Cocktail Bar Harada again ・ 2回目のカクテルバー原田

An incredible number of cards signed by different people covered the walls and ceilings.

Yesterday I went to Cocktail Bar Harada again. I was there two years ago with a Japanese friend, and this time I was there with an American magician who was visiting Sapporo. Cocktail Bar Harada is a regular bar, but if you ask, Mr. Harada is happy to show you magic. That this is a normal bar means that the selection of drinks is much much more varied than any magic bar I have ever been to. There are also many customers there who are not interested in magic.

昨日またカクテルバー原田に行った。二年前に日本人の友達と行った。今回は札幌に遊びに来ていたアメリカ人のマジシャンと行った。カクテルバー原田は普通のバー（マジックバーではない）が「マジック観たい」と言ったら原田さんがマジックを見せてくれる。普通のバーなので、マジックバーよりお酒の種類が凄いんだ。マジックに全く興味のないお客さんも沢山来るみたい。

More magic looking things

Mr. Harada speaks English were well. He started learning English when he was very young because his father thought that would be good, and he lived for a while in Canada. Since my American friend does not speak that much Japanese, it was nice to have someone show us magic (and talk about other things) in English for a change, so I did not have to translate.

原田さんの英語が凄いきれいだ。英語が大事だとお父さんが思っているから、小さい頃から英語を勉強していたそうだ。カナダにも住んだことがある。アメリカ人の友達は日本語あまり話せないので、今回英語でマジックを見せて貰って（英語で話をしてもらって）、通訳しなくても大丈夫だったから結構楽だった。

The very nice looking bar counter

We got to see quite a lot of magic, and some examples include: a puzzle where you add more and more pieces but the size of the complete puzzle somehow stays the same, a trick that started out as coin bending but in the end a cigarette lighter was bent, some mystifying card sandwich effects, a card trick where a burnt joker was restored to prime condition but the signed card that my friend was holding in his hands became burnt instead, and a surprising card reveal where the selected card was named by the coffee patterns in the bottom of the cup which Mr. Harada had been drinking coffee from throughout the performance.

色々なマジックを見せて貰った。例えば：ジグソーパズルにピースを何回か足しても、パズルの大きさが変わらない・コイン曲げに見えると思ったら、ライターが曲がった・カードのサンドイッチ・炙ったジョーカーが元に戻ったが友達がずっと持っていたサインカードが炙られた・選んだカードのマークと数字が原田さんがずっとコーヒーを飲んでいたマグカップの中の余ったコーヒーに不思議に書いてあった。

Mr Harada with his close up mat

We also talked a lot about magic, magic clubs, living in America or Canada, and much more. We had a great time, and the drinks were very good. The bar is also very cheap compared to magic bars, since the charge is much less.

マジックが終わってから長くマジックの話とかもしていた。アメリカに住む話とかカナダに住む話とか、有名なマジシャンの話とか、色々面白い話があった。飲み物も美味しかったし、マジックバーではないから、チャージが安いし、今回も良かった。

Me and Mr Harada

On a side note, Mr Harada also teaches magic to people. One of his students is a professor at the university where I work, and we sometimes meet in the cafeteria or the secretaries' office etc. We also meet at the computer science department's New Year party every year, and every year he asks me to show him some magic, and he shows me some things he has learned since last year. The same day we went to Cocktail Bar Harada we also had the staff New Year party, so I had to do some magic there and we talked a bit about Mr Harada there too.

ちょっとだけ関係ある話もある。原田さんはマジック教室もやっている。習っている人の中では、北大の先生もいる。たまに学食や事務でその先生に会う。毎年のスタッフの新年会で会うし。新年会で、毎年「何か見せて」と言われるし、その先生にマジック見せて貰うし。今年もそうだった。今年の新年会はカクテルバー原田に行く日だったので、行く1時間前にも原田さんの話もしていた。