Toto's Bar

I had to go on a quick trip to Kawasaki, which is close to Tokyo, and I found an hour or so to stop by Toto's bar and see some magic. There are two very cute owls there now. I also noticed that they had changed the color of the Toto's bar playing cards they have in the bar. Their logo is green, so they have started printing their playing cards in green now. Toto's bar is always great, and this time was no exception.

仕事で川崎に行くことがあって、東京で1泊した。ちょっとだけ「都々's Bar」に顔を出す時間もとれた。最近、フクロウ2羽いる。可愛い。他に、都々's Barトランプが今緑色のなっている。都々's Barのロゴが緑色なので、トランプも緑色にしたそうだ。都々's Barがいつも凄く楽しい。今回もそうだった。

Visiting Toto's Bar in Tokyo

When in Tokyo, I almost always visit Toto's Bar, a magic bar in Ginza. Toto is very very entertaining, and the other magicians there are good too. This time too, I found some time to stop by (which resulted in me getting a severe lack of sleep, since I had to get up early for work every day, but it was worth it).

東京に行く時にほぼ毎回銀座にある都々's Barに行く。都々さんが大変盛り上げ上手だ。めちゃくちゃ楽しい店なんだ。他のマジシャンも上手だし。今回もちょっと時間作っていった（そのせいで仕事中で寝不足で大変だったけどね）。

Toto did a parlor magic show and there were doves and bowling balls produced, fascinating cigarette magic, rope tricks, and much much more. I also saw Toto do a colored sand in a bowl of water type of magic trick for the first time, which was nice. Toto also did some very nice close up magic. Apart from doves and canaries that I have seen before, Toto's bar now also has an owl that helps out with the magic show.

都々さんがサロンマジックのショーを見せてくれた。鳩やボーリングボールが出現した。タバコの不思議なマジックがあった。笑えるロープマジックも良かった。色々あった。初めて都々さんの水に色々な色の砂を入れるマジックを観れた。きれいだった。最近、フクロウも都々's Barにいるし。可愛い。

I also saw the magician Yamato, who showed off a very impressive bottom deal and some mental magic.

他に大都（やまと）さんがきれいなボトムディールを見せてくれたし。メンタルのネタも色々やった。

One thing that surprised me a lot was that another guest there started speaking Swedish to me (he was Japanese)! It turned out that one of his relatives had married a Swede and now lives in Sweden, so this guy had also lived one year in Stockholm. I also ended up talking to an older and very drunk Japanese businessman who had been to Sweden several times for work.

一番驚いたのが、他のお客さん（日本人のお兄さん）が急にスウェーデン語で喋ってくれた！家族の誰かがスウェーデン人と結婚し、スウェーデンに住んでいるそうだ。お兄さんも1年間ストックホルムに住んでいたからちょっと話せる様になった。他に日本人の酔っ払っていたおじさんとスウェーデンの話もした。おじさんが何回も仕事でスウェーデンに行ったそうだ。

There was also a woman there who I have talked to at other times in Toto's bar. She remembered me (and I her), and she gave me a slice of apple pie that she had brought because of someone's birthday. It was a very good apple pie. Ginza is one of the expensive high class districts of Tokyo, and this pie had that kind of feel to it.

前に都々's Barで何回か会ったことがあるお姉さんにもまた会えた。僕のことを覚えてくれた。誰かの誕生日の為にアップルパイを持ってきていたから、僕も高級なアップルパイをいただいた。美味しかった。さすが銀座、レベル高いなと思った（笑）。

I also met a young Russian girl, who originally came from a place where my brother spent 6 months. She seemed nice, but had to leave fairly quickly.

他にロシア人のお姉さんにもあった。うちの弟が半年くらい住んでいたところから来たそうだ。面白い人だったが割りとすぐ帰ることになった。

Magic bar Toto's bar

During my trip to Tokyo I also spent two nights in Toto's Bar. My hotel was quite close to Toto's Bar, and it is one of Tokyo's best magic bars. Magician Toto is extremely good at entertaining people. There are a bunch of other magicians working in Toto's Bar too, and they are nice too.

東京の出張の時に、2回も都々’s Barに行った。泊っていたホテルが近かったのもあるが東京のトップレベルのマジックバーなので、何回も行きたくなるのもあるね。都々さんが凄く盛り上げ上手。他のマジシャンも都々’s Barにいる。皆面白い人だ。

A live goldfish that appeared from nowhere

I first met the female magician Minto in the hallway outside, where she was seeing off some other guests. She commented on my t-shirt and then did some magic for another group. I was at the same time being entertained by the magician Yamato (who I had met once before in Sapporo), so I could not see much of what Minto was doing. She then left. Yamato stuck around for a long time, and he did a lot of magic for me. He produced a real live goldfish out of thin air, for example.

最初、廊下でマジシャンミント（眠都）に会った。他のお客さんの見送りをしていた。僕のティシャツ、突っ込んでくれた。その後、他のお客さんにマジックを見せていたが僕がその時にマジシャンヤマト（大都、札幌で1回会った）にマジックを見せて貰ったからミントさんが何をしたか観えなかった。ミントさんがその後帰った。ヤマトさんが沢山のマジックを見せてくれた。空中から金魚を出した。

Very good karaage chicken

I also met the magician Yuto, who I had not seen before. He turned out to have watched a lot of my YouTube clips so we talked about that for awhile. He had even learned a card move from one of my clips and asked me if he was doing it right. We seem to have similar taste in magic, and he did a lot of magic similar to tricks I do.

他にマジシャンユウト（遊都）もいた。会ったことがなかったがちょっと話したら、僕のユーチューブをよく観ているって。僕がアップしたカードの技法１つを練習したから、僕に見せた。合っているかどうか、教えて欲しかった。他にもマジックの趣味が似ているみたい。他のお客さんに見せていたマジックは僕がやるマジックと結構似ていた。

Raisins in butter, stuffed into bread

At around 1 a.m. the bar become completely full again, and they decided to do one more stage show, with Toto, Yamato, and Yuto all performing. After all the "normal" guests had left they had a "magic study circle", and I was invited to join them too. I joined for an hour or so but had to get some sleep before next day's work too, so I left "early".

午前1時にまた満席になったからもう１回ステージショーをやることになった。都々さんも、ヤマトさんもユウトさんもマジックを披露した。普通なお客さんが帰ってから、マジックの勉強会もやるからって誘われて、勉強会にもちょっと参加した。次の日に仕事があるからちょっと寝ないとって思って早く帰ったけど。

A late night meal for the staff

I dropped by the next night too, and saw two more stage shows. I also spoke to a magician from southern Japan who was visiting, and saw a lot more close up magic. I also showed one trick to Yamato that he liked a lot, so he asked me to show it to the others too, and he asked me if it was OK if he copied my trick. I said fine :-)

次の夜も都々’s Barに行った。ステージショーを２回も観れた。日本の南のほうのマジックバーからの若いマジシャンも隣にいたからちょっと話した。ヤマトさんに僕が考えたマジック１つ見せて、凄い気に入ったみたいなので、他の人にも見せてと言われた。そして、私もやっていい？って聞かれた。勿論、どうぞって答えた。

The new edition of the Toto's Bar cards

During these two nights, they also kept giving me food. They came over with some fried chicken or some raisin/butter sweets and said: "Try this, it is really good". Indeed, the food was really good! I had eaten before coming there so I guess I gained a few kilos during this trip... They also refused to let me pay for the food, so I got two super great visits very VERY cheap there... So cheap I felt bad about it. They also gave me a deck of cards with the new Toto's Bar card design (I have two decks of the old design since before).

この２回で、何回も食べ物を出して貰ったんだ。「この唐揚げが凄く美味しいから食べてみて」とか、バターレーズンのお菓子とか、色々貰った。本当に美味しかった！バーに来る前に普通に食べ放題とか（仕事の懇親会）を食べたから、東京で太ったなぁ。帰る時に食べ物の分を払うとか、基本的に払うのが駄目だと言われたから激安って感じで終わった。申し訳ないほど払っていないから…都々’s Barの新しいデザインのトランプも貰ったし（前のデザインのトランプも２個持っている）。

So I had a great time, got to see huge amounts of very good magic, got quite a lot of food, and got to see them feed all the doves and parakeets they use in their show, etc. Toto's Bar is always great, so I highly recommend it to anyone in Tokyo.

凄く楽しい時間過ごせたし、素晴らしいマジックを沢山見せて貰ったし、美味しい食べ物も沢山貰ったし、ハトやインコに餌をやる時も見れたし、色々楽しかった。都々’s Barはいつ行っても楽しいから、かなりおすすめだね！

A fake candle (actually a very realistically looking electric light)

The lit and fluttering fake flame looked less realistic from the side

Magic bar review: Toto's Bar

Toto doing some rope escape magic with two spectators (my friend on the right)

I have been to Toto's bar three times. The first time, Toto himself was not there (he was in America, performing at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, which he does regularly twice per year). There were other magicians there instead, of course, so it was still nice. Toto is extremely good at entertaining people, though, so missing him means missing a lot.

都々's Barに3回も行ったことがある。最初の時、都々さんがいなかった。アメリカのマジックキャッセルでマジックをやっていた。毎年行っているそうだ。代わりに他のマジシャンが勿論いたから楽しかった。都々さんが凄い盛り上げ上手だから、都々さんがいないとちょっと損するけどね。

Me and Toto

Toto's bar is located in the Ginza district in Tokyo. There are many magic bars in that area. The bar is fairly small, but looks very nice. There is a small stage area, a few sofa and table sets, and a counter. Toto does magic shows in front of everyone on the small stage, and he also does close up magic shows at the counter and in the sofas. If you book in advance, you can have a dinner and magic set with food that looks good (we never tried the food), or you can go there just for magic and drinks.

都々's Barが銀座にある。周りにマジックバーがいっぱいある。店がまあまあ狭いがきれいだ。小さなステージがあって、ボックス席もあって、カウンターがある。ステージで皆の前で都々さんがマジックショーをやる。カウンターやボックスでもクローズアップも見せて貰える。早い時間に行けば、ディナーコースも出来る。ご飯が普通に美味しそうだったがうちらはご飯試していない。

Toto's brother who makes food and handles sound, and the very nice bartender

Apart from Toto himself, there is a very nice bartender working there, making any drink you can imagine. Toto's brother works in the kitchen, and also does sound/music stuff for Toto during his shows. There are also other magicians working there, and they show you magic too.

都々さん以外も、優しいバーテンダーさんもいる。何の飲み物出すそうだ。都々さんの弟さんもキッチンで働いている。音楽の色々もやっている。他のマジシャンもだいたいいる。マジック見せてくれる。

On our first visit we saw Raito (apprentice to Toto, I think; all his apprentices have names ending with "to" by the way) and a guest magician called Mocchi. The second time I went there, Raito was there and Toto himself was back. The third time we showed up late and only Toto did magic. There was also a woman working there, but I do not know her name (or what her job actually was).

初めて行った時に都々さんの「来都」という弟子（弟子だったと思う。弟子たちが皆「都」が付く芸名にしているみたい）と「もっち」というマジシャンがいた。2回目の時に来都さんと都々さんがいた。3回目の時に都々さん以外は誰もマジックしていなかったが女の人のスタッフ1人もいた。どういう仕事の人だったかちょっと分からなかった。

The very skilled magician Raito

Raito was very technically skilled, and performed very slowly in a gentleman style. His version of the professor's nightmare (3 ropes that change length) trick is the most technically beautiful version I have seen so far. Very slow but with care taken on angles to stop precisely where you have to stop etc. He also did a very nice version of a trick with a playing card turning inside out while folded inside another card. He was very good.

来都さんが凄く上手だった。ゆっくりの見せ方で、紳士的なマジシャンの印象になった。色々なマジックを、全部凄い綺麗に見せてくれた。3本ロープのマジックが今まで観た見せ方の中で来都さんの見せ方が一番綺麗だったなぁ。他にカードの中に折りたたんだカードが裏返してくるマジックもきれいな見せ方で披露してくれたし。うまいって感じだった。タイミングとか、角度とか、きれいに見せるのを気にしているマジシャンだった。

Toto is also very good, but more than his technical skills you become impressed with his entertainment skills. He is very good at getting the crowd going. He does some very advanced magic, but the main focus is on entertaining presentation ideas. He makes very good use of music and other sound effects during his show. In a similar vein, when he does spoon bending or similar effects, suddenly his necktie is bent out of shape and when you look around, so is his brother's necktie as well as the bartender's necktie. Funny details like that help a lot.

都々さんも上手だがマジックのレベルより盛り上げ方に感動する。盛り上げ上手！難しいマジックもやっているがそれはどうでもよくなって、見せ方というか、テンポというか、観ると凄く面白いんだ。見せ方が面白いし、格好いいし。音楽や音の使い方もうまい。他にも、例えばスプーン曲げをする時に突然都々さんのネクタイも曲がっている。周りを見たら、バーテンダーさんのネクタイも、都々さんの弟さんのネクタイも曲がっている。そういう細かいポイントもちゃんとやってて、結構面白い。

Toto does a parlor magic show on the small stage, including things like a floating table routine that is very good, rope escapes, producing bowling balls from a sketch pad, flying handkerchiefs, and things like that. Very high tempo, very entertaining.

都々さんがステージでサロンマジックのショーをやる。フローティングテーブルとか、脱出のマジックとか、スケッチブックからボーリングボールが出てくるとか、飛んで行くハンカチとか、色々なマジックをやる。テンポが良くて、超楽しい。

He also does close up magic at the counter, including some very interesting coin magic, his signature effect where five spectators point their fingers at a deck of cards and go "bang" and for each bang that spectators selected card shoots out of the deck (he once mentioned that he sells this trick for 1 million yen but too many people kept buying it at that price so he upped the price to 1.5 million so he would not have to spend too much time teaching people that trick...), strange electric toy tricks, other fascinating card tricks, and more. Toto is one of the most entertaining magicians I have seen perform. Highly recommended.

カウンターやボックスでクローズアップもやる。不思議なコインマジックもやるし、都々さんの有名なわざのカード当て（5人の人が指を指して「バン」と言ったら、自分の選んだカードがトランプの把から飛び出る。100万円で売っているマジックだそうだが買う人が多すぎて、そのマジックを教えることに時間が掛けたくないから150万円に値上げしたって、笑）、不思議な電気系のおもちゃのマジックとか、他の不思議なカードマジックとか、色々見せてくれる。都々さんが今まで観たマジシャンの中でトップ3位に入っているから、かなりお勧めだ。

The entrance to Toto's bar is a mirror

Since Toto performs one or two weeks in L.A. every year, presumable he also performs in English. He said he just spouts random words that sound like English and hope people understand him through body language, but I think he may have exaggerated, haha. He probably speaks English fairly well, but we only spoke Japanese. The owner of the magic bar where I perform is also friends with Toto, so we talked about common acquaintances and things like that too.

毎年2回アメリカに行ってマジックキャッセルでマジックショーをやっているから、英語でもマジック出来ると思う。本人に、適当な英語っぽい音を出して気持ちでやりたいことが通じるように頑張っているだけくらいな話されたけど、笑。でも、ちゃんと英語が出来ると思う。僕とはずっと日本語で話していた。うちのマジックバーのオーナーと都々さんが仲良いから、お互い知っている人の話とかもした。

Summary:
Location: Good location very close to the Ginza subway station, in a district full of magic bars.
Type of magic: Parlor and close up.
Quality of magic: Very very high
Cost: 5000 yen for me, depends on what you order.
Interior: nice
Staff: very nice and funny people
Of special note: Very good use of sound/music. Shows pictures of spectators taken during the magic show on monitors afterwards. Serves food during the early hours.
Overall impression: One of the best magic bars I have been to. Toto is VERY good at performing entertainingly. Highly recommended.

まとめ：
場所：銀座の地下鉄駅のすぐ近く。他のマジックバーも近くに沢山ある。
マジックの種類：サロンもクローズアップもある。
マジックの質：かなり高い
値段：僕は5000円くらい払ったが沢山飲む人なら高いらしい
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：面白いし、優しいし
特典：早い時間なら、ご飯もある。サロンのショーの間にお客さんの反応の写真とかを撮って後で店にあるモニターで見せる。音楽や音の使い方がうまい
全体的な印象：今まで行ったマジックバーの中のトップ1か2だと思う。都々が大変盛り上げ上手だ。かなりお勧め。

Tokyo magic bar trip

Tokyo

On Monday I went to Tokyo with a friend. The goal was to visit some magic bars and to shop for funny things at the new Tokyo Sky Tree.

月曜日に東京に行ってきた。友達とマジックバーに行くためと東京スカイツリーで面白いものを探すために行った。

First we went to Harajuku to look for some funny t-shirts for me. I wanted a few more of the t-shirt with a salmon eating salmon sushi that I use for magic tricks. It turned out that the whole shop was gone, and no one else sold such t-shirts... which was a big shock and disappointment. I bought a t-shirt with bears eating bear paws, and two t-shirts with funny writings in Japanese instead.

最初原宿に行って、サーモン寿司を食べているサーモンのティシャツを探していた。僕がそういうティシャツをマジックに使っているので、後2～3枚くらい欲しい。だけど、前に行った店がもうなかった！ショック。同じものを売っている店がなかったし。別の店で熊の手を食べている熊の家族のティシャツと「ドM」と書いてあるティシャツを買って帰った。

Usagi-ya

The hard to find Usagi-ya

Then we went looking for the restaurant Usagi-ya in Akasaka. We had a small map, but it did not show anything to use as a landmark when looking except for a small temple (no subway stations or anything like that) and we could not find the temple either so it took as much longer than we thought to find this place... Once we actually managed to home in on the general area (Japanese addresses are not very easy to use, so even my Japanese friend, who has lived one year in this same district (!) could not figure out where to go), it was still a bit tricky to find the restaurant. It turned out you had to go into the temple yard, more or less, and turn around down some small streets with temple affiliated buildings and private homes. Then, around three more corners we found the restaurant.

The bartenders of Usagi-ya

その後、赤坂にある「うさぎや」というレストランを探しに行った。思ったより時間掛かった。道全然分からなかった。地図があったが地図に目印になるもの（地下鉄駅とか）が載っていなかった。お寺くらいしか載っていなかった。何となく近くに来たと思っても、どの道に入ったらいいか分からなかった。結局お寺に入って、小道に入って、高そうな一軒家しかない小道で角3回くらい曲がったら、レストランもあった。

The starters at Usagi-ya

Once inside, everything was great, though. The restaurant served a full course meal, and all the food was great. Every day there are two magicians working in the restaurant too. There are many magicians working different days in the restaurant they told us. Both magicians came to our table and did magic for us, and in total we saw about 35 minutes of magic. The bartenders were also very funny to talk to.

The soup

店に入ってから全部良かったけど。フルコースを食べて、凄く美味しい料理だった。毎日マジシャン2人がいるそうだ。沢山のマジシャンが働いているが 同じ日に2人しかいない。2人ともうちのところに来て、マジック見せてくれた。トータルで35分くらいのマジックを見たかな？バーテンダーたちの話も面白かった。

The fish

The pasta

The desserts

Some strange things that showed up during the magic performances at Usagi-ya

I got a fan from Usagi-ya because it was some anniversary of the restaurant.

Surprise

Magician Ryusei Kamiguchi, at Magic Bar Surprise

Then we walked for two minutes to the Magic Bar Surprise, also located in Akasaka. I had been there once before, 15 months ago, but for my friend it was his first visit. The owner of the bar recognized me immediately, and even remembered where I was from, that my name is impossible to pronounce for Japanese people, and where I do magic. There were three magicians working in the bar on Monday, and all three showed us magic. We saw magic more or less non-stop for two and a half hours, I think. And it is quite cheap too! It was a lot of fun this time too.

ウサギやで食べ終わったら、歩いて2分くらいの「マジックバーサプライズ」に行った。僕は15カ月前に1回行ったが友達は行ったことがなかった。サプライズのオーナーさんがすぐ僕のことを分かって、どこから来ているとか、どこでマジックをやっているとか、名前の発音が日本人にとっ手無理だとか、色々覚えてくれた。マジシャン3人がいた。皆が1人づつマジックを見せてくれたから全部で2時間半くらいのマジックを見た！サプライズの値段が安いし！今回も勿論面白かった。

I bought a book with simple magic tricks at magic bar Surprise, and Ryusei Kamiguchi signed it form me.

Half Moon

My cup of cranberry juice at magic bar Half Moon

Then we rushed to catch the last show at the magic bar Half Moon, which is possibly the greatest magic bar in Tokyo (I also like Toto's Bar a lot), which is located in Ginza/Sinbashi. We tried to get a taxi (it is not that far even walking, but we were running late) but the first taxi just said: "That is not the direction my car is pointing, go get a cab on the other side of the street". Apparently in Tokyo the taxis are like trains and can only go in one direction? We found another taxi, but he did not know exactly how to get to the address where Half Moon is located, even using his GPS navigation system. We told him to just go to Shinbashi station and we would walk from there.

サプライズを出て、急いで新橋にあるマジックバー「ハーフムーン」を向かった。赤坂から歩いて行っても大丈夫だが遅れていたからタクシーに乗ろうとした。「私のタクシーは銀座方面を向かっていないから道路の向こう側ですよ」と言われたけど。東京のタクシーは列車みたいなもんで、曲がることが出来ないのかな？別のタクシーに乗って、ハーフムーンの住所を教えても、運転手さんが行き方分からなかった。カーナビを使っても分からなかった！新橋駅でいいよって言って、そこから歩いて行った。

The interior of Half Moon

Half Moon was great, of course. The presentation style is fantastic. They do a lot of very high level magic during the show, which would be impressive in itself, but the thing that is most impressive is the performance style. Half Moon is a bit expensive by Sapporo standards (almost three times the charge we take in my magic bar, for a shorter drinking plan), but worth every yen. Highly recommended.

ハーフムーンが勿論凄かった。見せ方が素晴らしい。色々なレベル高いマジックもやっている。そのマジックは下手に見せても凄いかもしれないがハーフムーンの感動するところはやっぱり見せ方だね。簡単なマジック（あまりやらないがそういうマジックの時も）の見せ方も素晴らしいので、他のマジシャンがやっている凄いマジックより印象がある。勿論、凄いマジックをやっている時にその見せ方でさらに凄いね。ハーフムーンは札幌と比べたらちょっと高い（うちのマジックバーの料金より3倍くらい）がその値段で全然いい。かなりのおすすめだ。

The Next Day

The next day we went to the Tokyo Sky Tree. It is a new 634 meters high tower, but you cannot go up unless you book in advance. It is fully booked for 6 months or so! We took some pictures of the tower from below and went on a shopping spree in the department complex in and around the tower.

次の日に東京スカイツリーに行った。634メートルのムサシ、かなり前から予約しないと登れないから、下からの写真を撮って買い物しただけだけど。

Then we went to the airport and took the four o'clock flight back to Sapporo. This was right before the latest typhoon hit Tokyo, so we had nice timing. There were lots of canceled flights during the day and during Wednesday.

その後、羽田に行って16時の便で札幌に帰った。台風が東京に来るチョイ前だったから、タイミング良かったね。

Magic bar review: Magic Bar Joker ・ マジックバージョーカー

My friend U-san, the master, me, and the young magician.

In April 2011 I went to the magic bar "Joker" with a magician friend from Sapporo. We entered right at the opening time, and we were the only customers at that early hour. The bar is quite small, with mainly a small counter that we sat at. Joker is the most expensive magic bar I have been to so far, with 7000 yen for one hour (Half Moon, that I wrote about before (and coincidentally lies 23 seconds walk away from Joker), costs 8000 yen but for a longer show). It includes unlimited drinks, and more or less unlimited snacks like peanuts, chocolate, etc. The snacks included strawberries, and were quite impressive.

2011年の4月にマジックバージョーカーに札幌のマジシャン友達と一緒に行った。早い時間に入ったので、まだ他のお客さんがいなかった。店が結構狭くて、小さなカウンターがメインできれいだった。1時間7000円で今まで行ったマジックバーの中の一番高かった。（前のブログネタになったハーフムーンが8000円だが時間がもっと長い。）飲み放題とお菓子食べ放題付きだった。お菓子の中イチゴもあったからちょっと感動した。

Snacks included in the price (free refills!) and a fork that ended up looking weird.

First, a young magician did a fairly long performance for us. He was very good and also very funny. My friends 1000 yen bill ended up inside a green pepper fruit for instance. He also produced lots of strange things like rubber corn out of our armpits. The funniest thing was when he produced lots of things out of a coin purse that was just the metal frame (so it would seem to contain nothing), and a small very fancy looking bottle appeared. We marveled at this beautiful bottle, probably containing Champagne. He said: "Actually, it is a bottle of body soap which just looks like an expensive bottle of Champagne". Which was true. While we marveled at the genius of designing a bottle of shower gel to look like expensive Champagne, another bottle also appeared out of the purse frame without us noticing it. That first bottle was quite possibly the funniest thing I have seen produced by magic. 

最初に若いマジシャンが結構長いパフォーマンスをしてくれた。上手だったし、面白かったし。例えば、友達の1000円札がピーマンの中から出てきた。うちらの脇の下からトウモロコシとかを出したりしたし。一番面白かったのは、がま口というか口金だけからコインとかを出したりして、突然瓶も出てきた。お洒落なシャンパンの瓶に見えたが、「実はこれがボディーソープなんだよ」と言われた。よく見たら、そうだった！その瓶に感動した。感動しながら、口金から本当のシャンパンの瓶も出てきた。全く気付かなかった。マジックで現れたものの中で、あのボディーソープが多分今までの一番面白かったと思う。

Not only was the magician quite skilled (though he flashed from time to time during the coin magic), he was also very funny to talk to. He did lots of coin and card magic and bent a fork. I also liked a trick where a cut open card box (very 2D) turned into a 3D card box actually containing a full deck of cards. Probably very angle sensitive, but still funny. 

上手だった（たまにコインがフラッシュしたけど）だけではなく、喋りや見せ方も結構面白かった。コイン・カード・フォーク曲げがあった。切られた（2次元）トランプの箱が突然普通の箱（3次元）になって、トランプ52枚が出てきたネタも結構面白かった。角度厳しそうだな、笑。

Other things we received: an unopened PET-bottle with my signature, a card signed by my friend cut out from a lemon, the owners business card, a photo taken when we did not notice.

Then the master/owner of the bar also did a fairly long performance for us. He did an unbelievable number of tricks that could all be closing tricks in any magic bar. My friends 50 yen coin ended up in a glass bottle after being signed (switching a signed coin was impressive) despite being too large to insert; a crushed and empty can of Coca Cola was returned to unopened and full status by magic; a signed card ended up in an unopened PET-bottle, another signed card ended up inside a lemon; and more. He was good, though sometimes you could see for instance his break when doing the ambitious card with an omni-deck. The trick I liked most was when he showed a photo of a bunch of fruits, put the photo into a book/album, and when he reopened the book, lots of fruits fell out. Including a grapefruit that would be impossible to fit inside a closed book, to say the least, haha.

その後、店のマスターも長いパフォーマンスしてくれた。レベル高くて、〆にしてもいいネタを信じられないほど沢山やっちゃった。友達の50円にサインして、そのコインが物理的に無理なのに、グラスの瓶に入った（サインコインのスイッチ、初めて見たと思う、笑）。コーラの缶の復活。サインカードが新品のペットボトルに入った。別のサインカードが本物のレモンに入った。色々あった。上手だった（たまに、アンビシャスのオムニデックの時のブレーキが見えたりしたけど）。一番好きだったマジックは、果物が写っている写真を見せて、本（アルバム？）に入れて、本閉じて、本開くと本物の果物が沢山出てきた！グレープフルーツとか。本にどう考えても入らないものだった、笑。

We also received a photo taken of us when we were watching magic, that we did not notice when they took. All in all, we got to see a lot of high level magic, and a lot of it was not only high level but also very entertaining. While it was expensive, it was probably worth the money.

気付いていない時に撮られた写真とかも貰った。レベル高いマジックを沢山生で見ることになって、楽しかった。ちょっと高かったがその値段でもいいと思う。

My friends 1000 yen bill ended up inside a green pepper and thus smelling strange so he got a new one, which was folded like a shirt (also a word play joke in Japanese, were bill is "satsu" and shirt is "shatsu").

Summary:

Location: good, near Shinbashi and Ginza stations, where there are many magic bars (only a 23 second walk from the magic bar Half Moon, according to Google maps)

Type of magic: close up

Quality of magic: generally very high, lots of very high level magic done in a short time

Cost: 7000 yen (for 60 minutes)

Interior: small, but clean and nice

Staff: nice. Apart from the two magicians there was also a female bartender. Especially the young magician was nice and funny.

Overall impression: the most expensive magic bar so far, but a lot of high level magic. Maybe too many closing level strength effects done right after each other, which lessens the impact of the individual effects.

まとめ：

場所：いい、新橋や銀座の近く。他のマジックバーが回りに沢山あるところ（ハーフムーンが歩いて23秒だそうだ（Google Mapsによれば、細かいなぁ））

マジックの種類：クローズアップ

マジック：レベル高い。上手。

値段：1時間7000円

インテリア：狭いがきれい

スタッフ：マジシャン2人以外に女の人のバーテンもいた。皆優しかった。特に若いマジシャンが面白かった

全体的な印象：今まで一番値段高かったがレベル高いマジックを沢山やる。もしかしたら、レベル高いネタを出しすぎ、1個1個のネタのインパクトが弱くなっているかもしれない。

Magic bar review: Magic bar 12ji ・ マジックバー十二時

Me, Kiyono, and my friend U-san.

I have been to the magic bar 12ji ("12 o'clock") twice. It is located in Ginza, close to many other magic bars (Toto's bar, Half Moon, Joker, comes to mind) and stays open very late (5 A.M.) so you can go there after the other places have closed. They also have a very nice stage where they do stage magic. Even if you show up at 4 A.M. and no one else is there, they will do stage magic just for you.


十二時という店に2回行ったことがある銀座にあるので、回りに他のマジックバー沢山ある（例えば、ハーフムーン・都々’s Bar・ジョーカー）。5時までもやっているので、他の店に行ってからもまだ行ける。綺麗なステージもあって、何の時間でも本格的にステージマジックを見せてくれるんだ。午前4時に2人だけで入っても。

Me and the magician Mac

The first time I went there with a friend, we entered at around 3:30 or so, and no other customers were there at such a late hour on a Monday. Two magicians performed for us. Sasuga Ryu (a word play name in Japanese, it is a palindrome in writing) did mentalism on stage and Mac-san did close up magic for us at our table. They also hung around chatting with us, as did a girl who did not do any magic but was very funny when talking.

初めて行った時に友達と行って、3時半頃に入ったと思う。月曜日のそんな遅い時間に他のお客さんがいなかった。マジシャン2人がマジックを見せてくれた。流石流がステージでメンタルマジックを見せてくれた。マックという若いお兄さんがテーブルマジックを見せてくれた。他に面白い女の人もいた。マジックしなかったが喋りが面白かった。

A card with my signature ended up inside an unopened PET-bottle.

The second time, I went there with the same friend, and at about the same late hour on a Monday. Sasuga Ryu and Mac were both there again, and Sasuga Ryu performed more mentalism for us close-up, and a female magician Kiyono did a stage magic show for us. The funny girl who does not do magic was also there, and was still very funny.

2回目の時に同じ友達と行って、大体同じ時間に入ったと思う。流石流もマックも今回も店にいた。ステージで喜代野という女性マジシャンがステージマジックショーをやってくれた。喋りの面白い女の人もいた。まだマジックは見せてくれなかったが変な行為や喋りが面白かった。

Sasuga Ryu, my friend U-san, and me

The interior of the place is quite interesting, with several small rooms in more or less a maze (finding your way back from the toilet can be challenging). They have a large and very nice stage with a curtain and all, and lots of tables with sofas in front of the stage.

店のインテリアが結構面白い。小さな部屋いくつかがあって、迷路みたいになっている（トイレから帰る時にちょっと難しいくらい）。結構広い本格的なステージがあって、幕も付いている。ステージの前にソファーとテーブル沢山ある。

A fork bent into a "peace sign" (what in other parts of the world would be a V for victory, but in Japan it is V for peace)

The magic was OK but compared to the top level places in Tokyo it was not really on the same level. It was nice to see stage magic; including some jumbo card mentalism, water changing color when adding sand (and the sand becoming dry again when scooped out), fork bending etc. from Sasuga Ryu; and card manipulation, a three ring routine, and multiplying bottles from Kiyono. The close up magic included signed card to PET-bottle, packet tricks, finger manipulation, and all kinds of card magic.

マジックのレベルが大丈夫だったがトップレベルの東京のマジックバーと比べたら、ちょっと違うって感じだ。それでも面白いけど。ステージマジックを見せてくれるのがいい。例えば、ジャンボカードを使ったメンタルマジック・色が変わる水、水に入れた砂が一瞬で乾いて取れる・フォーク曲げを流石流に見せて貰った。喜代野さんが例えば、カードのマニピュレーソン・リング・増えるボトルとかを見せてくれた。クローズアップで、サインカードとペットボトル・色々なパケットトリック・指の技・カードマジック、色々あった。

Another PET-bottle and peace sign fork from our second visit.

12ji is part of a chain of magic bars, including 8ji, 10ji, and soon to open 11ji, all at various places in Tokyo. A magician I met in Sapporo had worked at 12ji and said he had been going around all the other places too, performing in all of them.

十二時はマジックバーのチェーンの1店舗なんだ。他に八時・十時・十一時（まだオープンしてないと思う）もある。全部東京にある。札幌で会ったマジシャンが前に十二時で働いていたそうだ。その時に他の姉妹店にも結構行っていたって。

Me and a funny girl who never does magic but does a lot of funny/weird things.

Summary:
Location: good (near Sinbashi station, and fairly close to Ginza station)
Type of magic: stage (salon) and close up
Quality of magic: OK.
Cost: 6000 yen
Interior: interesting, dark, European old magician's house style
Staff: very funny and nice
Bonus points: open until 5, when most other places have closed.
Overall impression: nice with a real stage, and impressive that they do stage magic shows for you at any time, even if you are the only two guests in the place.

まとめ：
場所：いい（新橋駅の近く、銀座もまあまあ近い）
マジックの種類：ステージ（サロン）も、クローズアップも
マジック：普通
値段：6000円
インテリア：面白い。暗くて、昔のヨーロッパのマジシャンの家みたい
スタッフ：面白い
特称：営業時間が5時まで
全体的な印象：本格的なステージがあっていい感じだ。いつでも、2人しかいない時も、ステージマジックショーもやってくれるのが凄い。

Magic bar review: Half Moon, Tokyo, Japan

Most of the times I have been to magic bars outside of Sapporo, I have been with a friend from Sapporo who also does magic as a hobby. 2011-04-18 was no exception, and we went to magic bar Half Moon, in Ginza (Tokyo, Japan). We had planned to go there in February but the magician of Half Moon got the flu so the visit was canceled. In return, this time we got to go there for free!

札幌以外のマジックバーに行く時は普段札幌のマジックマニアの友達と行く。2011年4月18日もそうだった。銀座にある「ハーフムーン」という店に行った。2月に行く予定だったが当日にハーフムーンのマジシャンがインフルエンザを引いたので、ドタキャンになった。代わりに今回招待された（無料ってこと）けど！

The list of shops in the building, with Half Moon being somewhat anonymous (only the picture of the half moon)

Half Moon is located in Ginza, close to the Sinbashi station. There are many magic bars in this area (one being "23 seconds by walking" away according to Google Maps :-) Half Moon is a little bit hard to find if you do not know what you are looking for, and even the sign indicating all the shops in the building does not have the name written there, only a stylished crescent. Tokyo is expensive, and Ginza is one of the most expensive parts of Tokyo, so the rent there is probably very very high. This means that Half Moon is not cheap, but the 8000 yen normal price includes unlimited drinks for 90 minutes and a superb magic show so in my opinion it is completely worth it.

ハーフムーンが銀座、新橋駅の近くにある。周りに他のマジックバーも沢山ある。１件がGoogleMapsによれば「歩いて２３秒」の距離だそうだ。細かいね、Google。店がそこまで分かり易くもない。ビルの下の看板とかでも名前書いてない。半月の絵だけ。

東京は高いし、銀座は東京の中でも高い方なので、家賃高そうだね。ハーフムーンの値段が８０００円で、マジックバーとして高い方だ。９０分飲み放題も付いているし、マジックショーが本当に素晴らしいなので、出しても全然良いと思うけど。

The interior was pretty dark, but quite nice. Very blue. The main area is the counter and magician Hide did his magic show standing inside the counter and the two of us and seven other guests sat at the counter and watched.

インテリアは割と暗かった。青かった。カウンターがメインで、マジシャンヒデさんがカウンターの中で全部で９人のお客さんにマジックを見せてくれた。

The quite blue interior, with a TV that is also used for magic

The magic was superb. Possibly the best magic show I have seen so far. There were magic tricks that were very impressive in themselves, like signed cards ending up in sealed water bottles, or back in a factory sealed card box, some mental magic effects, and much more. There were also tricks that are fairly standard but were shown in very nice ways, like a sponge ball trick, a levitating tissue paper, card to pocket routine, etc. The TV seen in the photo is also used in some tricks (things shown on the screen disappear from there and appear in the real world, and go back again). The most impressive things are the way the magic is combined with the music used, and the personality/character of Hide-san. It would be hard not to just sit back and enjoy the show (my normal way of watching magic) with a magician that nice, even if you hate magic or normally try really hard to figure out how things are done. The closing prediction effect is also very very nice. A very long paper that has been hanging in view the whole time turns out to contain a very very long story created by one of the spectators. Also, a pair of "shocking pink" panties made a surprise appearance. As a magician, I also thought the force used a few times was very very impressive.

My friend U～san, me, and the Half Moon magician Hide

マジックが凄かった！今まで観たマジックショーの中で１番良かったかもしれない。レベル高いマジックも勿論あったし（一般人から見たら、新品のペットボトルにサインカードが入った・サインカードが突然新品の状態になったトランプと箱の中に戻った・メンタルのネタとか）、結構スタンダードなマジックも色々あって、見せ方がオリジナルで凄く良かったし（スポンジボールのマジック・ティッシュが浮くマジック・カードがポケットに入るマジックとか）、バーのテレビを使ったマジックもあったし（テレビで映っているものが突然テレビから消えて本物が出てくるとか）し、色々あった。音楽に良いように合わせてマジックショーをやるのが凄く良かった。ヒデさんのキャラや人柄が一番良いかもしれない。こういうキャラのマジシャンにむかつくや見破ろうとする人がいないだろうなぁ。純粋に楽しむだけ。最後の予言のマジックも凄いね。ずっと前から置いてあった半端ないくらい長い紙にお客さんと一緒に作った長～い話が全部書いてある。本物の「ショッキングピンク」のパンツも現れたし。マジシャンから見たら、何回か使っていたフォースも凄かった。


Summary:
Location: Good (Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, not far from subway or train)
Type of magic: Close up magic
Quality of magic: extremely high (skilled, but most of all funny/nice presentation, very original)
Comment: The presentation of the magic is original and the strongest selling point, and it is very very good, and hard to describe in words. Best understood by experiencing it yourself.
Cost: 8000 yen
Interior: nice
Staff: super nice
Food and drinks: snacks included, usual selection of drinks
Overall impression: Possibly the best magic bar I have been to. Cannot recommend highly enough!

まとめ
場所：便利（銀座、東京）
マジックの種類：クローズアップマジック
マジックの質：素晴らしい（上手だがそれより見せ方が本当に半端ない）
コメント：マジックの見せ方が一番良いが言葉で説明しづらい（伝わらない）。自分で観た方がいいと思う。
値段：８０００円
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：凄く良い
食べ物・飲み物：スナック菓子・飲み物が普通だ
全体的な印象：今まで一番良かったかもしれない！マジック好きだったら、ハーフムーンのだけの為に東京まで行ってもいいくらい。

Magician Hide said he also sells bento ("lunch boxes", lunch meals) during daytime. These also looked good.