Visiting American magician

William Rader the mentalist, and me

A few weeks ago, I got a Facebook friend request from someone I did not know. Quickly checking his profile, I learned that he was a magician so I figured that was why he wanted to connect. He then sent me a message saying: "I am going to Japan! Can we meet up?" Since I live in Sapporo and most people that come to "Japan" go to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, or some of the famous places in the south, I was a bit surprised. A few messages later, I learned that he was going to stay in Sapporo for three weeks or so, because his wife is from Sapporo and they would be here to visit relatives over the New Year.

何週間前に、フェイスブックでメッセージが来た。知らない人から「友達になって下さい」。プロフィールを見たら、マジシャンだったからそういう話とかしたいかなと思った。その後もメッセージで「日本に行くから会おう！」って。大体、日本の来る人が東京や京都に行くから、札幌に来ないんじゃないと思っていたが何回かメッセージをしたら、実は札幌に3週間くらい泊まると言っていた。奥さんが札幌出身なので、年越しは札幌の家族と。

Me, doing a Christmas magic show at Bottom Cafe

He said that he had been in Sapporo before, but that he had not managed to find any magic to watch at that time. This time, they had found my blog. When I told him there are at least six magic bars in Sapporo (and many many more in Tokyo etc.) he was very surprised.

前にも札幌に来たことがあるがその時にマジックの関係のことが何も見つからなかったそうだ。今回、僕のブログを見つけたから連絡とってくれた。札幌にマジックバー6つもあるよと言ったら、かなり驚かれた。

The university magic club performers of this years Christmas show

This time, his timing was very good and there were many other things related to magic to see too. He came to our magic bar (Magic Bar Twister) when I was working, and we went to the other magic bar in our chain (Trick Bar Twister) together too. He also came to see my Christmas Magic Show at Bottom Cafe, and he came to see the Hokudai Kijutsu Kenkyuukai (the university magic club) at the Christmas show. We also went together to the magic bar Hey Pola and to Cocktail Bar Harada and saw lots of magic there too.

今回のタイミングも良かった。マジックバー以外のマジックのイベントも色々あった。僕が出ていた日に彼がうちのマジックバー（マジックバーツイスター）にきてくれたし、一緒にもう一店舗（トリックバーツイスター）にも行ったし、僕がボトムカフェでやったクリスマスマジックショーも見に来てくれたし、北大の奇術研究会（部活のサークル）のクリスマスショーも見に来てくれたし、一緒にマジックバーヘイ・ポーラに行ったし、一緒にカクテルバー原田でマジックを見せて貰ったし、今回マジック沢山見れたね。

Hey Pola (magician Nihei)

Once we went out for soup curry (a Sapporo specialty) and discussed magic for a few hours too. He showed me a lot of things that he does when he performs, and I showed some things that I had not done when he saw me in the magic bar.

2人でスープカレー（札幌の名物）を食べに行って、マジックの話を何時間したこともあった。彼がアメリカでやるマジックを色々見せてくれたし、僕がマジックバーでやらなかったネタ何個かを見せたし。

The fluent in English magician Harada in Cocktail Bar Harada

He was very nice, and it was interesting to talk to someone from abroad about magic. I learned magic in Sapporo, and though I talk to my Sapporo friends about magic it was very interesting to hear what is "hot" in the U.S. now etc. I also got some gifts; American playing cards of different types. So blogging does pay off sometimes.

面白い人だった。海外の人とマジックの話をするのも面白かった。僕が札幌に来てからマジックを勉強し始めたので、海外ではやっているマジックとか、知らない。札幌のマジシャン友達とマジックの話をするが、海外の人とそういう話をするのがほとんどない（1回スウェーデンに帰っていた時にマジックバーストックホルムで会ったマジシャンと話したことがある）。プレゼントでアメリカのトランプを貰ったし。やっぱりブログをしたら、いいこともあるんだね。

Presents (and a heating pack the post office gave me for buying stamps)

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。

Cocktail bar Harada ・ カクテルバー原田

 
Yesterday I went to a place called Cocktail Bar Harada with a friend. We had heard that the son of the owner does magic there. The bar turned out to be very nice. The interior design was very pretty, the selection of drinks was extraordinary, and the staff were very nice and fun to talk to. Harada Sr. used to work in the bar in Grand Hotel before, he told us. Harada Jr. has lived in Canada and travelled to many countries (and speaks excellent English).

昨日「カクテルバー原田」という店に友達と行った。オーナーの息子がバーでマジックをやっていると聞いた。バーのインテリアとか、凄く綺麗だった。飲み物の種類も想像つかないくらい沢山あったし、スタッフも優しかったし、会話もうまかったし、いい店だ。オーナーの原田さんが前にグランドホテルのバーで働いていたそうだ。息子さんがカナダにも住んだことあって、色々な国に旅行で行ったことがあるそうで、英語も上手だった。

We sat down at the counter and ordered apple-mango-juice and ginger ale. Having two people come to a bar and order only soft drinks is probably not that common, so we were asked what we were doing there. We said we had heard that one could see magic there... "OK, let's do some magic!"

カウンターに座って、アップルマンゴジュースとジンジャーエールを頼んだ。2人でバーに入ってソフトドリンク頼むのがおかしいので、何で来たの？って聞かれたくらい、笑。マジック見せて貰えると聞いたんですけど…いいよ、やります！って。

Harada Jr. showed us quite a lot of magic. He performed close up magic at the counter for us for about 30 minutes. There was a bar bet with coins and a cocktail glass, a ring and chain thing, burning flash paper, rubber band magic, a huge contact lens coming out of his eye, and lots of card tricks. He was very good. He does Lennart Green's topshop very beautifully. It was also the first time I saw anyone in Japan use Tamariz's (probably Tamariz's, since I do not use it I am not 100% sure it was that one) stack. His version of the three card monte was also very clean.

若いほうの原田さんが色々なマジックを見せてくれた。カウンターで30分くらいクローズアップマジックした。コインとカクテルグラスのバーベット・チェーンとリング・輪ゴム・フラッシュペーパー・デカいコンタクトレンズ・沢山のカードマジック、色々あった。上手だった。Lennart Greenのトップショットが凄くきれいだった。Tamarizのシステム（僕が使っていないから、そこまで自信ないんだが多分Tamarizのだった）を使っている日本人も初めてみた。スリーカードモンテの見せ方も良かった。

After the magic we stayed around and the Haradas talked to us (the other customers left during the magic) and we ended up staying almost until midnight. The conversation was entertaining and we talked about Sweden, living abroad (Canada), and "mysterious things". The younger Harada said he has always liked mysteries, so we talked about crop circles, UFOs, Nessie, huge bones from giant humans, etc.

マジックの後も原田2人と長く喋った。他のお客さんが皆マジック中の時に帰った。スウェーデンや海外に住む生活（カナダ）やミステリーのことに関しての話で楽しかった。息子さんが若い時からずっと不思議なことに興味があって、ミステリーサークルやユーエフオーやネッシーやデカ人間の骨の話とかがあった。

Two weeks from now they will do a close up magic show in the bar which I would love to go to. It is cheap too. Unfortunately, I will be in Europe at the time so I cannot go. The flier they had was pretty funny in that "Close up magic show" was written as "Close masic show"too.

2週間後にクローズアップマジックショーも店でやるんだ。見に行きたい！安いし。だけど、その日にまだヨーロッパにいるので、行けない。チラシにちょっと面白いスペルミスもあって、面白かった、笑。