A majide again and again

I stayed in a hotel very close to the magic bar A Majide, so after the first day of the magic show in Osaka I stopped by there too. Despite being a quite small bar, they did a guillotine illusion the night I was there!

大阪に泊っていた時に、ホテルが「え～マジで」というマジックバーの近くだったから、マジックのイベントが終わってからえ～マジでにも行った。割と狭い店なのに、ギロチンのイリュージョンもやっていた！

On Sunday, the only magic bar that is open in Osaka (as far as I know) is A Majide, so I went there on Sunday too. (I have heard that in Kobe there is another magic bar that is also open on Sundays, but then I would not have been able to make it to airport in time for my plane on Monday morning). On Sunday I met a girl who loves cosplay (dressing up like anime or game characters) and who is a huge fan of the same manga/anime that one of my magician colleagues in Sapporo loves. I also got a magic prop as a present, since they probably think I spend too much time in their bar.

日曜日は大阪にやっているマジックバーはえ～マジでしかない（と思う）から、日曜日にも行った。（神戸にも日曜日もやっているマジックバーがあるらしいが神戸からだったら空港までが遠くて月曜日の朝の便間に合いそうもなかった。）日曜日にコスプレが大好きな女の子に会った。僕の札幌のマジシャンと同じアニメにハマっているそうだし。帰る時に、マジックバーからマジック道具のプレゼントも貰った。行きすぎかなぁ…

Osaka stopover, French Drop and A Maji De

On my to Sweden to visit my relatives, I had a one night stay in Osaka. I arrived in the evening and took the time to visit the magic bars French Drop and A Majide.

スウェーデンに行く時に大阪経由で行って、大阪に１泊した。夜にマジックバーフレンチドロップもえーまじでも行った。

Me and the French Drop magicians

The guys at French Drop remembered me, even thought I have only been there once before and that was about two years ago. There were three magicians there, Loki, Takemiya, and David Chinsuko. They were very funny to talk to, and they did a lot of magic for me. The funniest was David Chinsuko snorting the chocolate off Pocky-sticks when he had them stuck up his nostrils.

フレンチドロップのマジシャンが僕のことを覚えてくれた。前に１回しか行ったことないし、２年前に行ったのに…マジシャン３人もいた：ロキ・Takemiya・デビッドちんすこう。面白い話もたくさんあったし、いろいろなマジックも見せてもらったし、楽しかった。一番うけたのはデビッドちんすこうさんがポッキーを鼻に入れて、チョコレートだけ吸い込んだ。

The A Majide counter and show table

I also visited the magic bar A Majide, which was very close to my hotel. I have been there several times recently, so they of course remembered me. Last time the master of the place kept talking about how good the sweets from Sapporo are, and how much he would like to eat such Sapporo sweets etc. I got the hint and brought a small pack of the most popular Sapporo gift sweets. As usual when I arrive, they were quite busy and a stage show was about to start. After the show was over, they were not busy at all, so we sat and talked about all kinds of things for a while.

マジックバーえ～まじでにも行った。ホテルのすぐ近く。最近何回も行っているから、勿論覚えられた。この間行った時にマスターがずっと「札幌のお土産美味しいよね」とか「札幌のお土産が食べたいなぁ」と言っていたから今回ちゃんとマルセイバターサンドを持って行った（笑）。相変わらず、僕が入る時にちょうど大きなショーが始まった。ショーの後は割りと暇で、面白い話も結構した。

A~majide again

On my way home from Osaka, I also had time to visit the magic bar "A maji de" again. It is the only magic bar I know of in Osaka that is open on Sundays. I went there on Sunday evening and it was packed. There was a group of high school teachers there that were very funny to talk to. They were interested in Sweden, and they laughed at my t-shirt.

大阪から帰る時にマジックバーえ～マジでにも行けた。大阪の日曜日にやっている店はそこしか知らない。日曜日の夜に行って、かなり混んでいた。高校（？）の先生の団体がいた。面白い人たちだった。スウェーデンの話もしていたし、ティシャツも突っ込んでくれたし。

When I arrived a magic show was just about to begin at the show table, and the teachers were kind enough to squeeze together to make room for me too. Later, two more guests showed up and everyone squeezed together even more so these two could see the show too.

僕が入った時にちょうどショーテーブルでマジックショーが始まる感じだった。混んでいたが皆頑張ってくれて、僕も入るようになった。その後、カップルも入ってきて、皆もっと頑張って、そのカップルもマジックショー見れるようになった。

We got to see the young magician Korogi do quite a lot of funny magic, and then we got to see master Kubo do a full show too. Both of them did a lot of the same magic that I saw last time I was there, but they also did quite a bit of magic that I had not seen before. Korogi did a fun trick where the audience mixed up a small Rubik's cube, and then he took a big Rubik's cube and in 3 seconds made it into the same random pattern as the small cube. Master Kubo did a trick where three coins on the table turned into four coins, and then he took one coin away so it was three coins again. They then turned into four coins again, which was repeated very many times. Very clean.

若いマジシャンのコオロギのマジックも見せて貰ったし、マスター久保のマジックショーも見れたし、面白かった。前に行った時と同じマジックが結構あったが見たことなかったマジックも色々見せて貰った。コオロギさんがお客さんにぐちゅぐちゃして貰った小さなルービックキューブに合わせて、３秒で大きなルービックキューブを同じようにした。全面同じになった。マスター久保がコイン３つを４つにして、コイン１つ取った。テーブルにある３つのコインがまた４つになった。永遠繰り返しても大ジョブなマジックみたいで、何回もやっていた。不思議だった。

After the big group of guests left, several small groups of new guests came, so in the end they did a new full set of magic, so I got to see the two magicians do their shows twice. Lots of fun.

団体とカップルが帰ったら、またお客さん何人も入ったから、結局もう１回ショーが始まった。沢山マジック見れて楽しかった。

Trip to Osaka

Randi Atsushi, who I have seen before, had gotten a huge name tag put inside his jacket. This was quite funny and he kept showing it at strange times during his performance.

The show table at Vernon's bar.

Daichi Kitano, who was in A - omoro when I went there last year.

Me and the very funny Daichi Kitano

Me and the staff of A - majide

Last week I went to Osaka for a meeting at Osaka university. I had the nights free, so I managed to visit two magic bars. I went to "A - majide" and "Vernon's bar". Both were very nice. I got to see two magicians at A - majide, neither of which I had seen perform before, and I saw no less than four magicians at Vernon's bar, two of which I had seen before.

先週出張で大阪に行ってきた。夜に仕事がなかったからマジックバーにいけた。「エーマジで」と「バーノンズバー」に行った。両方面白かった。エーマジでマジシャン2人がマジックを見せてくれた。バーノンズバーでマジシャン4人もいたが2人は前に見たことあった。

Magic Bar Review: A - Maji De ・ エーマジで

Recently I went to Osaka for a business trip and I had a chance to visit the magic bar "A - majide" on the night before our meeting. The guy running A-majide is the same guy that ran the magic bar A-omoro when I was in Osaka last time, and these bars are very similar. I wore a t-shirt saying "I am not Japanese" in Japanese, which they kindly enough commented on a lot (most people in Japan do, since they think it is obvious that I am not Japanese even without that shirt).

最近出張で大阪に行ってきた。「エーマジで」というマジックバーにもいけた。エーマジでの店長は前に行った「あーおもろ」の店長だった。その店とよく似ている店なんだ。僕が「日本人ではありません」と書いてあるティシャツを着て入ったから、大阪の人が勿論皆突っ込んでくれた。見た目がかなり外国人なので、ティシャツが必要ないって言われる。

The interior design was nice. There was one show area, with a crescent shaped table with 7 or 8 seats, good lighting, a sound system, a good mat, and good line of sights for everyone watching. There was also a bar counter where they also did some magic, and where they served drinks and let you sit and chat when they were not doing magic.

店のインテリアがきれいだ。マジックショー用の半月のテーブルがあって、７～８人が座れる。そこはライト・サウンド・マットとか、色々ショーに良いことが出来る。バーのカウンターもあって、そこでもマジックを見せてくれる。飲み物作ったり喋りしたりするところだ。

When I entered, a magician called Korogi was in the middle of a magic show for four Japanese men at the bar counter. I was asked to sit next to them and watch the rest of the performance with them. Korogi did some fork bending, with some ideas I had not seen before, he did a card trick were a beef patty (not real, but looking real and the same size as a real edible one) shows up in a deck of cards without you noticing how it got there (one of my friends in Sapporo also used to do this trick a lot), and he managed to make a deck of cards that I had shuffled end up in order from Ace to King in each suit through some magical means. He was pretty good and quite funny.

僕が入った時にバーのカウンターでコオロギというマジシャンがお客さん４人にマジックを見せていた。僕が隣に座って一緒に観た。フォーク曲げ（僕が観たことない技も入ってた）・トランプからハンバーグが出てくる（僕の札幌の友達もよくやっていた）・僕が切ったトランプが全部不思議なように揃ったマジックを見せてくれた。上手だったし、面白かったし。

Next, "master Kubo" ("master" as in the boss of the place, indicating the owner) did a magic show for us after we had moved to the crescent shaped table. He did some rubber band magic, some card tricks where selected cards ended up under the glass of a spectator, mystically moving out of the deck without anyone touching it, ended up stuck to the arm of another spectator far up under his suit sleeve, etc. He also did a mentalist trick were each spectator in order got to pick either a cell phone, a wallet, or a watch that were all borrowed from different spectators. Despite having his back to us, master Kubo always managed to guess which object we took. Another mentalist effect was were he asked each of for some information, such as "Where would you go if you were to abroad tomorrow? What will you have for lunch tomorrow? What is the name of some girl you like now?" etc. When we all had answered one question each, he showed us a fan letter he had received this morning. When opening this and taking out the letter, it contained a huge letter (like 1 meter wide huge) with huge lettering stating: "Hi, this is [name of girl someone had mentioned]. I am writing to you from [country I mentioned] to thank you for the [food someone mentioned] dinner we had" and so on. Finally there were some levitating effects and a rose made from tissue turned into a real rose. A very nice show.

次、マスター久保が半月のショーテーブルでマジックショーをやってくれた。輪ゴムのマジック・トランプマジック（グラスの下・触っていないのカードが動く・お客さんの袖の中に選んだカードが張り付いているとか）色々見せてくれた。メンタリズムもあった。お客さんから借りた財布・携帯・時計があって、マジシャンが見ていないのに、お客さんが好きなものを持つとマジシャンが何を取ったか分かるマジック。他にも、皆に質問して、「明日旅行すれば、どこに行く？明日何を食べる？最近気になった女の子の名前は？」、手紙を出した。封筒から手紙を出すと意外にでかい（１メートルくらい）手紙に「○○ちゃんです（お客さんの気になっている女の子の名前）。今中国（僕が選んだ国）に来てて、この間一緒に食べたオムライス（お客さんが言った食べ物）が美味しかったね！」とか…全部当てた。最後に浮く系マジックがあって、ティッシュのバラが本物になった。凄かった。面白かった。

Osaka is famous in Japan for having many comedians, and every citizen of Osaka is expected to be funny. The staff of A - majide were all pretty funny, and after the magic was finished it was a lot of fun just listening to them talking too.

大阪は勿論お笑いも有名だ。大阪人皆お笑い芸人みたいなイメージがある。エーマジでのスタッフがその通り。マジックをやっていない時にほとんど漫才みたいになっている。面白かった。


Summary:
Location: In the middle of the Osaka entertainment district.
Type of magic: Close up.
Quality of magic: Good.
Cost: Very cheap, 2000 yen charge and then you pay for what you drink. I paid about 4000 yen total.
Interior: Nice, especially liked the magic show area.
Staff: Very funny and friendly.
Of special note: When not doing magic, the staff is constantly doing stand up comedy, which was funny.
Overall impression: Very funny. Cheap. Good magic. Open late. Highly recommended.

まとめ：
場所：大阪の遊ぶところの真ん中で良かった
マジックの種類：クローズアップ
マジックの質：良かった
値段：安かった。チャージ2000円、そして飲んだ分の飲み物払う。僕は4000円で終わった。
インテリア：きれいだ。特にマジックショー用のエリア。
スタッフ：面白い！
得点：マジックをやっていない時に漫才になっているから面白い
全体的な印象：面白い！安い。マジックも良い。遅くまでやっている。かなりおすすめする。