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！

Magic Bar Review: Hey Pola ・ マジックバーレビュー：ヘイ・ポーラ

On 2014-01-06 I went to the magic bar "Hey Pola" in Sapporo together with an American magician who was visiting Sapporo over the New Year and had found my blog. Hey Pola is the bar of Tsugutomo Nihei, and he has been running this bar for 17 years. When we were told this, my American friend said: "What, he started running this place when he was 15?!" It turns out that Nihei is 43 years old, but he looks a LOT younger, haha.

2014年1月6日にヘイ・ポーラというマジックバーに行ってみた。札幌（すすきの）にある。アメリカ人のマジシャンが僕のブログを見つけて、札幌にお正月の遊びの旅行のために札幌に来た時に連絡とってくれたから、2人でヘイ・ポーラに行った。二瓶二大さんが今17年間営業している店なんだ。17年間って聞いて「え？15歳からやっているってこと？」とアメリカ人の友達が言い出した。43歳の二瓶さんがもっともっと若く見える（笑）。

When we came in, there was a group of three Japanese men there already. We all sat at the counter and watched Nihei's performance together. We got to see a handkerchief fly around the bar and then come back, some mentalism/lie detector things with a large wooden cube with different colors, magic with coins moving around and disappearing from the spectator's hand (ending up inside a glass), magic with bills (1000 yen became 10,000 yen), card magic to the soundtrack of Top Gun, and signed cards ending up inside an unopened PET-bottle of water, and more.

入った時にサラリーマン3人がカウンターに座っていた。隣にお邪魔して、5人で二瓶さんのマジックを観た。店の奥に飛んで、戻ってきたハンカチ・サイコロを使ったメンタリズム（嘘発見器）・コインマジック（お客さんの手の中からグラスに瞬間移動）・お札（1000円が10000円になった）・トップ・ガンの音楽に合わせたカードマジック・新品のペットボトルにサインカードが入る、いろいろなマジックを見せて貰った。

Lots of funny gags were sprinkled throughout the show, and one that I liked in particular was that he claimed his stage name was "Mr. Nande", written with the Chinese characters for "south" and "hand". This happens to sound exactly like the expression for "Why?" which is used in Japanese when you see something unexplainable. He also explained that like the hostess bars (there are lots of hostess bars in the same district) nearby, they had a "request fee" system. If you request a specific hostess (instead of getting one randomly assigned) there is often a "request fee". So if you requested a specific magician (though there was only one there, so you would get him no matter what), they would charge you 5000 yen. So any time anyone said "nande!?" in surprise, they counted up one more on the request fee charge, which was quite funny. One guy had a bill for 25,000 yen when he was leaving (which, as it turns out, he did not actually have to pay since it was just a joke).

ギャグネタも多かった。僕の一番好きなギャグは、「私の芸名は『南手』なんだ」と説明されて、「ナンデ？！」と言ったら、指名料金5000円取られるって。隣のサラリーマンが何回も「何で？」って言ってしまったから、帰る時に2万5000円のチャージもついていた（笑）。結局「冗談だよ」と言われて、払わなくて大丈夫だったけど。

Hey Pola also uses music and sound in a fun and interesting way. When the first card trick was about to start, Nihei put on RayBan sunglasses and started blasting the soundtrack of Top Gun. The spectator was asked to pick a card and look hard and remember it. He also had to touch it with his index finger to "lock on". The card was returned, the deck was shuffled, and then the "locked on" finger was used to find the card over and over again. There were many other magic routines done to music. I also loved the fake applause track that he would play after each routine was finished, haha.

ヘイ・ポーラで音楽とかの使い方もうまい。カードのマジックが始まる時に、パイロットのサングラスを掛けて、トップ・ガンの音楽を流し始めた。観客1人にカード一枚選んで貰って、指で「ロックオンして下さい」と指定した。その後、そのロックオンした指で、観客が何回も自分のカードを当てた。カード切ってからも。他の音楽に合わせたマジックもあった。僕の一番笑ったのが毎回マジック１つが終わったら、音声システムで拍手の音を流していた、ｗ。

The price we paid was 3500 yen for 90 minutes of "nomihoudai" (unlimited drinking), which is the standard price in Sapporo (prices in Sapporo are cheaper than Tokyo or Osaka in general). The bar is quite small but feels much roomier than it is. There are seats at the counter and some tables with sofas. There were lots of posters and paintings of Houdini on the walls. The selection of drinks was pretty standard, though there were some things that are not that common too, like a yogurt based cocktail.

90分の飲み放題で3500円だった。札幌にしたら、普通だ（札幌が基本的に東京や大阪より安い）。バーが割りと狭いが意外に広く感じる。カウンター席もボックス席もある。ハリー・フーディーニのポスターとかが飾ってあった。飲み物のメニューが普通だったかな？ヨーグルトのリキュールとか、ちょっと珍しいのもあった。

After the performance was over and the other customers left, we sat and talked to "Mr. Nande" for quite some time. He has been to America and talked to my American friend about the Magic Castle and various conventions etc.

終わってから、南手さんとマジックの話とかもした。アメリカ人の友達も二瓶さんもアメリカのマジック・キャッスルに行ったことがあるからそういう話とか、マジックのコンベンションの話とかをしていた。

All in all, it was a very nice performance. We were told they aimed at "fun" more than "amazing", especially since they (being a bar) get a lot of people who are very drunk. I also like funny magic more than I like amazing magic (though I like both), and there were many jokes I found very funny.

まとめようとしたら、楽しかった！面白いギャグとかの大好きな僕にとってすごく良かった。バーなので、やっぱり酔っ払いのお客さんとかも来るから「すごい！」というより「面白い！」のを目指しているそうだ。僕の好みにいいね。

Summary:
Location: A short walk from the subway (Sapporo, Japan)
Type of magic: Close up
Quality of magic: Good
Cost: 3500 yen
Interior: Nice
Staff: Very nice
Food & drinks: Drinks, the usual selection.
Overall impression: Very funny. Good use of music and sounds.

まとめ：
場所：地下鉄からちょっと歩く（札幌、すすきの）
マジックの種類：クルーズアップ
マジック：良い
値段：3500円
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：面白い。優しい。
食べ物・飲み物：飲み物が普通な種類くらい
全体的な印象：面白かった！音楽とかの使い方が良かった。

Tenyo 2014: Ghost cards and MRI ・ テンヨー2014年のゴーストカードとマジカルMRI

Today I noticed that one of the stores in Sapporo was selling the new Tenyo props. I was looking for Halloween stuff, but walked home with two new Tenyo tricks instead. I bought the "Magical MRI" and the "Ghost Cards". I considered buying the "4D printer" too, but I will buy that from a different store instead.

今日ハロウィーンに使いたいものを探しに行ったら、東急ハンズでテンヨーの2014年の新作が置いてあった。ゴーストカードとマジカルMRIという新ネタを買って帰った。4次元プリンターも気になったが別の店で買おうかなと考えた。

The Magical MRI has a very clever gimmick. The effect is that the spectator puts things on his side of a metal plate (so you cannot see them) and you manage to figure out what is on the other side. Two dice are included in the box, and you can have the spectator put one of them on his side, with whatever number he wants facing up, and you put the other one on your side showing the same number. The spectator can use both dice on his side, and you can write down what numbers he chose (or just tell him). Basically, you can see things on the other side, so you can have the spectator put other things there too, and an idea with a playing card is described in the instructional leaflet.

マジカルMRIが凄い仕掛けだ。現象は金属の鉄板の後ろに（マジシャンが見えないように）お客さんがものを置く。見えていないはずなのに、マジシャンが何が置いてあるかを当てる。道具にサイコロ2つが付いているからお客さんがサイコロ１つを置いて、マジシャンがもう1個のサイコロをマジシャン側に置いて、同じ数字になる。お客さんが2個をお客さん側において、マジシャンがサイコロの上の目を書いて当てる（言うだけでも大丈夫）。基本的に、マジシャンにちょっと見えているので、サイコロではないものでもマジックできる。解説書にカード当てのやり方１つ書いてある。

You can hand out the metal plate with no fear of anyone discovering anything incriminating. You can hand out the plastic frame too, with fairly little fear of discovery too. There is also a stand to put the frame in, which can also be handled by the spectator.

This trick is my current favorite of the Tenyo 2014 items. It seems like it could be very useful.

鉄板をお客さんに渡しても、ばれる可能性がない。プラスチック製フレームも渡しても（多分）大丈夫だ。フレームのスタンドも特にばれることがない。

2014年のネタの中、これが一番好きだ。色々なように使えそうだ。

The Ghost Cards are a fun effect, and look great on video. You have a few playing cards in your hand and you push a large part of them into your face. You can retrieve the parts that disappeared from behind your head if you want to.

ゴーストカードが面白い現象だ。動画で観たらかなり不思議に見える。トランプ何枚かを持って、顔に刺し込む。顔に入った分は頭の後ろから出すことも出来る。

This trick looks good live too, if you use the little plastic cover thing included. You can do it without the cover too, but then you have to have a fairly large distance between you and the spectator or they will see how the trick is done. The plastic cover is ungimmicked and can be handed out. The cards cannot be handled by the spectator (at least not all of them), neither before you push them into your face nor after. You can push the cards into anything, but things that are soft look best (like meaty parts of your body). The angles are pretty good, though the side of the cards have to be covered at some times. You can have people standing behind you without them seeing how the trick is done (though they will not see the effect either), unless you want to produce the cards from behind your head (which you could still do depending on what clothes you wear).

生で観ても、付いているプラスチックのカバーを使えば、不思議に見える。カバー無しでやっても大丈夫だがお客さんが近かったら、やり方すぐばれる。プラスチックのカバーはギミックではないので、お客さんに渡しても大丈夫だ。カードは刺し込む前にも終わってからでも、手渡しが無理。顔ではなくても、何のものにも刺しても大丈夫だ。やわらかいもの（体の肉の分とか）がきれいに見える。角度に割りと強い。カードの横側を隠さないと行けない時があるがそれくらいだ。後ろに人がいてもばれない（現象は伝わらないけど）。頭の後ろからカードを出すこともやったら、後ろに人がいたらちょっと服のカバーしないと難しい。

I like this trick, it is a funny idea to push cards into your face.

面白いマジックだと思う。変な現象が好きだ。

Magic Bar Review: Stage show at Magic Bar Stockholm

I have been to Magic Bar Stockholm several times before (previous review of Magic Bar Stockholm). On Fridays and Saturdays they have a stage show, but I have never managed to catch one of these before. Usually I come to Sweden in July and then the stage show is closed for the summer (though they still show you table magic) and when I came here in the autumn once, the whole place was reserved for some party the only night I was in Sweden... But this time I managed to see the stage show, and it was great!

前にもマジックバーストックホルムに行ったことがある（前のマジックバーストックホルムのレビューはこちら）。金土曜日にステージショーもあるんだ。僕が前に行った時に7月のせいでステージショーが休みだったし、11月に行った時に貸切だったし、今まで見ていなかった。今回やっとステージショー見れた！

Gunnar

Normally, there is no table charge at Magic Bar Stockholm, you only pay for the things you order. On nights with the stage show, there is a small charge for watching the show too (though if you come early, eat and leave before the show starts I think you do not have to pay the charge on days with stage shows either). I met a man called Gunnar in the wardrobe, who gave me a sticker showing that I had paid for the show.

普段はチャージがないんだがステージショーの日はステージショーのチャージがある。早く来て、ステージショーが始まる前に帰る人はチャージ払わなくても大丈夫みたいだ。チャージがスウェーデンの物価にして結構やすい。今円安になってて、2000円もしなかった。円高の時なら、1400円くらいになる。玄関でグンナーという面白いおじさんにお金を払って、ジャケットにステージショーチャージのシールを貼って貰った。

Then I went inside and got a table very close to the stage, which was good. There was a special "show night" menu, with three choices of two dish dinners. I picked the one called Houdini, which had marinated salmon with fried bread as a first dish, and meat with ratatouille and french fries for the second. I was there so early so that when I finished my food there was still about an hour until the stage show would start, so I also ordered a dessert. All the food was good (it has always been good when I have been to Magic Bar Stockholm before too).

中に入って、ステージのすぐ近くのテーブルに案内された。ステージショーの日に特別なメニューになっているみたいで、ディナーコースのメニューしかなかった。フーディーニというメニューにした。最初はフライのパンとマリネのサーモンが出てきた。メインはステーキ・ラタトゥイユ・ポテトフライだった。結構早く着いたから、食べ終わった時にステージショーが始まるまではやく1時間があったので、デザートも頼んでみた。料理が美味しかった（前に行った時にも毎回美味しかった）。

While I was waiting for my food, the magician Anders Fox came to my table and did some magic for me. He did card tricks for me. When I watched him perform for the people at the table next to mine, he also did some rubber band magic tricks, and the "professor's nightmare" rope trick. He was pretty funny, and had a very energetic performance character. He came back to my table after I had finished all my food and did some more magic. He did a "do as I do" magic trick, with a funny presentation style. At some other tables he did a visitors card trick and some mental style effects.

食べ物を待っている時に、アンダーズ・フォックスというマジシャンがテーブルに来て、マジックを見せてくれた。カードマジックを見せてくれた。彼が隣のテーブルでマジックをやっているのもちょっと見た。輪ゴムのマジックや３本ロープのマジックもやっていた。喋りが面白かった。ちょっとうざいキャラというか、かなり元気なキャラでやっていた。僕が食べ終わった時にも、もう１回マジックを見せて貰った。ドゥ・アズ・アイ・ドゥ的なカードマジックだった。他のテーブルでビジターズみたいなカードマジックも、メンタリズム的なカードマジックもやっていた。

When I went to the toilet, Gunnar in the wardrobe asked me if I knew a certain song (which I did) and who made it famous (I did not). He told me the name of the singer, and asked me to yell that to him when he asked for it on stage later, in case no one else knew the name of the singer.

トイレに行った時に、またグンナーさんとちょっと話した。歌を歌いだして、この曲知っている？って聞かれた。知っている曲だったが歌手の名前やいつ流行っていたかは知らなかった。それ全部教えて貰って、ステージから「この曲は誰の曲？」って聞かれたら、他の人が答え出さないと言って欲しいって言われた。よし、サクラになろう、ｗ。

Anders Fox

At slightly after nine, it was time for the stage show to start. By then, all the tables in the room with the stage were more or less full, and there were some people standing next to bar too. First, Anders Fox did half an hour of stage magic. He asked a woman to join him on stage and did a rope trick with her. A rope was cut in two, but the ropes never seemed to become equal length no matter how many times they were cut to size. The rope was cut and then restored again, etc. He then asked four men to come up on stage, and I was one of the four selected. We got to sit in a ring, lay our heads down in the knees of the guy behind us, and then the magician pulled away our chairs and we were locked in a weird "floating without balance" position. He finished by filling a glass with water and turning it upside down without the water falling out of the glass.

21時過ぎに、ステージショーが始まった。ステージがある部屋（一番広い部屋）はもう満席に近い感じだった。カウンターで立ってて見ている人もいた。最初、アンダーズ・フォックスがステージでも30分くらいマジックを見せてくれた。女の人のお客さんとロープマジックをやった。切ったロープがなかなか切り揃えないとか、切ったロープが復活したとか。その後、男4人のお客さんに手伝って欲しいと言った。僕も選ばれたから、ステージに登った。輪の形で4人で座って、頭を自分後ろになった人の膝にした。マジシャンがその後椅子全部取っちゃったから、不思議なように浮いていたというか、変な形になった。最後のマジックは、グラスに水を入れて、逆様にしても水が落ちなかった。

Gunnar on stage

Next, Gunnar from the wardrobe came on stage and said that it was an intermission now, and that during this break he was going to tell us something. He then started doing very impressive things with his voice, like talking with an echo, talking very very fast, talking as if playing the sound backwards, etc. He sang some songs and "showed" that if you sing a song backwards it becomes a song in Russian. I got to yell out the answer to his question regarding who had made a certain song popular, and what year that was.

次、グンナーさんがステージに出て、休憩だって話をした。声の芸を持ってて、色々な変なことし始めた。ハイスピードの喋り方とか、スウェーデン語の曲を逆読みしたらロシア語になるよって話をして歌を逆さに歌った。凄い芸だった。僕はサクラになって、ばっちり質問を答えたし。

Håkan Berg singing

Finally, Håkan Berg and his pianist Micke Svan (who played piano during the show) came on stage and did an extremely funny show. First, Håkan Berg did a fairly long stage magic show in the character of someone who believes he is the world's greatest magician but who makes almost every thing go wrong. Very funny. Then they did some singing, and some stand up comedy. The songs were nice, and the jokes very funny. There was some more magic, more songs, and more comedy. They were called back for an encore after they finished, and they did one more song then. I laughed so much it hurt. Håkan Berg is a genius.

最後にホーカン・ベリーとミケ・スワンがステージに出た。最高に面白かった。ミケさんがピアノを弾いていた。ホーカンさんが最初マジックをやり始めた。自分が凄いと思っているが全部失敗するマジシャンの演技だった。お腹が痛くなるほど笑った。その後、歌や漫才もやっていた。歌も上手だったし、ミケさんのピアノも上手だったし、漫才も面白かったし、凄く良かった。他にもちょっとマジックまたやった。最後にアンコールに呼ばれて、歌もう１つやってくれた。お笑いの天才。最高。

A knot, spit out by Håkan Berg and landing next to my foot.

Me and Håkan Berg

Summary:
Location: A little bit off but easily accessible by subway (2 minutes walk from the subway station).
Type of magic: stage show on weekends, close up every day (closed on Sundays)
Quality of magic: good, though I guess it may vary since there are different magicians working every week.
Cost: 125 SEK in stage show charge (less than 2000 yen), dinner course from 350 SEK (5000 yen or so).
Interior: Very nice.
Staff: Nice, but pretty slow service.
Overall impression: The close up magic was good but pretty standard. The stage show has two different magicians (or teams of magicians) each weekend, and you get to see two short shows. When I was there, one show was good, one was excellent.

まとめ：
場所：他に何もないところだが地下鉄で行きやすい（駅から歩いて２分）
マジックの種類：週末にステージショーがある。クローズアップは毎日ある（定休日：日）
マジックの質：良かったが毎週違うマジシャンがいるから質も変わる可能性がある。
値段：ステージショーのチャージは125クローネ（今の円安で2000円くらい）。ディナーコースが5000円から。
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：優しいが注文や食べ物持ってくるのが結構遅い。
全体的な印象：クローズアップも良かったがそこまで特別でもなかった。ステージショーは毎週待つマジシャン2組がやるから短いショー２つ見れる。僕が行った時に１つが面白かった。もう１つが凄く面白かった。

Magic Bar Review: Red King

A week or so ago, I went to the newly opened magic bar "Magic bar Red King" here in Sapporo with a friend. When we entered, there were no other customers there but an hour or so later a young woman also showed up. The bar is quite small, with a counter that seats around 6 people, and a few sofas and tables. The interior is quite nice, and they had decorated with a lot of figurines from Ultra Man or some other Japanese series.

先週くらい、札幌の新しいマジックバー「レッド・キング」に友達と行った。入った時に他のお客さんがいなかったがその後若い女の子1人も来た。割と小さなバーで、カウンターに６席くらいがあって、ボックス席もある。きれいな雰囲気だ。ウルトラマンのフィギュアとかも飾ってあった。

When we arrived, the magician Akitsugi Domoto was there and he showed us some card magic. He did  find our selected card, did some color changes, a "sloppy shuffle" triumph where the red and black cards ended up separated too, and a card with the corner torn off disappearing and showing up in an impossible location (his pocket). After that, we talked about magic and other things for a while. We thought the magic show was a bit short for a magic bar and asked for some more magic. Then he did a mental effect where he predicted the color of the cards in a part of a deck that was slightly shuffled by a spectator, and made the name of a chosen card show up on a receipt from the convenience nearby.

僕らが入った時にマジシャン堂本秋次がカウンターに入っていた。カードマジックを見せてくれた。選んだカードを当てるマジック・カラーチェーンジ・赤と黒も分かれるトライアンフ・角の破いたカードが消えて、ポケットから出た。その後、マジックとかの話、色々な面白い話もしてくれた。マジックバーとしては、マジックがちょっと短いなと思っていたから友達が「もうちょっと見せてくれませんか」って頼んだ。メンタル的なカードマジックでお客さんがちょっと切ったトランプの10枚くらいの束のカードの赤・黒の順番を全部当てた。コンビニのレシートに選んだカードが現れたし。

My friend likes coin magic so we also asked to see some coin tricks. There were some simple coin vanishes and reappearances, the muscle pass, and in the end the selected coin ended up on the back of my friends hand after disappearing. When the young girl had arrived too, we were also shown a mental card trick were a mentally selected card ended up being the only card in the card box that had been on the table since before the trick started (and for some reason the card was also folded). When another friend of mine was shown this trick it was incredibly clean, but when we were there the card selection procedure was quite long and convoluted. The girl said she had seen this trick five times but still had no idea how it was done, though.

友達、コインマジックが大好きなので、「コインも何かやりませんか？」と僕が聞いてみた。シンプルなバニッシュとか、コインが消えたり出たりするマジックを見せて貰った。マッスルパスもあったし。最後に消えたコインが友達の手の裏に現れた。若い女の子が来てから、他のカードマジックも見せて貰った。想像するだけでカード1枚選んだ。ずっとカウンターに置いてあったカードの箱の中は折りたたんだ（なぜ折りたたんであったかよく分からなかったけど）カード1枚しか入っていなかったがそのカードがうちらの選んだカードだった。マジシャン友達が行った時に同じマジックが超不思議だったそうだがうちらの時にカードを選ぶ方法が結構長くて複雑だった。隣の女の子が5回もそのマジックを見たそうだがいまだに分からないそうだけど。

Magician Domoto was quite nice to talk to too, and for about 30 minutes or so the other guy on the poster they have outside also came in and talked to us (he runs one more bar in the same building so Red King is mainly run by Domoto they said). He happens to be a former class mate of two of my friends, so we had met before. He has a lot of experience running bars, and he was very funny to talk to. He told us funny stories about all kinds of things, including some famous Japanese magicians. We asked if he too would show us some magic but he said is not really a magician (though he does know a few tricks since I have seen him perform card magic for some girls in another of his bars).

堂本さんの話も面白かった。30分間くらい、Red Kingのポスターの2人目の人も店に入って来て、話してくれた。僕のマジシャン友達2人の同級生だから前にも会ったことがある。同じビルにもう１つのバーもやっているからその店２つに行ったり来たりするみたい。飲み屋の仕事に慣れてて、話が上手だ。色々な面白い話、例えば有名な日本人のマジシャンの話をしてくれた。マジックも見せてくれませんか？って聞いてみたがマジシャンではないと言われた。別の店でトランプマジックを女の子に見せることは見たことがあるから、出来ないことはないと思うけどね、笑。

All in all, we had a good time. Though for high quality magic (and fun conversation) in Sapporo I would still recommend one of the Twister magic bars instead (though I may be biased, haha).

楽しい時間過ごせた。レベル高いマジックが見たい人（や面白い話が聞きたい人）に、札幌ならまだ「ツイスター」系列のマジックバーの方がおすすめだけど（でも、僕はツイスターでマジックをやっているから、これに関しての僕の意見は本当に正しいか…笑）。

Summary:
Location: On the outskirts of the entertainment district Susukino.
Type of magic: Close up.
Quality of magic: So-so.
Cost: 3,000 yen for nomihoudai, or 1,500 yen charge plus about 500 yen per drink.
Interior: Nice.
Staff: Friendly.
Of special note: Unusually large selection of teas,which is nice for people not drinking alcohol.
Overall impression: The magic show was a bit short, and some of the magic would probably have been seen through by non-magicians too, but we had a nice time.

まとめ：
場所：すすきのの端っこ
マジックの種類：クローズアップ
マジックの質：まあまあ
値段：飲み放題3,000円か1500円のチャージに飲み物が１杯500円くらい。
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：優しい。
ちょっと特別：お茶の種類が多くて、お酒飲まない人にいい。
全体的な印象：マジックショーがちょっと短かった。たまに一般人にもバレると思うマジックもあったが楽しい時間過ごせた。

Magic Bar Reviev: Red Carpet

During my trip to Fukuoka, I visited the magic bar "Red Carpet" twice. The owner, magician Hiro, is a friend of the owner of the magic bar I do magic at in Sapporo, and we met in Sapporo before. Red Carpet is located in the Nakasu entertainment district in Fukuoka. The bar itself is quite large, with a counter for magic shows and quite a few tables were larger groups of people can sit and eat (and watch more magic). There was even a place to play darts. The interior decorations had an Egyptian theme, with lots of posters and small figurines of Egyptian gods etc.

福岡に行っていた時にマジックバー「Red Carpet」に2回も行った。オーナーのヒロさんがうちのマジックバーのオーナーと仲良い。札幌に来ていた時に一回会った。Red Carpetが福岡の中洲にあるので、行きやすい。バーが結構広くて、マジックショー用のカウンターもテーブル席もある。ダーツの出来る。ヒロさんはエジプトのことが好きらしい。エジプトの飾り物がいっぱいあって、きれいだった。

When I first arrived, there was one more guest there and he also knew some magic. Even though there were only the two of us, magician Hiro put on a full magic show for us, and another magician also did some close up magic for me. The next day I went back and then the counter was full, so full that even after adding two more chairs there was no room for me. I watched the magic show from a table seat instead.

初めて行った時に他にお客さん1人がいて、彼もマジックが出来るみたい。お客さん2人しかいなくても、ヒロさんが本格的なマジックショーをやってくれた。もう1人のマジシャンもクローズアップを見せてくれたし。次の日はカウンターが満席だった。椅子2つ足しても、満席だった。僕がテーブル席からマジックショーもう１回観た。

The magic show contained lots of different types of magic. Hiro did magic accompanied by music, and the choice of music was made with the magic in mind (or maybe the other way around). There were lots of funny gag type magic tricks (like a brown handkerchief turning into poo, or a balloon turning into a penis), some mentalist type effects, card magic, fork bending, and some very strange cubes that changed places under impossible conditions. His closing effect was the cup and balls using cans of canned fruits. In the end, not only did a lot of actual fruits show up, the cans also turned into unopened cans, and a live white mouse also appeared out of one of the cans.

マジックショーは色々なマジックがあった。音楽に合わせてマジックをやっていた。ギャグネタが多くて（例えば、茶色のハンカチがうんこに変わる、風船がチンコになる）、笑えた。メンタリズム的なマジックもあったし、カード・フォーク曲げ・不思議なように入れ替わるキューブのマジック、色々あった。最後にカップ＆ボールのマジックがあった。缶詰めのミカンの缶を使って、最後に本物のミカンが沢山出たし、缶が新品の状態に戻っていたし、生きている白ネズミが出たし、面白かった。

Hiro also does a very nice cigarette magic routine, where in the end a card that had previously been torn to pieces also appears and is restored. I was also impressed by a card trick where one spectator selects a card, and another spectator that does not know which the selected card is sweeps his hand around the edge of a fan of cards and stops wherever he wants and in the end turns out to stop with his finger pointing right at the selected card. Hiro also showed me some tricks that he thought I would be interested in but that were not in the show, including a coin in a glass covered by another glass that still started (and stopped) spinning on command, a strange card case from which you could produce a deck of cards with a certain card at any number, and throwing a deck of cards wrapped in rubber bands up and having only one card stick to the ceiling (a famous trick that I had not seen live before).

タバコのマジックのルーティンも良かった。タバコのマジックをやりながら、突然前に破いたカードが現れて復活した。他に感動したマジックはカードを選んで貰って、選んだカードを知らないお客さんにカードのファンを見せる。お客さんがファンの周りに指を動かして、好きな時に止める。その時に、別のお客さんの選んだカードを指差していた。他にショーに入っていないマジックだが僕が好きそうなネタも色々見せてくれた。例えば、グラスにコインを入れて、上にグラスも１つ被せたのに、コインが回ったり止まったりした。不思議なカードケースからトランプ出したら、上から何枚目でも特別なカードが出るとか。トランプを輪ゴムでとめて、上に投げると1枚だけ天井にくっつくマジックも初めて生で観た。


Summary:
Location: In the entertainment district Nakasu, easy to get to by subway.
Type of magic: Close up.
Quality of magic: Good.
Cost: I paid 3,000 yen, including one drink.
Interior: Egyptian things here and there, nice.
Staff: Funny, very friendly.
Overall impression: A lot of strange magic. Also lots of gags. Funny.

まとめ：
場所：中洲、行きやすい
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：僕は3,000円だった
インテリア：エジプトの飾り物が多くて、きれい
スタッフ：面白い。優しい。
全体的な印象：不思議なマジックが多かった。ギャグネタも多かった。面白かった。

Magic Bar Review: Nishioka

I went to Fukuoka for a project meeting in March 2013 and I found time to visit the magic bar Nishioka there. Nishioka is (probably) the oldest magic bar in Japan. It has been over 40 years since they opened, I was told.

2013年の3月に出張で福岡に行った。マジックバーに行ける時間もちょっととれて、「奇跡の店西岡」に行った。日本の一番長くやっているマジックバーだと思う。40年以上、と言われた気がする。

The bar is mainly one very long bar counter. It seats over 20 people I think. The interior looks like it has not been changed since when they opened 40 years or more ago, which gives it a very nice atmosphere.

バーの中は長～いカウンターがある。20人くらい座れると思う。昔からインテリアが変わっていなさそうで、昔風な雰囲気がある。きれいだ。

When I got there, which was fairly early in the evening (around eight or so) there were no other guests there. There were three magicians, and they each came to my part of the counter and performed magic for 10 to 20 minutes for me. As they were doing so, other guests started coming, and when the last magician was finished at my place the bar was full. I was allowed to stay around and watched the magicians performing for the group of people sitting next to me too. For most guests, as soon as the last magician finished the "mama" of the place showed up with the bill, and people came and left pretty quickly.

僕が割と早い時間（20時頃だったかな？）に入った。その時に他のお客さんがいなかった。マジシャン3人がいて、1人1人で僕のところに来て、10～20分のマジックを見せてくれた。マジックを見ていた時に、どんどん他のお客さんも入って、最後のマジシャンが僕のところに来た時にもう満席だった。僕は3人のマジック全部観終わっても残っていて、隣のグループに見せていたマジックも観た。他のグループはだいたい最後のマジシャンのマジックが終わった瞬間にママがチェックを出したから他のお客さんが入って、マジック観て、結構早く帰った。

The magic they performed at Nishioka was very nice. They did a lot of very famous classical tricks, that are classics because they are great tricks. Some of the things they are famous for are the cups and balls (8 lemons showed up in total) and watch steal (pickpocket magic). The group of girls sitting next to me saw the same girl having her watch stolen several times (every magician wanted to take a watch for some trick, and since she had the only watch...).

見せて貰ったマジックが結構良かった。有名な（クラシックな）マジックを沢山見せて貰った。西岡で有名なマジックは例えばカップ＆ボール（レモン8個も出る）やピックポケットで時計をとるマジック。隣に座っていた女の子たちの時は同じ女の子の時計2～3回取られた。マジシャンが皆時計取りたがってて、時計している人はその女の子しかなかったから毎回その時計になったね。

The son of the owner of Nishioka complained that I did not give him fair warning when exactly I took a photo of him, so he did not have time to adjust his face...

... so I took one more photo and he was very happy with that. No noticeable change at all, though, haha.

I also had one of my 10,000 yen bills signed and then made to disappear, and it later appeared inside a box of matches that had possibly been on the table the whole time. There was also a production of 50 or so sponge balls, which was very funny. The group of girls next to me also got a huge sponge penis (which the magician did not produce for me). I also saw rope magic (professor's nightmare), coin magic, card magic, strange iPhone apps, ring and string magic, a three shell game, the China rings, magic with safety pins, and the invisible deck. All in all, they showed me a lot of magic, in a very high tempo.

他に、僕の1万円札にサインして、お札が消えて、ずっと置いてあったマッチボックスの中から出てきた。スポンジボール50個くらい出てきたし。隣の女の子たちの時に観たことのないデカいちんこも出たが僕にマジックを見せていた時にそれ出さなかった。ロープ・コイン・トランプ・アイフォーンのアプリ・指輪と紐・シェルゲーム・チャイナリング・安ピンのマジック・インビシブルデックもあった。クラシックなマジックをバンバンやっていた。


Summary:
Location: In the entertainment district Nakasu, easy to get to by subway.
Type of magic: Close up.
Quality of magic: Good.
Cost: 5,500 yen, including one drink.
Interior: Old, nice.
Staff: Funny.
Overall impression: Lots of classics of magic. Recommended.

まとめ：
場所：中洲、行きやすい
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：ワンドリンクで5,500円
インテリア：昔の雰囲気できれいだ。
スタッフ：面白い。
全体的な印象：クラシックなマジックを沢山やる。面白い。

Magic bar review: Magic Time

On my trip to Osaka for my friend's wedding I did find time to visit the magic bar "Magic Time" in Osaka too. It is run by the very funny magician "Monsieur Pierre". I had seen him one before, in Vernon's Bar (also in Osaka), but now he has opened his own bar. Bar Magic Time is located very close to Vernon's Bar.

友達の結婚式の為に大阪に行った時に「マジックタイム」というマジックバーに行く時間も見つけた。ムッシュ・ピエールさんのマジックバーなんだ。前にバーノンズバーというマジックバーで1回ムッシュ・ピエールを見た。結構好きなキャラだ。今独立して、バーノンズバーの近くにあるマジックタイムでマジックを披露している。

The bar is quite small, with a counter that seats about 8 people or so, and some small tables against the other wall. These tables and chairs are on an elevated part of the bar, so sitting at the tables you can still see any magic being performed at the counter. The bar is run by Monsieur Pierre and his wife. There are specific show times when a magic show starts and you are expected to show up before or after a show, not in the middle of an ongoing show.

店が割りと狭い。8名入るくらいのカウンターがメインで、他に小さなテーブルもある。テーブル席はカウンター席と段差があるので、テーブル席でもカウンターのマジック見れる。いい作りだと思った。ムッシュ・ピエールと奥さんで2人でやっている店だ。決まったショータイムの時間にマジックショーがある。ショーの最中には入って欲しくない。

I showed up early for the very first show of the day. Apart from me there was also a couple in their thirties or so (I can never tell with Japanese people) and a family with of three with a high school kid who also did magic.

僕が早く入って、その日の一番早い時間のショーを見た。他に３０代（かな？日本人の歳分からない）のカップルと家族３人もいた。家族の高校生の息子も自分でマジックをやっているそうだ。

Before the magic show started Monsieur Pierre gave us some riddles to think about to pass the time. One was: "How do you turn the false equality '1 / 100 = 100' into a true equality [so no making the '=' into a not equal sign] by drawing one straight line?" which I figured out fairly quickly. He also told some funny stories.

ショーの時間になる前にムッシュ・ピエールが面白い小学校の入学式の問題とかを出して、面白い喋りで時間つぶした。問題の例は：「1 / 100 = 100」に直線１つ書いて、正しくして下さい。「＝」に直線を引いて、ノットイコールにするのが駄目だった。まあまあ早く解いたから、小学校に入れるみたい、ｗ。

Then the magic show started. For about 45 minutes Monsieur Pierre did lots of magic while being very funny. There were lots of puns in Japanese, and the ones I could understand (possibly there were others that I did not notice) were quite funny. He did close up magic at the bar counter, and he used nice looking props from Mikame Craft, did magic with cards, very very quickly solved a Rubik's cube, did magic with coins, etc. We got to see most of his famous tricks, like the jokers that ride two on one bicycle, or his necktie disappearing and appearing under a handkerchief. There was also a lot of magic that I had not seen before, neither on TV nor at Vernon's Bar.

その後、ショーが始まった。約４５分のマジックショーだった。ムッシュ・ピエールが色々なマジックをして、面白い話もした。オヤジギャグが多くて、面白かった。僕が結構笑った。カウンターでクローズアップマジックを見せて貰った。ミカメクラフトのマジック道具を使ったり、トランプマジックしたり、ルビックキューブを凄く早く解いたり、コインマジックしたりして、色々なマジックがあった。ムッシュ・ピエールの有名なマジック、例えば二人乗りのジョーカーやネクタイがなくなってまた出てくるマジックもあったし、僕が見たことなかったマジック（バーノンズバーでもテレビでも観ていなかったマジック）もあったし、面白かった。

Bar Magic Time also has a stamp card system, and if you get three stamps in a certain amount of time, you get 1000 yen off the next time you go. Monsieur Pierre also asked us if we new the old Japanese word for March, and anyone that new it would get an extra stamp for free. Since someone new and said it out loud, everyone of course got an extra stamp. Lots of small funny interactions that made the visit very pleasurable.

マジックタイムのスタンプカードもあった。期間中にスタンプ３つ集めると１０００円割引になる。ムッシュ・ピエールに「３月の古い呼び方知っていますか？」と聞かれて、知っていればスタンプもう１個貰うということだった。誰かが知っていたから、その人が答えてから勿論皆スタンプもう１個簡単に貰えた、笑。そういう小さなギャグも多くて、面白かった。


Summary:
Location: In the entertainment area near Osaka station and Umeda.
Type of magic: Close up.
Quality of magic: Very good.
Cost: Cheap, 3500 yen if you do not drink that much.
Interior: Nice.
Staff: Very funny and friendly.
Overall impression: Funny. Very good magic. Cheap. Highly recommended.

まとめ：
場所：大阪駅（梅田）の近く
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。沢山飲まないと3500円で終わる。
インテリア：きれいだ。
スタッフ：面白い！
全体的な印象：面白い！マジックうまい！安い。おすすめ。

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。

Magic bar review: Hearts

In Yokohama there are two magic bars (that I know of). Since I spent two days in Yokohama for work (my computer job), I managed to visit both. When I first arrived at the magic bar Hearts, they said that they were in the middle of a show just then, and asked if I could come back later. I went and had dinner nearby and came back at the time they had suggested. They were in the middle of the next show then, so I was placed at a table and told that I would be moved to the counter (where the magic happens) when the show was finished (so I could see the next show). I waited for 15 minutes or so, and then I was moved to the counter.

横浜に（僕が知っている）マジックバーが２つある。出張（パソコンの仕事の）で2日間横浜に行って来たから、両方行けた。マジックバーハーツに初めて着いた時に、マジックショー途中なんだから、もうちょっと遅い時間に来ても大丈夫ですかって聞かれた。近くのレストランで晩御飯を食べて、言われた時間にまた来た。又ショー途中だったので、取り敢えずボックス席で座って、ショーが終わったらカウンターに移ることになると言われた。ショーはカウンターで観るね。15分くらい待って、カウンターの席に移動した。

At the counter, I spoke to the bartender for awhile, and some of the other customers also asked me where I was from and how come I can speak Japanese etc. After some waiting, the next show started. By then it was just me and three other customers left. They had seen the previous show too, so the magician did a completely different show using only material that they had not seen.

カウンターでバーテンダーさんや他のお客さんとちょっと話した。どこから来たんですか？何で日本語話せますか？そういう話だった。ちょっと待ってから、次のショーが始まった。その時、僕と他のお客さん3人しか残っていなかった。その3人が前のショーも観たので、マジシャンが全部別のネタのショーにした。

In Sapporo, many bars and restaurants write "ram base" on the menu when they mean "rum base". This is apparently popular in Yokohama too.

The show was divided into two halves, with a short break to order drinks or go to the toilet. The magician Nakamura had the bartender control the music, sounds, and the lighting for him, and had picked different types of music to go with different magic effects. He seemed to have put a lot of thought into the presentation of the effects, and he got very good reactions from common tricks like the ash in spectators hand.

ショーは前半・後半に分かれて、ちょっとした休憩もあった。飲み物を頼む機会やトイレに行く機会。中村さんというマジシャンがマジックを見せてくれて、バーテンダーさんが音楽・音声・ライトの担当していた。見せるマジックに合わせて音楽を選んだ。中村さんが見せ方というか、ストーリーに結構考えてマジックをやっているみたい。割と普通なネタ（お客さんの手に灰が現れるとか）でも、良いリアクション取れた。

Magic at the counter

He did a quite a lot of magic, about 40 minutes in total. He did magic with many different types of objects. We saw some card tricks (card under glass, card into PET-bottle), some coin tricks, the gypsy thread trick, a floating rose that when set on fire turned into a real flower, an empty and crushed coca cola can came back to shape and cola came out of it again, a copper silver transposition in the spectators hand using keys instead of coins, a signed packet of sugar was torn up and the sugar poured out and then the sugar and packet magically became an unopened (signed) packet again, some mental effects, and a thing were a cacao bean and sugar was put in a tube and then lots of chocolate came out of the tube, and more.

ショーの中では沢山のマジックがあった。合わせて、40分くらいのマジックだったと思う。色々なものを使ってマジックを見せてくれた。例えば、カード（グラスのした・ペットボトルの中）、コイン・ジプシースレッド・浮く紙のバラが燃えて本物のバラになる・コーラの復活・カッパーシルバーの入れ替わるマジック（コインではなく、鍵で）・砂糖パックにサインさせて、開けて、砂糖出して、マジック掛けたらパックが復活して（砂糖がまた入っていたし、サインがまだあったし）・メンタルネタ・カカオ豆と砂糖を筒に入れて振ったら、チョコレートになった、色々。

A lot of the effects were quite original, and I liked his way of showing them. I like it when the magic "makes sense" in the sense that if you mix cacao beans and sugar, that makes chocolate. He also did some nice story setups with a photo frame with a picture of a snow covered tree onto which he kept dropping colorful light that he plucked from the air, and then the photo turned into a photo of a tree with colorful Christmas decorations. Finally, a small plastic tree (Christmas decoration) turned up out of a handkerchief. He also had a very nice presentation for the new Tenyo magic prop where a coin pops into existence inside a glass. Well thought out presentations over all.

オリジナリティの高い見せ方やネタが結構あった。見せ方、僕は好きだった。納得出来る見せ方が良いよね。カカオ豆と砂糖を混ぜたら、チョコレートになるとか、納得出来るね。綺麗系マジックもやった。写真フレームに冬の風景の木の写真を入れて、空中から色々な色の光をつかんで写真フレームに投げたら、写真が変わって色々な色の飾り物のクリスマスツリーになった。最後に小さなプラスチックのクリスマスツリーが出現したし。新しいテンヨーネタ（グラスの中にコインが出現するやつ）の綺麗な見せ方もあったし。見せ方に良く考えている。


Summary:
Location: Close to the Yokohama Kannai JR station.
Type of magic: close up.
Quality of magic: Good.
Cost: 4000 yen for magic and nomihoudai (unlimited drinking).
Interior: nice.
Staff: nice
Overall impression: Well worth a visit if you are in Yokohama.

まとめ：
場所：横浜関内駅の近くで便利。
マジックの種類：クローズアップ
マジックの質：普通
値段：4000円で飲み放題
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：優しい
特典：ストーリーというか、マジックの見せ方がきれいだ。
全体的な印象：横浜に行ったら、ハーツが楽しいね。

There was an alien in a jar in the toilet.

The toilet also had photos that were a bit spooky.

Magic bar review: Kanperce

I was in Yokohama for two days for (computer) work and decided to check out the local magic bars when I had a chance. One of the magic bars I went to was Kanperce, which is close to the Yokohama Kannai station which coincidentally was were our work meeting the next morning was to start.

本職（パソコンの仕事）の2日間の出張で横浜に行ってきた。機会があれば、横浜のマジックバーも行ってみようと思ったから、Kanperceというマジックバーに行った。横浜の関内駅の近くにある（地下鉄の関内駅がもっと近いし）。次の朝のミーティングの集合場所も関内駅の近くだったから便利だった。

I got there quite late, so there were no other customers when I arrived. There were two magicians, though, and one more showed up later. First, "the new guy" Yuuki did some magic for me. He did an "any card at any number" trick, a trick where his thumb and index finger are taped together but still that finger link linked with my cell phone strap, and he did a card trick with kings and fours changing places or turning upside down for strange reasons. Later during the evening he also did a short Chinese ring routine and some other tricks. He seemed a bit nervous, and sometimes you could see things that you were not supposed to see (like a thumbtip), but he was very nice.

僕が24時過ぎに店に入ったから他のお客さんがいなかった。マジシャン2人がいたけど。後でもう1人のマジシャンも来た。最初、新人のユーキがマジックを見せてくれた。エニカード・エニナンバー・サムタイム・キングと４が裏返したり入れ替わったりするマジックを見せてくれた。後でチャイナリングやマジックの絵本みたいなマジックも見せてくれた。緊張していたみたい。たまに見えちゃ行けないものがちょっと見えていた（サムチップとか）が面白かった。

The magicians

Next, the magician Makoto did a fairly long show. He said he is friends with and received training from the magician Nihei, who runs the magic bar "Hey Pola" here in Sapporo. I have met Nihei a few times.

次、マジシャンMakotoもマジックを見せてくれた。割と長いショーをやってくれた。札幌の「ヘイ・ポーラ」というマジックバーのオーナーのマジシャン二瓶さんと仲良いって言ってた。僕も札幌で何回か二瓶さんに会っている。

Anyway, Makoto did all kinds of magic, and used a foot pedal for a sound system to get good use out of sound effects and music. He did magic with rubber bands, sponge balls, various penis shaped objects, a chop cup, coins, cards (ambitious, triumph, card into PET-bottle), some ESP card tricks, and a lot of other things. There were also many joke props, like a marker pen that could not write because if you opened it you could see that the battery had run out (why it was battery powered in the first place was unclear, haha).

Makotoさんが色々なマジックを見せてくれた。足で踏むペダルで音楽のコントロールもやっていたから、マジックに合わせた音を出したら、音楽に合わせたマジックをやったりしていた。輪ゴムのマジック・スポンジのマジック・チンコの形をした色々なもの・チョップカップ・コイン・カード（アンビシャス・トラインフ・ペットボトルなど）・ＥＳＰカードなど、色々あった。ギャグネタも結構あった。例えば、電池が切れたマッキー。

Me and the magicians of Kanperce

After Makoto's show was over, we talked about various things for awhile, and another magician, Mocchi, arrived. I have seen him twice before, once at Toto's Bar, and once in the restaurant Usagi-ya. He did a mental type card trick with a pretty impressive force, showed some fork bending,  did a Lennart Green style key card trick, and used a pretty cool tossed out deck. This time, he also remembered that we had met before, haha.

Makotoさんのマジックの後、色々な話をしていた。その後、もっちーというマジシャンも来た。前に2回も会っている。都々's Barで一回見たし、ウサギやというマジックレストランでも見たし。面白いフォースを使ったメンタルのカードマジック・フォーク曲げ・Lennart Green風なキーカードのカード当て・Tossed out deckのマジック、色々見せてくれた。今回、前に会ったことがあるのを覚えてくれたし、笑。

All in all, it was a lot of fun. The staff were very nice and spoke to me about all kinds of things. The magic they did was interesting, and they used techniques I have not seen other people use (like sleeving a coin to make it disappear after being put into a handkerchief, from which my class of tea appeared instead).

面白かった。スタッフ皆いい人で面白い話もしてくれた。見せてくれたマジックも面白かったし、見たことないやり方のマジックもあったし（スリービングでコインを消して、ハンカチに入れたコインが消えて僕のお茶のグラスがハンカチから出てきた時とか）。

Summary:

Location: Close to the Yokohama Kannai JR station, and even closer to the Kannai subway station. Lots of bars and similar things nearby.
Type of magic: Parlor type magic if there are more than one spectator, and close up.
Quality of magic: Good.
Cost: 4400 yen for magic and nomihoudai (unlimited drinking).
Interior: nice, though somewhat messy when I showed up.
Staff: nice and funny
Overall impression: Well worth a visit if you are in Yokohama.

まとめ：
場所：横浜関内駅の近くで便利。
マジックの種類：クローズアップ。お客さんが多ければ、サロンもやるそうだ。
マジックの質：普通
値段：4400円で飲み放題
インテリア：きれい
スタッフ：面白い
全体的な印象：横浜に行ったら、Kanperceが楽しいね。

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。