Magic bar Surprise

During my short trip to Tokyo I also managed to get away early (around 22:00) from work on Friday and went to the magic bar Surprise in Akasaka. I have been there twice before. This time there were three magicians there, Susumu (who I had not seen before), Alice, and Akimoto.

東京の出張で、仕事から割と早く（22時頃）逃げれた。赤坂にあるマジックバーサプライズに行った。サプライズは3回目になった。今回、マジシャン3人がいた：進夢（初めてみた）・アリス・秋元。

If you, like me, do not drink a lot, Surprise is a very cheap magic bar, especially by Tokyo standards. The bar is quite small, in a very nice and cosy way. Every time I have been there they have always been very nice and spent lots of time talking to me about all kinds of things after the magic has finished. This time too, we talked about Sweden, about a magician that Akimoto used to work with who now lives in Hokkaido (where I live) and who I happen to know (we were on TV together, for instance), and about Alice having trouble convincing a magic shop dealer in the US that she was not a kid (he apparently kept showing her only kids magic props despite her telling him she works in a bar; the curse of looking very young I guess, haha).

僕みたいにあまり飲まないとマジックバーサプライズがかなり安い。東京にしたら、大変安い。割と小さな店で、いい雰囲気だ。毎回皆優しくて、マジックが終わってからも色々話してくれる。今回も、スウェーデンの話とか、秋元さんと一緒に働いていたマジシャンが（僕が住んでいる）北海道に行った人の話（僕も知っている人だった）とか、アリスのアメリカに行った時に子供ではないのがなかなか信じて貰えなかった話（マジックショップの人に子供用のマジック道具しか見せて貰えなった。バーで働いていると説明したのに。若く見える日本人の面倒なところなんだろうね、ｗ）とか、面白い話が色々あった。

The magic was also nice. First Susumu showed me card tricks, coin tricks, cups and balls, and more. Then Alice came over and did more card tricks, coin tricks, etc. She was very funny, with lots of ironic stories regarding the magic she did, that she told with a completely serious face. She had me take out a 100 yen coin from my wallet and sign it. She had me check that I had indeed never signed any 100 yen coins from 1997 before, and in general made the coin seem very important. Then she put it in a paper envelope, set it on fire, and made the coin disappear. And that was that. Seemed like there was not that much need for signing the coin. A very similar coin did appear much later in a different magic trick, though. And then she proceeded to tell me how special this occasion was, and that she was going to give me a present which she said was very rare in their bar. It was also a very very rare present. She gave me a 100 yen coin that was signed, so there was probably only one of these in the whole world. A very rare present indeed. Lots of things like that. When I mentioned we had met once before she did recall that it was more or less exactly two years since I was there last time.

マジックも勿論見せて貰った。最初は進夢さんが来て、カード・コイン・カップ＆ボール、色々見せてくれた。その次はアリスがきた。真顔でのふざけた喋りが面白かった。僕が財布から100円を出して、サインした。その後も、平成15年の100円にサインしたことないことも確認された。この100円が凄く大事だって印象になった。その後、紙で包んで、燃やして、消した。それで終わった。サインとか、必要なさそうだなぁと思った。だいぶ後で、似たコインがマジックで出たけど。そして、滅多にしないことになるがお客さんにプレゼントを差し上げますって言われた。凄く珍しいプレゼントだし。かなり凄い話になった。結局、（僕の）サイン入りの100円を貰った。世界に1個しかないから珍しいんだろうね。うける。前に一回会ったことあるって僕が言ったら、ちょうど2年前だったのを覚えてくれた。

Finally, the magician Akimoto cam and did some magic tricks that I had not seen before, and some that he showed me last time I was there too. He has a very good second deal.

最後に秋元さんがきた。見たことないマジックも見せてくれたし、前回も観たマジックもあったし。セカンドディールうまい。