Magic Bar Review: Osmand

The sign outside Osmand

I went to Tokyo for some university work really really early in the morning of Sunday August 10, 2014. I was going to be busy from early in the morning until around 22:00 or so, but would stay the night in Tokyo. When I am in Tokyo I try to find time to visit magic bars or something similar. I looked around but most such places are closed on Sundays. I did find one magic bar/restaurant open on Sundays, though.

2014年8月10日（日）にめちゃくちゃ早起きして、大学の仕事の出張で東京に行った。朝から22時まで仕事で忙しそうだったが夜は特に予定がなかった。東京に行くとだいたいどこかのマジックバーや似た様な店に行ってみる。色々検索してみたがやっぱり日曜日もやっている店が少ない。１つがあったけど。

View of the stage from the back seats

Magic Bar Osmand in Roppongi, Tokyo, is open from 16:00 to 22:00 on Sundays. They have a stage show at 18:00. As luck would have it, the higher ups decided that we should have a break in the meetings from around 16:30 to 19:00. I navigated the Tokyo subway net as fast as I could and spent the time from 17:00 to 18:30 in magic bar Osmand.

六本木にあるOsmandというマジックバー（レストラン？）が16時～22時、日曜日にも営業している。運が良くて、16時半～19時、仕事の休憩になった。必死に六本木まで地下鉄に乗った。17時～18時半、Osmandで色々なマジックを見せて貰った。

Since there was a typhoon passing near Tokyo, the weather was pretty bad. Very strong winds and from time to time it rained. When it rained, it rained extremely hard. This may have been the reason why the place was empty. In fact, I was the only customer there.

台風がまあまあ近くに通っていたから台風の影響で天気が酷かった。そのせいで、お客さんが僕しかいなかった。

They asked me if I would prefer them to speak to me (and do magic) in English, but I said that Japanese would be fine. They asked if I also wanted to see the stage show, and I said that if they were up for doing a stage show even if I was the only one watching, I would indeed be very happy.

英語でやったほうが良いかって聞かれたが日本語でも大丈夫だと言った。ステージショーも見ますか？って聞かれて、僕しかいないのにやってくれれば、是非観たいと言って、ステージショーも見せて貰った。

Butler's business card, with all the important information

First the butler Kenzie produced his business card from a flaming wallet. He also later plucked lights from the walls and threw them in his mouth. He said he was not really a magician and only did small things like this, though. A girl who introduced herself as Aileen the maid served me drinks and food and talked to me for a while. She is also from the northern parts of Japan, though not as far north as where I live.

最初はバトラーのKenzieさんが燃えている財布から名刺を出してくれて、システムの説明してくれた。後で壁の光っているところから光を取って口に投げたりしたし。でも、マジシャンではないと言っていた。メイドのAileenさんが飲み物や食べ物を持ってきた。色々話してくれたし。東北出身で僕みたいに東北や北海道からお客さんがくると嬉しいって。

Me, a previously very animated drawing, and the magician Al

The magician Al came to my table and did some tale magic for me. There was a series of travelling the world related predictions where he had a card key from a hotel selected from me in an envelope locked with a code lock that happened to unlock only with the room number I had picked etc. He also did a card trick where he drew what he thought was my selected card in a small sketchbook. When this turned out to be wrong, he filled in the drawing to look like a whole deck of cards, and then the drawing became animated and one card (my card) rose out of the deck, and then he gave me the resulting drawing (no longer animated).

マジシャンのAlさんがテーブルに来て、色々なクローズアップマジックを見せてくれた。旅行のテーマの予言のマジックで、僕が選んだホテルのカードキーが南京錠で閉まっていた封筒に入っていた。南京錠の開く番号が僕が選んだ部屋番号だったし。他にカード当てのマジックも見せられた。僕の選んだカードを小さなスケッチブックで描いて当てるって言ったが絵のカードが違った。絵を描き直して、トランプの束の絵になった。その絵がマジックで動き出して、選んだカードが絵の束から浮き上がった。絵が落ち着いてから、スケッチブックから取り出して、お土産みたいにくれた。勿論、普通の絵になっていた。

He then also did a stage show for me. It started with a lot of fire and some heavy music, and then a torch turned into a magician's stick, a dove came out of a book and was put in a cage that then disappeared (including the dove), etc. There were some interactive moments, he for instance turned my 10,000 yen bill into two 1000 yen bills, which he later turned into lots and lots of 10,000 yen bills (and he gave me one of them back). He had me up on stage to do a floating table thing, and he did some rope tricks too.

その後、Alさんがステージマジックショーもやってくれた。最初は火を沢山使ったりしていた。ステッキが出てきたし、本から鳩が出てきたし。鳩が籠に入れられて、鳩も籠も消えた。お客さん（僕）とのやり取りのマジックもあった。僕の１万円札が1000円札2枚になった。その2枚が大量の１万円札なったから結果良かったけど（笑）。1枚返して貰った。フローティングテーブルも一緒にやった。ロープマジックもあった。

The butler, me, the maid, and the magician

When I was leaving, a guy came out from the kitchen and told me "Tack så mycket!" ("Thank you very much", in Swedish), which was also quite surprising. One guy who was the boss of the place also helped in taking a photo of me together with the performers, and then commented that he owned an older model of the same camera and had been thinking of buying the model I have, so we talked a little bit about the camera too.

僕が帰る時に、キッチンからスタッフ1人が出て来て、スウェーデン語で「有難う御座いました」と言った。スウェーデン語で言われることにもびっくり、ｗ。別の人（店長？）にパフォーマーと一緒の写真を撮って貰った時に、同じカメラの古いモデルを持っているがこの新しいモデル買おうかなって考えていると言われたから、カメラの話もちょっとした。

The place had an interesting decor, and the big menu book also had several pages of "back story" explaining what the place was meant to be. They also have a very extensive menu of drinks, and a large selection of food that you can order. Since I was going to have lots of food with the work related people, I only ordered some snacks, though. They were all very nice and talked a lot to me, and they also gave me an umbrella when I left, since it was raining very heavily. I also got a printed photo of myself that they took between the table magic and the stage show, to keep as a souvenir.

インテリアも結構不思議な感じだった。魔法の国のイメージで作ってあるとか、色々な設定のストーリーがメニューの本に書かれてた。飲み物の種類が沢山あって、食べ物も結構本格的なメニューだった。僕は仕事の付き合いで食べに行かないと行けない予定だったから、おつまみしか頼まなかったが美味しそうだった。スタッフ全員優しくて色々話してくれた。帰る時に大雨になっていたから、傘もくれたし。テーブルマジックとステージショーの間に撮られた写真もお土産として貰った。

Snacks

There was a 2000 yen charge to watch the stage show, and I think there is a 1000 yen charge if you want to see only the table magic. Then drinks were between 500 yen and 1500 yen, and the food was not that much more expensive than normal restaurants in Tokyo. I ended up paying slightly less than 5000 yen, which is cheap for a magic bar in Tokyo.

ステージショーを見ると2000円のチャージがある。テーブルマジックだけなら、1000円のチャージだったと思う。飲み物は500～1500円で、食べ物の値段が東京の普通なレストランと変わらない感じだった。僕が5000円くらい払った。東京のマジックバーにしたら、安い。

Souvenir photo

Summary:
Location: Very close to the Roppongi station
Type of magic: Close up and stage magic (fixed show times for the stage shows)
Quality of magic: Good
Cost: Variable, but fairly cheap
Interior: Nice
Staff: Very nice
Food & drinks: Large variety of drinks, good selection of food.
Overall impression: Nice staff. Did a full stage show despite there only being one guy in the audience (me)!
Of special note: Open on Sundays. Serve meals. Stage show.

まとめ：

場所：六本木駅のすぐ近く

マジックの種類：クローズアップもステージもある（ステージショーは決まった時間のショータイムのみ）

マジックの質：良かった

値段：頼むものによるが割と安い

インテリア：きれい・不思議

スタッフ：優しい

特典：日曜日もやっている。ステージショーあり。フードあり。

全体的な印象：お客さんが僕1人しかなくてもステージショーもやってくれたから優しい！

Visiting Magic Bar Issey in Tokyo

The huge fish tank of magic bar Issei

During my Tokyo trip I also had time to stop by the magic bar Issey in Roppongi. They do a stage show three times per night, and they show you close up magic at your table or at the counter too. There are not that many places with stage shows, so I like visiting Issey for this reason.

東京の出張の夜にマジックバーイッセイにも行けた。毎晩ステージショー3回もやる店なので、テーブルマジック以外のマジックも観れて、結構好きな店だ。

I had to work much later than I had expected and I had to run from the subway station to the bar (which is a very short run, but still) to make it in time for the 21:00 stage show. As it turned out, I did not actually need to run. When I entered, I was the only customer there. The weather was really bad, which may be why the place was empty (the previous times I have been there it was packed).

仕事が思ったより遅くまで続いていたから、21時のステージショーに間に合う為に地下鉄から店まで走ることになった。大した距離ではないけど。店に着いたら、結局走らなくても大丈夫って感じだった。他にお客さんがいなかったから貸切状態になった。他の人がいないから、ステージショーは今やらないと言われた。その代わりに、カウンターで普段より長くやって貰ったし、普段やらないクローズアップも見せて貰ったし。行った日は大雨だったせいで人がいなかったかな？前に行った時に毎回混んでいた。

Since it was only me, they explained that they would not do the stage show. Instead, they did a "counter show", where they did more close up magic than they normally do, and different magic than the standard close up things.

There were two magicians there, Shun and K-suke. There was also two non-magicians working, and one of them remembered me from my last visit. The first time I visited magic bar Issey, Shun performed both stage magic and table magic for me and my friend. I had never met K-suke before.

マジシャン2人がいた、シュンとケイスケ。初めてマジックバーイッセイに行った時にもシュンのマジックを観た（ステージもクローズアップも）。ケイスケは初めてだった。

First K-suke showed me some magic. He did some nice card tricks and quite a bit of coin magic. He also made a crushed can of CocaCola return to its unopened and uncrushed state full of soda, and he made a signed card appear inside an unopened PET-bottle. The things I liked the best was when his booklet thingy that had a cover text saying "K-Suke" changed into a booklet saying "magic show" instead, and a trick where a cocktail shaker (that had a signed card appear out of it before) suddenly stopped being empty and instead contained a cocktail of the color I had selected from a menu earlier.

最初はK-SUKEさんのマジックだった。カードマジックもコインマジックも見せてくれた。他にコーラの復活もしたし、サインカードが新品のペットボトルに入ったし。僕の一番好きなマジックはメニュー表みたいなものに「K-SUKE」と書いてあって、「Magic Show」に変わったマジックとシェーカーから僕が選んだ色のカクテルが出てきたマジック。その前にシェーカーが空だったし、サインカードなども前にシェーカーから出てきたし。

Shun, with a nail in his nose

The Shun did a counter show for me, including some Tom Mullica style cigarette magic. He also did some card magic, including a signed card appearing inside a kiwi, a chop cup routine (where the kiwi appeared), fork bending, and some levitations with one of my credit cards. I was also quite happy to see him produce three big nails from his nose. I have never seen anyone do the nail in nose stuff live (apart from seeing myself do it). The first nail seemed to have been there more or less the whole time he did the rest of the magic, but I do not think I could pull out three nails that size from my nose (and his nose was smaller than mine), so that was nice.

SHUNさんも長くカウンターショーをやってくれた。トム・マリカ風なタバコのマジックが凄い。他にカードマジック（キウイからサインカードが出た）やチョップカップ（カップからキウイが出てきた）やフォーク曲げとかも見せてくれた。僕のクレジットカードが浮いてきたし。一番面白いと思ったのは鼻からでかい釘を3本も出した。鼻からの釘は初めて生で観た（僕がやっている以外ｗ）。最初の釘は他のマジックをやっている時から入れっぱなしっぽくて、ウケると思った。僕の鼻に3本が入らないと思う（僕の鼻の方が大きいと思うし）から3本も出るのが不思議だね、笑。

Presents for me

After the magic was finished, we sat around talking about Swedish magicians and other things for a long time, and the owner (?) who did not do magic also joined in. They also gave me two business card size magic tricks as a gift, and both tricks are pretty cute. Last time I was in Tokyo I considered buying one of them (in a magic shop in Ikebukuro), but in the end I did not.

マジックが終わってからも長く皆でスウェーデン人のマジシャンの話とかしていた。マジシャンではない店長（？）も面白い話色々してくれた。名刺サイズのマジック２つをプレゼントで貰ったし。前回東京に行った時に池袋のマジックショップで買おうかなって悩んでいたネタだった。

Magic bar Issey

About six weeks ago I went on a business trip to Tokyo. (I have been travelling too much and not had time to catch up with the blogging.) I arrived late at night on the day before our meeting, so I had some time to visit some magic bars in Tokyo. First I went to Magic Bar Issey. I have been there once before, and it is a nice place. They do both table magic and a stage magic show on a small stage. They even do illusions.

6週間前に出張で東京に行ってきた。最近出張が多すぎて、ブログ追いついていない。夜に東京について、次の朝からの仕事が始まる前にマジックバーに行ける時間があった。六本木にあるマジックバーISSEYに行った。前にも行ったことがある。テーブルマジックもステージマジックも見せてくれるんだ。イリュージョンまでもやる。

This time I saw the magicians Shingo (who I had not seen before) and Seiju (who was working last time I was there too). First they each came to my table where I was sitting alone, and they did table magic for me. Then it was time for the stage show. After that I watched some more table magic being performed for a group of young girls at the table next to mine.

今回、マジシャンシンゴ（初めて見た）とセイジュ（前にもいた）がいた。最初1人1人で僕のテーブルに来てクローズアップマジックを見せてくれた。その後ステージショーもあった。最後は、隣のテーブルの若い女の子たちにマジックを見せることも横から見た。

After the stage show they had lots of doves, and three parrots.

The stage show was as expected a lot of fun. I got to see Shingo swallow a two meters long balloon and then later produce the same balloon from his mouth. There was a small illusion, magic with face masks, lots of goldfish appearing, some audience interaction with a peanut butter sandwich magic trick, and much more.

ステージショーが思った通り面白かった。シンゴが風船を飲んで、後で口から2メートルくらいの風船を出した。初めて生でみた。イリュージョンもあったし、マスクのマジックも金魚が沢山出たマジックも、お客さんと喋ってパンとジャムを使ったマジックも、色々あった。

A deck of cards turned into a small lunch box.

The close up magic was also nice. Seiju is very good with coins, and he did some traditional magic tricks using non-standard methods. He also used a lot of joke props. Shingo did some interesting card tricks, and a lot of other things too. Seiju did sort of remember the first time we met after I mentioned that he had not come to our table at that time, haha.

クローズアップも良かった。セイジュはコインのマジックがうまい。有名なマジックをちょっとマニアックなやり方で見せてくれた。ギャグネタも沢山あった。シンゴが面白いカードマジックもやったし、他のマジックも色々やったし。前にISSEYに来た時にセイジュがいたがうちのテーブルに来なかった話をしたら、セイジュさんがその時を覚えてくれた。

They have a live shark swimming around behind the counter.

Magic bar "Pochi no mahou" ・ マジックバー「ポチの魔法」

A fork ended up very bent in a mysterious way.

On February 22 2011 I went to a magic bar in Roppongi (Tokyo) called "Pochi no mahou". It was a great magic bar, but sadly the have since closed the place. Here is their old web page: Pochi no mahou.

2011年2月22日に六本木にあった「ポチの魔法」という店に行った。凄く良かったが残念ながら店がその後閉店した。ポチの魔法の昔のウェブページがまだある。

When I arrived it was already quite late (I got there more or less with the last subway train). There were lots of people in the bar when I got there but all but three customers left right after I entered. When things calmed down I was asked to watch a magic performance together with the other three customers at the counter. 

着いた時にもう終電の時間だったので、人沢山入っていたが僕が入った時に皆帰り中だった。ちょっと落ち着いたら、僕と他の3人のお客さんしかいなかった。一緒にカウンターでマジックを見ることになった。

Katsuya Mizusawa, very good magician.

The magician performing for us was Katsuya Mizusawa, or Katchan as he asked us to call him. He was great. He did the best fork bending I have seen so far (and every place in Tokyo included fork bending so I have seen many magicians do it), and managed to bend a spectator's signed coin without me noticing. He is also excellent at cigarette magic. He managed to hide a burning cigarette in his mouth and have us check if we could see it (we could not) when inspecting his mouth up close, and he also drank some tea before producing the cigarette, still burning, from his mouth again. It was also the first time I saw someone swallow lots of needles and a string and then reproducing everything again live.

マジックを見せてくれたマジシャンは水沢克也（カッチャン）だった。凄かった。東京のマジックバーでは、どこに行ってもフォーク曲げ見せられたがカッチャンのフォーク曲げが今まで観たの中で一番凄い。お客さんのコイン（サイン付き）もいつの間にか曲がったし。曲がるんだろと思ったのに、気付かなかった。タバコのマジックも超うまい。燃えてるタバコを口に入れて、近距離で改めて（口にないっぽい）、お茶をちょっと飲んで、また燃えているタバコを出した。針を沢山のんで、糸をのんで、口が空だと見せて、また全部出すマジックを初めて生で見た。

Since everyone figured out I was a magician fairly quickly (anyone coming alone to a magic bar has a very very high chance of being a magician, especially so if they are a foreigner), I was asked to show something to the other customers after Katchan finished. I did an original trick of mine using hiragana (Japanese alphabet) practice cards, which went over very well. After they left I was told the woman in the company was actually a celebrity (so I should have taken a picture together with them!) which I as usual had no idea before being told. 

僕もマジシャンだってすぐばれた（1人で来る人なら、マジックをやっている可能性が凄く高いみたい。1人で来る外国人だったらもっと高い）ので、カッチャンのショーの後、僕も他の3人のお客さんに何か見せて下さいと言われた。自分で考えたひらがなトランプを使ったマジックを見せて、結構うけた。その3人が帰ってから、女の人が有名人だよと言われた。そういうのは全然知らないから自分分からなかった。一緒に写真撮れば良かった。

After all the "normal" people had left, Katchan talked to me for over an hour about all kinds of things and also showed some card magic (which he is very very good at but does not normally perform in the bar since every other bar has lots of card magic too). He was very kind, and very nice to talk to.

一般人が帰ってから、カッチャンと長く話せた。凄くいい人そうだ。カードマジックとかも色々見せてくれた。うまいが店でほとんどやらないと言った。他の店でカードマジックが多いので、自分であまりやらないって。会話も上手で、面白かった。

A 1000 yen bill very realistically painted on the floor.

The interior of the bar was fairly small, but nice enough. Especially the counter was very nice. The toilet was very interesting too. There was a 1000 yen bill painted on the floor in a very realistic way, so it looked like someone had dropped some money there. Trying to pick it up, you found out it was just a painting.

店のインテリアが割と狭かったがきれいだった。特にカウンターが良かった。トイレも面白かった。床にかなりリアルに1000円札が描いてあった。取ろうとしたら、あれ？本物ではない。

Summary:

Location: good (close to Roppongi station in Tokyo)

Type of magic: close up

Quality of magic: extremely good

Cost: 6000 yen

Interior: nice

Staff: very nice

Overall impression: possibly the most technically skilled magician I have seen so far, doing lots of magic I have not seen in other places. Would go again if the bar had not been closed...

まとも：
場所：良かった（六本木駅の近く）
マジックの書類：クローズアップ
マジック：凄くうまかった
値段：6000円
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：優しかった
全体的な印象：今まで観たマジシャンの中の技法が一番上手な人だったかもしれない。オリジナルなネタも多かったし。店が閉店していなかったら、また行きたかった。

Magic bar review: Magic Bar Issey, Tokyo, Japan

Magic Bar Issey

I went to Magic Bar Issey on 2011-02-21 with a friend who also does magic as a hobby. Magic Bar Issey is located in Roppongi in Tokyo, Japan. They have a web page: http://www.magicbarissey.com The bar is quite conveniently located, close to the subway station. The price was reasonable, 6000 yen per person for 2 hours of unlimited drinking, or a 4500 yen table charge and a requirement to order something (which ends up being more or less 6000 yen too). Compared to Sapporo where I live, 6000 yen is expensive, but in Tokyo everything is expensive (compared to here) so it was not bad. Most magic bars I have been to in Tokyo cost about 6000 yen.

2011年2月21日に六本木にある「マジックバーIssey」に趣味でマジックをやっている友達と2人で行った。店のウェブページ： http://www.magicbarissey.com 地下鉄駅のすぐ近くにあって、行きやすい。6000円で2時間飲み放題で割とリーズナブルだった。ショットで行けば、4500円チャージもあるから、大した変わらない。僕が住んでいる札幌と比べたら6000円が高いが東京の物価が基本的にが札幌より高いから東京のマジックバーはだいたいそういう感じだ。

Garlic toast

When I was there, we first got to see a stage magic show, which was very nice. Magicians Shun and Seiju did all manner of tricks. They produced doves and other, larger, birds. They stuffed huge amounts of burning cigarettes in their mouths, they did illusions, produced a bowling ball from a sketch pad, dropped the head down to chest level, etc. etc. The tempo of the stage show was high, and it was very enjoyable. We sat at the table closest to the stage, so quite a few times you could actually see things that you were not supposed to see (thin wires, things almost but not quite hidden behind hands, etc.) though.

最初にステージマジックショーがあった。ステージマジックを見せるマジックバーが少ないので、良かった。「Shun」と「Seiju」というマジシャンが色々見せてくれた。鳩やもっと大きな取りが出た。燃えているタバコが食われた。イリュージョンもあった。ボーリングボールがスケッチブックから出てきた。Seijuの頭が落ちた。ステージショーのテンポが良くて面白いマジックだった。うちらのテーブルがステージの一番近いテーブルだったので、たまに見えちゃ行けないものが見えていたけど。細い糸や手で隠しきれないものとか。

A signed card that came out of some impossible location, and a bent fork

After the stage show, Shun came to our table and did close up magic for us too. This too was good. A signed 1000 yen bill ended up inside a kiwi, a deformed and empty can of Coca Cola returned to its original shape and filled up with coke, a fork ended up being bent, and more. Later, Seiju did close up magic for a group of 6 people sitting at the table next to us, so we watched that too. Coins disappeared from the hand of one spectator and ended up under the watch of another, cards came to the top of the deck, which turned into a hamburger bento, and the signed card ended up inside an unopened bottle of tea etc. This group was there celebrating the birthday of one of the girls, so the staff came over with an empty metal pan that they poured lighter fluid in and set on fire. When closing the pan with a lid the fire went out and a big birthday cake appeared, which was funny.

ステージショーの後はShunさんがうちのテーブルに来てクローズアップマジックも見せてくれた。それも良かった。サインした1000円札がキウイの中から出て来た。つぶされた（空の）コーラの缶が復活して、コーラが出てきた。フォーク曲げ。色々あった。隣のテーブルの団体にSeijuさんがテーブルマジックを見せたから、それも横から観た。お客さんの手からコインが消えて、別のお客さんの腕時計の下に行った。サインしたカードがトランプの真ん中から上がって来て、トランプの把がハンバーグ弁当になって、サインカードが新品のペットボトルの中に入った。団体の誰かの誕生日だったので、マジシャンが大きなプレートに火をつけて、ふたで火を消したら、何もなかったのに突然デカイ誕生日ケーキが出た。面白かった。

Magician Shun, and me looking right into the flash...

The bar is quite small, but the interior is very nice. The staff were very nice. Seiju later came over and talked to us and when my friend said he had bought Seiju's DVD on coin magic we also got a lot of pointers on stuff that is not on the DVD either because it was forgotten at the time or that Seiju discovered later.

店は割と狭いがインテリアが綺麗だ。スタッフがめっちゃ優しい、笑。最後にSeijuさんがうちのテーブルにも来て、ちょっと話してくれた。友達がSeijuさんのコインマジックのDVDを買ったと言ったら、色々なDVDに載っていないことも教えて貰った。

Me and magician Seiju

Summary:
Location: Good (Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan)
Type of magic: Stage magic (including illusions) at fixed times, close up magic at all times.
Quality of magic: High (very skilled, funny magic shown)
Cost: 6000 yen
Interior: Very nice
Staff: Very nice
Food & drinks: food available, seemed OK though nothing special. Drinks, the usual selection.
Overall impression: A very nice experience. Would definately go again.

まとめ：
場所：便利（六本木、東京）
マジックの種類：（決まった時間に）ステージ（イリュージョンまで！）も（いつでも）クルーズアップも
マジック：良い（上手だし、面白いマジックをやるし）
値段：6000円
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：良い
食べ物・飲み物：食べ物もあり、飲み物が普通だ
全体的な印象：良かった！また行きたい