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。