Magic bar Surprise

Magician Susumu

After my work related duties finished, around 21:30, I took the subway to Akasaka. There is a nice magic bar there called "Surprise". I have been there twice before, and the owner is both funny and nice. There are many other magicians working there too, and this time I got to see a female magician (quite rare!) called Alice, a magician I had not seen before called Susumu, and a magician called Akimoto who turned out to know a guy I know.

Magicians Alice and Akimoto

When I entered the place, there were no other customers there. Later some other people also showed up, but first I had a private show. All three magicians came to my table one at a time and showed me magic.

When I mentioned that we had met once before, Alice remembered me as "that guy from Hokkaido who was here two years ago" so I guess even though there are plenty of foreigners in Tokyo, I am still easy enough to remember (in Sapporo, I am usually the first ever foreigner people have spoken to, so everyone remembers me). She also complimented me on my "I am not Japanese" (written in Japanese) t-shirt. She had a lot of funny ironic presentations for her tricks, which I like. For instance, she asked me for some money so I gave her a 100 yen coin which she then had me sign. She asked me if I had signed any other "100 yen coins from 2003" with my name, which I had not. She then made that coin disappear and that was the end of that magic. Much later in an unrelated trick, a very similar 100 yen coin, also with my sign, mysteriously turned up. She also later told me that since today was a very special day and there were no other customers there, she would give me a very special present. Something they almost never did, she said. She gave me a 100 yen coin, with my signature, which they probably had never given to anyone at all before...

Magician Akimoto told me that a magician he used to work with a long time ago nowadays lives in Sapporo and makes udon noodles. I know one such magician but it turned out to be a different noodle making magician. We talked a bit more about his friend, and it turned out to be a magician I too know, who makes noodles but not in Sapporo. His noodle shop is in Asahikawa, the second largest city on Hokkaido.

They all showed me interesting magic, and they also talked to me about Hokkaido and Sweden for quite a while. They also told me stories about such things as visiting a magic shop in America and having a hard time convincing the store owner to show anything other than magic props for kids. Either Japanese women look way too young (true) or their English is not good enough to explain things such as "I work in a bar" and other things that may hint at being grown up, haha.