Juggling and spicy food in Toto's bar

I had time to stop by Toto's bar (near my hotel) if I skipped sleeping before going back to Sapporo, so I did. There I saw some magic, of course, and also got to see one half of the Kikyo Brothers juggling team. He did some very impressive juggling despite the ceiling being very low. I talked to him afterwards and mentioned I had seen them perform in Sapporo, at the Daidonden street performance festival. He said he was going to perform this year too, so I will try to go and say hello to him in Sapporo too.

I was also served something that was an extremely spicy pepper fruit in miso sauce. It was very spicy indeed. Since I have grown used to spicy things after our crazy Russian roulette with spicy chicken in Sapporo, I finished my plate, which impressed the other guests in the bar.

Drunk magicians and free food

On my way back to my hotel with easy access to the airport (I had to fly back to Sapporo the next morning of course), I had some time to stop by a magic bar near the hotel too. Since it was pretty late, there were not so many other customers there, but there were two. The magician Toto did some very nice magic for them. He was very drunk from having gotten lots of drinks (as a form of tips) from guests earlier or something. He then asked for one of the other magicians working there to take over, but the bartender informed him that he had sent all the other magicians home earlier. So Toto asked me to do a short performance for the guests.

I did, and they seemed very happy. They said that they were going to recommend our magic bar in Sapporo to their friends living in Hokkaido. I also got some food as a thank you. The food there is really good, but since I had an enormous buffet dinner at work and then another dinner with the Akira Fujii lecture group, I was not that hungry anymore...

Weird ways to use balloons

I visited a place in Ginza called Toto's bar, which is a magic bar with very entertaining performances. I ended up sitting next to a woman who told me that she lived the first 10 years or so of her life in Sapporo. She even has an old childhood friend in Sapporo who likes magic, she said. He turned out to be a guy I know quite well... small world.

This woman does balloon sculpting, but not by blowing up balloons and twisting them into animals. She showed me a flower decoration that was made with balloons and wires, and something that looked like ice cream desserts, also made from balloons. I have never seen this type of balloon sculpting before.

Toto's bar again

On my way back to my hotel I stopped by Toto's bar again. The show was great, of course, and I tried some food too. The food was great too.

Magic bar Toto's Bar

I also stopped by the magic bar Toto's bar late at night. This is one of the best magic bars I have ever been to. The magician Toto is very funny. They also have cute owls, and excellent food. And it was close to my hotel.

Toto appears in the movie Joker Game (or at least his hands do)

Magic bar Toto's Bar

In Tokyo there are many magic bars. Many of them are very good. Which magic bar is the best magic bar is difficult to say, but it is either "Half Moon" or "Toto's Bar". Both are great.

Magician Yamato produced a fish out of thin air.

During this Tokyo trip, I managed to visit Toto's Bar twice... Magician Toto does superb magic, and is excellent at getting people to have a good time. Toto's bar is also very relaxing to visit. When I visit I just drop in and sit at the counter talking to all the people working there. Sometimes they show me close up magic, and from time to time they do a big show (when there are enough customers) which is always great.

This looks like a candle with a moving flame but is actually an electric light.

 They also serve food, though I usually end up there very late and thus have normally already eaten too much. This time they kept giving me small portions of food to try out for free, and all of it was very good. Having dinner there would probably be good dinner wise too.

Toto's bar have their own playing card design. I have a deck of cards (or two?) at home in their design, but they said they had changed the design a bit and gave me one more deck. Very high quality cards.

I got to see magician Yamato do both close up magic for me and parlor magic on their small stage. I met Yamato once in Sapporo when he was here helping out with Toto's dinner show at one of the APA hotels in Sapporo.

I spoke quite a lot to magician Yuuto, who turned out to have watched my YouTube videos a lot. He had even figured out one magic thing that I used in one of the YouTube clips and practiced it a lot. He asked me to show it to him live, and to check if what he practiced is in fact what I did. He also did parlor magic, and I watched him do close up magic to some people sitting close to me at the counter.

I also got to see Toto doing his big show, and just talking to him is also a lot of fun. The chef, the bartender, some other customers, other people also helped out in keeping up interesting conversations. I also got to pet some of their pigeons and canaries.

Magic dinner show with Toto

Yesterday I went to a magic dinner show. The APA Hotel chain has a deal with the magician Toto from Tokyo. He is also a regular performer at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. I have seen him twice in his magic bar in Ginza (Tokyo) and went to see him now that he came to Sapporo too.

Since it was a dinner show, first there was about an hour of eating. There was lots of different food to choose from, and free drinks too.

During the show, no pictures were allowed. The show was also about an hour long, and Toto did a lot of very nice magic. He is a great entertainer.

After the magic show, there was also a lottery. Mostly weird stuff was given out, like Nintendo DS software (not so useful unless you actually have a DS) or 24 bottles of APA Hotel water... One of my friends got a huge set of coffee beans.

After the show, I went to a bar with magicians and regulars from our magic bar. They ordered some more food, but since we had eaten too much at the dinner show already, that felt a bit unnecessary. When we left the APA hotel, one of my friends said he had to go home and set off towards the south. I thought he lived in a different part of town now, but hey, he probably knows best. The rest set off north. After a few minutes, the one leading our group said, "Eh, which way is Susukino from here?" ... That would be south and east, mainly south... So we turned around and started going back. We ran into the guy who was on his way home. He was actually trying to get to the subway, which would be north, not south... Apparently Japanese magicians have no sense of direction :-)

Me and Toto

While drinking, we got a call from Toto that he was eating sashimi (raw fish) and drinking somewhere else. His group wanted to meet up with our group, and we moved to a third bar and met them there.

Toto's assistants, the magician Yamamoto (?) and Toto's brother.

Toto is not only very entertaining when he is performing, he is also fun to talk to when he is his "private" self.