after you are done too (the original trick has a card of a certain size that you cannot really let people touch). It is a silly gag trick, which is just the type of magic I like most.

最後の動画は僕だ。名刺を使ったギャグネタのマジック。夏にマジックバーツイスターのお客さんに有名なカードマジック（「ビッグサプライズ」というかな？）、名刺で出来るかって聞かれた。次の日に名刺で作ってみた。まあまあだった。でも、何の大きさの名刺でも渡せるからちょっと面白いと思った（元のマジックではある大きさのカードは渡せない）。ばかばかしいマジックの好きな僕にちょうどいいマジックだ。

Zombie does magic with a nail at Ropossa ・ 札幌のロポッサでゾンビが鼻に釘を刺す動画

Last year at Halloween I dressed up as a zombie and visited the magic "snack bar" Ropossa here in Sapporo. They asked me to hammer a nail into my nose (and to drink tomato juice, bite people, eat gooey stuff, etc. etc.) so I ended up doing a card trick.

去年のハロウィーンにゾンビの格好をして、マジックのスナック「ロポッサ」に行った。鼻に釘を刺してって言われた。他に「トマトジュースを飲んで」とか「この人を噛んで」とか「黄な粉餅を食べて」とか、色々言われた。だから、カードマジックをやり出した。

I had a card selected. Then I tried to determine what card was selected through mind reading. Sadly, the reception was not that great, so an antenna was needed. I took out an antenna that looked quite a lot like a normal nail. Since mind reading is done with the brain, the antenna had to be hammered into the head to reach the brain. Once the antenna was attached, the reception became clearer and I could correctly determine the selected card.

トランプ1枚選んで貰った。そのカードをエスパ的に当てようとしたがエスパ的な電波が悪かった。アンテナが必要になった。釘に見えなくもないアンテナを出した。エスパは脳から脳のコミュニケーションなので、脳まで刺さないとアンテナの意味がないよねと言って、鼻に刺した。アンテナがあれば、何となく見えてきたからカードがちゃんと当てれた。

The card parts are completely missing from the movie, however, so it just looks like a weird person hammering a nail into their nose for no reason. With blood all over them... But there was a completely logical reason for all of this!

動画でカードの分は1秒も映っていないけど。ただの変な人に見える。勝手に鼻に釘を刺している。血まみれだし。でも、ちゃんとした理由があったんだよね！

Tenyo 2014 clips ・ テンヨー2014年の動画

Tenyo has put up promotional clips of the new props for 2014.
テンヨーの新しいネタのPVが出た！

The "MRI" (metal board that you can "see through") seems like it could be fun to use.
MRIという透視のやつが一番使えそうかな？

The cards you push into your face looks fun too, though I am guessing it is rather angle sensitive.
顔に突っ込むカードが面白いと思うが角度に弱いかな？

The money trick does not seem to be better than what you could easily make yourself (like I did).
お札のやつは自分で作れるより良くはないみたいで、興味ない。

The big suspicious looking envelope thing that turns blank cards into happy birthday cards is said to be good, though the clip does not look that impressive.
白いカードをハッピーバースデイカードにする大きな怪しい封筒がいいらしいが動画で大した面白く見えない。

Recording a few new magic tricks ・ 新ネタの動画

Recently we have not had any "magic mania" meetings. I have been busy at work (and sick) so I have not practiced much new stuff. The most "mania" of the staff in our magic bar quit a few months ago and now works in a "normal" bar, so we do not meet as much anymore. My most "mania" friend found himself a girlfriend, so now we see each other only once every two months or so. So everyone coming together at the same time for magic mania meetings do not happen very much anymore.

最近、マジックのマニア会が全然ない。僕は仕事で忙しい（風邪とかも何回も引いたし）。一番マニアの同僚がやめて、普通のバーで働いているからそんなに会わない。一番マニアの友達が彼女できたから最近2ヶ月に１回くらい程度でしか会わない。マニア会の他の人も、皆で同じ日に集まることがなかなかない。

People sometimes tell me they liked our magic clips on YouTube and want me to upload new stuff. These complaints have increased lately, so I went over to one of our magic bars at a time when they did not have anything to do, and asked a friend to record me doing some new silly tricks that I recently have become fond of. These are not of the "mania" type, but more of a "joke" type. Still, I felt I should upload something, so here they are.

たまに、「ユーチューブにある動画を観たよ」とかと言われる。もっとアップして欲しいって。最近そういう文句が多い、ｗ。うちのマジックバーの暇そうな時に行って、マジシャン同僚に動画を撮って貰った。ギャグネタばかりだ。マニア会とだいぶ違うが何かアップしなきゃと思ってきたから、個人的にギャグネタが好きな僕の感じのマジック動画になった。

The first clip here is a trick I practiced quite a long time ago and like very much. I have not been performing it very much (not at all, more or less), though. Recently I have started performing it in our magic bar. After we relocated, we now have a very low counter, so people can actually see my legs. I like the trick, but it is very short, so I usually play it off as a joke about optical illusions, and how a trick of your eyes makes the pen look rubbery and in a less known trick of your eyes also makes the pen look like a coin.

最初は昔練習して、僕の好きなマジックだ。好きなマジックだが、見せることが今までほとんどなかった。最近マジックバーでちょっとやることになっているけど。うちのマジックバーが移転してから、カウンターが低いから足とかも見える。短いマジックなので、だいたい「目の錯覚、色々あるよね。こうしたら、ペンが曲がっている様に見える。こうしたら、コインに見える。色々な錯覚あるよね」みたいな話をして、ギャグみたいに見せる。

The next clip is my version of spoon bending. When I showed it to the "mama" at the "magic snack bar" Ropossa, who is very very good at "normal" spoon bending (she has bent tens of thousands of spoons), she thought it was very funny. She even gave me some spoons to play with. It is a very very quick trick. I tried to go for a heart shape of the bent spoon, but that turned out to be more difficult than I had imagined, so in the end I gave up and the spoon is not really that heart shaped.

次は僕のスプーン曲げだ。マジックのスナック「ロポッサ」のママはスプーン曲げがうまい。数万本も曲げてきた。ママに僕のやり方のスプーン曲げを見せた時、かなりうけた、ｗ。ママはギャグネタも好きみたい。その後、スプーン何本かもくれた。僕はハート形にしたかったが思ったより大変だったから、諦めて、そこまでハートの形になっていない。

Another optical illusion type of magic trick is showing a pen (or cigarette, or anything, really, but pens and cigarettes are the most common) and covering it with your hand so it looks shorter. Using this as a setup, I made a joke trick where a pen (and a spoon) "looks smaller". I think it is pretty funny, but I have not really used it other than as a joke for other magicians.

また目の錯覚のマジックの動画だ。有名な錯覚で、ペンやタバコ（他のものでも出来るがペンやタバコが多い）を手で隠して、小さく見える錯覚がある。その錯覚を見せてから、ペンもスプーンも結構小さく見える錯覚のマジックをやる。個人的にこういうのが好きだが他のマジシャンにギャグみたいにしか見せたことがない。

Finally, the "mama" of Ropossa also gave me a magic prop that makes a pen shrink. The normal (intended) way of using it is completely different. If I understand correctly you use a handkerchief and make a pen small. I use the prop to illustrate the same optical illusion as above, where a pen looks shorter. Then I explain that I actually used a trick pen, and how you can make it long again. I only got the pen, no instructions and no handkerchief (and possibly there was one more tool included that I also did not get).

最後の動画は、ロポッサのママがくれたマジック道具を使ったマジックだ。またペンが小さく見える。普通の使い方はハンカチを使って割りと真面目にペンを小さくするマジックだそうだが僕はペンしか貰っていない。ハンカチ・解説書・何か付いていた道具、見たこともない。僕は前の動画と同じ目の錯覚の話をして、小さく見える錯覚だよって言う。そして、実は仕掛けのあるペンなんだと説明して、こうしたらペンが伸びて元に戻るんだよねってあまり納得行かない説明をする。

Interesting toys at Ropossa

I went to the the "snack bar" Ropossa, where the mama does magic. They also have endless amounts of interesting toys. Both things they have bought and things that some of their regulars have made themselves.

この間またマジックのスナック「ロポッサ」に行った。ママがマジックを見せてくれるがマジックバーではないと言い張っている。不思議なおもちゃとかもいっぱいあるんだ。買ったものもあるし、常連さんが作ったものもある。

This time I was shown a very interesting handkerchief. You can crumble it up and the just shake it in your hand or throw it in the air, and it returns to its origami crane shape. Apparently only made using two layers of stretchable cloth stuck together in a certain way.

今回感動したのは不思議なハンカチだった。ぐちゃぐちゃにしてから、手で振るや空中になげると元の形に戻る。ママが持っているハンカチが折り紙の鶴の形になるが他の形もあるそうだ。ストレッチの布２枚を特別な様にくっついているだけみたい。凄い作るだと思った。

Magic Bar Twister in Sapporo renewal open ・ 札幌のマジックバーツイスターのリニューアルオープン

The magic bar here in Sapporo where I usually perform magic has moved one block closer to the subway station, and it has been a few fairly busy weeks since the renewal open. The new place is smaller than the old one, but the location is better. There is now also a guy making spicy food, if you want something to eat.

僕がマジックを披露マジックバー、札幌のマジックバーツイスター、移転した。ススキの駅が近くなった。リニューアルオープンから割りと忙しい3週間経った。前より狭くなったが場所がよくなった。今スパイシーフードを作る人もいるから何か食べたくなったら色々ある。

If you come from the south elevator, you pass corridors with rusty metal and a dark inner yard with a small suspicious looking house

If you come from the north elevator, you are greeted by a door with a sledgehammer instead of handle, and lots of cluttered writings on the wall.

The surroundings are a bit weird. The first time I went there to take a look, it felt like entering "Resident Evil". The ground floor looks fine, but the fifth floor is not that well kept... The interior of the magic bar is nice, but the outside is ... strange.

ビル内の周りがちょっと変なんだ。初めて入った時に、バイオハザードに入ったみたいな印象になった。１階が凄くきれいだが５階がそうでもない。マジックバーの中がきれいだが廊下がちょっと変だ。

Balloons, and some bicycle cards if you look closely

Flowers

Lots of our regular customers have showed up with flowers and balloons. The spicy food is pretty good, and the people working in the magic bar are very nice. The magic is very good, and very funny. I am there most Fridays and Saturdays. The bar is open from 20:00 to 05:00, Monday to Saturday. Sapporo South 5 West 3, N-Grande Biru, 5F. 1 minute of walking from the Susukino subway station.

常連さんが沢山きて、お花や風船を持ってきた。スパイシーフードが結構美味しいと思う。激辛のチキンが好き。スパイシーおにぎりも食べてみた（美味しい）。ザンギも好きだ。マジック、うまいし、笑えるし。スタッフが優しいし、面白いし。

僕は基本的に金・土曜日にいる。マジックバーは２０時から５時までやってて、日曜日が休みだ。札幌の南５西３、N-Grandeビル（元第４グリーンビル）５Fにある。ラーメン横丁とラマダホテルの間。ススキの駅から歩いて１分。

Making the groom disappear at a wedding

I walked around downtown with a huge carpet and a strange looking book while waiting for the wedding guests to clear the lobby, and I got some pretty weird looks.

On Saturday I did some magic at a wedding. The bride and groom wanted to surprise all the guests with a magician, and they also wanted to participate in some illusion magic themselves. We met and practiced in secret twice before the wedding, and on Saturday the groom disappeared. First the couple took the stage and showed a big piece of cloth, which was then wrapped around the groom. When the bride unwrapped this, the groom was gone and instead, I was there. From my place, I could not see anything until I appeared out of the cloth, so I could not really tell if things went well, but I was told later that the illusion went great.

土曜日に結婚披露宴でマジックショーをやった。新郎新婦はゲストのサプライズでマジックを用意した。一緒にイリュージョンやりたいと言っていたし。結婚披露宴で、新郎さんが（マジックで）消えた。披露宴の前にも2回会って、一緒に練習した。新郎新婦さんが披露宴でステージに上がって、デカい布を広げて見せた。新郎さんが布の中に隠れて、新婦さんが後でその布をとったら、新郎さんがもういなかったが代わりに僕がそこにいた。僕の隠れていた場所から最後まで何も見えなかったから、どうなったか分からなかったが後で「大成功だった！」と言われた。

After that I ran around between the different tables and did table magic while the bride and groom where away changing clothes. I covered 11 tables in 30 minutes, and everyone was very happy. Weddings are nice in this way, everyone is happy to start with so you get great reactions.

その後、新郎新婦さんがお色直しに行っている間に僕がテーブルを回って、テーブルマジックを見せた。30分で11テーブルを回った。皆喜んでくれた。結婚式とか、皆がやる前からもう喜んでいるから、リアクションが良いんだよね。

After the bride and groom came back, they had me produce a present for one of the guests who had his birthday very close to this day (if not exactly on Saturday). I produced a bottle of wine from a balloon, which is probably the most common magic trick when it comes to this type of  "produce a present in front of lots of people".

新郎新婦さんが帰って来てから、その日の近い日のお誕生日の人にプレゼントを渡すこともあったから、僕がマジックでプレゼントを出すこともあった。風船からワインを出すマジックをした。大人数の前でプレゼントを出すマジックなら、一番よくあるマジックだと思う。

My training bottle, and the remains of the surprisingly sturdy balloon.

A few months back, one of my magician colleagues did exactly this trick in our magic bar, and managed to hurt himself very badly. The floor was covered in blood, the bottle was covered in blood, and he had to be rushed to a hospital in the middle of night to be stitched up. He could not do magic (or wash the dishes in the bar etc.) for several weeks, and he spent his vacation in Korea with a huge bandage around his finger and lots of stitches. He recovered just fine in the end though.

何ヶ月前に、マジシャン同僚が同じマジックをやって大怪我した。床が血まみれになった。ボトルも血まみれ。救急車は呼ばなかったがタクシーですぐ夜中もやっているクリニックに行かないと行けないことになった。その後もしばらくマジックも洗い物も出来なかったし。韓国旅行でずっと指が大変なことに見えていたし。結局きれいに治ったけどね。

Ever since that incident, people in our magic bar have been reticent about using that method for producing bottles or presents, haha. I have done that trick many times before, but this time was the first time after the blood bath incident. I think I was a bit nervous, and for the first time I had the dreaded "boooiiing" [sound of balloon not exploding] happen to me (the balloon not breaking when you want it to)... It broke very soon afterwards, and I was told later that there were at least some people who were still very much fooled, haha. While the execution was not perfect, at least I finished with a bottle that had not even one drop of blood on it, which is good.

その時から、うちのマジックバーで誰もそのマジックやりたくなくなった（笑）。僕もそのマジック何回もやったことがあるが血まみれの事件の後の初めてのパフォーマンスになった。やっぱりその血まみれのボトルを思い出して、ちょっと緊張していたみたい。僕の初めての「ば～いん」ってなった（割れて欲しいタイミングに風船が割れないってこと）。手が速くて、その後すぐ割れたけど。後で話を聞いたら、全然分からなかった人も結構いたみたい。ボトルに血、一滴も付いていなかったし（笑）。

Who walks around with a lemon?

The magic bar I work in is relocating, so only one of our two magic bars is open. The staff of two magic bars are all in that magic bar, so there is little need for me to help out there (though since also the customers of both magic bars end up in only one place, it is more busy than normal) and also almost no space for me to stand, haha. I take this opportunity to take some time off and do other things. Yesterday I went to our big fireworks festival.

僕が出ているマジックバーが今移転中なので、うちのマジックバーで1店舗しか開いていない。ということは、2店舗分のスタッフがそこにいるので、僕が手伝いに行かなくても大丈夫だ。まぁ、2店舗分のお客さんも同じ店に来るから普段より忙しいけどね。でも、狭くて僕の立つところもほぼないから僕が最近週末に休んでいる。昨日、花火大会に行った。

On my way home, I stopped by our open magic bar to see what is happening. They turned out to be quite busy, and there was no free seat for me, so my boss asked me to come stand inside the bar counter (and work) instead.

帰りにうちのやっているマジックバーにちょっと顔を出しに寄った。忙しかった。座れるところがなかったから、カウンターに入ってねって言われた。色々働くことになった。

While I was away watching fireworks, a pair of customers I have performed for in our other magic bar showed up, and one of them had found my explanation of my name very funny. "Jonas" is not a name that Japanese people can relate to as a name. Japanese names are completely different, and the Western names they are familiar with here ("John", "Mike", etc.) do not include Jonas. So I usually explain it like "Younasu [what my name sounds like in Japanese], with the 'you' from Hokuyou Ginko [North Pacific Bank, a bank here in Japan] and the 'nasu' from the vegetable 'nasu' [eggplant]". Japanese people often explain what kanji they write their names with in this way, since there are several ways to "spell" the same name in Japanese.

僕が花火を観ていた間、僕のマジックを前に観たお客さん2人が入った。その時に僕の名前の説明が凄くウケたみたい。日本人は「ヨーナス」という名前になじみがないから、「ヨーナスです」と言っても「え？よーな？」とかになる。だいたい「ヨーナスです。北洋銀行の『洋』になすびの『茄子』」と説明する。漢字を使うのもおかしいし、例えがおかしいし、覚えやすい。

It is of course strange to spell out a Western name with kanji, and my choice of examples is also strange; you would not normally exemplify with the name of bank but with some mundane word. The customer that came yesterday, after hearing my explanation, now says "Ah, this reminds me of that weird magician" every time she walks past a North Pacific Bank office. They had been talking about this quite a lot with the other magicians before I showed up, and they went nuts when I entered the bar. It turned out that she even had a present for me!

昨日のお客さんはそれが凄い気に入ったみたいで、北洋銀行を通ったらいつも「あ！ヨーナスを思い出す！」とかと言っているそうだ。その2人が他のスタッフとそういう話をしていた。僕が入った時に、凄く盛り上がった、笑。お客さんにプレゼントも貰うことになった！

I very very rarely get presents from our customers (or anyone else, for that matter), so I was quite happy. I received a lemon. Why would someone walk around with a lemon in their purse? I do not know. But I ended up walking home with a lemon in my yukata sleeve on my way home.

お客さんにプレゼントを貰うことがめったにない。（他の人からプレゼントを貰うこともそうだ。）嬉しかった。レモンを1個貰った。なぜ、生のレモンを持ち歩いていたか分からない。僕も一応レモン1個持ち歩いて帰ったけどね。

Ridiculously big changing room

Last Friday I did a magic show in a hotel. There was a party for some top people of a big company, they were changing the local boss or something, and I was asked to do magic for them during their dinner. I was asked to show up before 19:30 for some pre-show preparations, and later it turned out that they wanted the actual magic show to start at 20:50... This was a longer wait than I had expected, but they did give me a very nice waiting room. I had a great view (the magic show was done on the first floor but for unknown reasons I got a changing room on the 12th floor!), and the room was larger than my whole apartment... by a lot. I also got a can of sweets.

Everyone seemed happy about the magic, and people laughed a lot.

金曜日に久しぶりにホテルでマジックショーをやった。会社の偉い人の集まりのパーティーがあって、札幌の支社の社長が変わるからか何かそういう感じだった。ディナーのエンタテインメントとして、僕のマジックショーがあった。準備とかがあるから、19時半に来て欲しいと言われて、早く行った。ショーが始まる時間は結局20時50分になると言われたから、思ったより待っている時間長かった。でも、控室が凄い部屋だった、笑。僕の住んでいるアパートより全然広かったし、景色もきれいだったし。ショーの会場は１階だったのに、控室がなぜか12階にあった。お土産のバウムクヘンを貰ったし。

皆喜んでくれたみたい。お客さんがよく笑ってくれたから、良かったと思うね。

Hanatare Nacs magicians gather

When I stopped by the magic prop shop here in Sapporo, I ran into several other magicians that I know. The whole day turned into a series of strange happenings.

マジックショップに行ったら、マジシャン知り合い何人かもいた。その後、色々な変なハプニングの日になった。

When I entered the shop, three magicians were searching the store for "boxes". Especially the owner was running around looking everywhere for these "boxes". I sat down on a chair in the middle to wait for whatever was going to finish, but they never seemed to find whatever it was that they were looking for. The owner kept saying he was sure these "boxes" were around somewhere and one of the customers were saying that since she even called before and asked if he had boxes available, she was disappointed that there were none.

店に入った時にマジシャン3人が「箱」を探していた。ショップのオーナーさんがあっちこっちに走り回ってて、必死に何かを探していた。落ち着くことを待とうと思って、僕が部屋の真ん中くらいにある椅子に座った。どこかに絶対箱があるよってオーナーさんが何回も言った。お客さんが「今朝、箱があるとゆったのに、何でないの？」ってクレーム言っていた（笑）。

After this going on for a while, I asked: "You are not looking for these boxes, right?" and held up a small plastic box that is built so it is hard to figure out how to open it. There was a big cardboard box full of these boxes right next to the chair I was sitting on, in the middle of the shop. This was indeed, what they had been looking for for quite some time...

何分経ってもなかなか終わらない。僕が座っていた椅子の隣に大量の開かない箱のパズルみたいなものが置いてあったから、1個取って、「ここにある箱ではないよね？」と言ってみた。店の真ん中に置いてあったから、そこにあるものではないだろうと思ったが、それだった（笑）。

One of the magicians left, and another magician I know showed up. Then they asked if I wanted to tag along to a soup curry place and have dinner. Since all four of us were on the same TV show doing magic, I was more or less forced to go along, haha.

マジシャン1人が帰ったが別の知り合いのマジシャンが入った。一緒にご飯を食べに行かない？って誘われた。よく見たら、同じ「はなたれナックス」というテレビ番組に出たマジシャン4人だったから、行かなきゃって感じだった。

Magician looking like a tourist, and a tourist.

On the way there, we ran into a group of tourists carrying huge bags of souvenirs, so one in our groups was almost mistaken for a tourist since he was lugging around a similar bag.

スープカレーのレストランを向かっていた時に、観光客の大人数の団体に囲まれた。皆凄いお土産を買っていた。よく見たら、マジシャン1人も観光客と勘違いされてもおかしくない姿だった。似たようなバッグとかも持っていた。

At the restaurant, two more magical people joined us. The master of the place also hang out with us a lot, and kept giving us free stuff (like desserts). Many strange things happened, like some suddenly producing and enormous flag. There was also some magic being performed out on the street during smoking breaks.

レストランに着いたら、他の2人もいた。店のマスターもよく遊んでくれたし。サービスで色々なもの出してくれた。何回も変なハプニングがあった。突然デカい旗が出てきたとか。店の外でマジックショーもあったし。

The restaurant was full of old sewing machines and other antiques. The most interesting thing was a hand pumped street organ that was programmed with ten different tunes. I got to try to play it, which was fun and loud.

店にアンティークのミシンとかがいっぱいあった。他のお客さんが帰ってから、うるさいものと遊んでも大丈夫だと言われた。凄かった。

Free desserts!

A huge flag suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Street magic

Antique street organ!

The organ has different programmed songs that you can switch between!

A variety of very spicy sauces.