Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

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MagicTed
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Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby MagicTed » June 4th, 2023, 10:51 am

I looked around the forum and didn't find a thread on this - I apologize if one already appears.

I am visiting Tokyo soon with my son (adult). We would like to visit some good magic bars/shows in Tokyo. I found some things on the web, but I was wondering if anyone here had any specific suggestions.

We will also be in Osaka and Kyoto for a couple nights, so suggestions there will be helpful too!

Thank you!

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 4th, 2023, 12:50 pm

In Tokyo, Half Moon, Toto's bar, and Billy Masuda also works a bar.
In Osaka, there's a place called French Drop.
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John Signa
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby John Signa » June 4th, 2023, 4:50 pm

Also in Tokyo is Osmand https://osmand.ssp-inc.jp.

MagicTed
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby MagicTed » June 8th, 2023, 4:05 pm

Thank you for these suggestions!

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 8th, 2023, 4:24 pm

Many of these places have Instagram accounts, and you can often get more information and contact the owners (you generally need to make a reservation because these places are SMALL).
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Doug Thornton
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Doug Thornton » June 8th, 2023, 8:00 pm

If you want to go the outskirts of Tokyo, you can visit a magic shop - Ton Onosaka's "Magic Land."
It's located near Kayaba-Cho subway station (Tozai-line or Hibiya-line).
If you call Mama-san, she will help you. Her English is good. I do not know if this is the current number. Richard can verify.

03-3666-4749

There are a couple of magic counters in department stores in Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro. I think Tobu in Ikebukuro has the Tenyo counter. Tokyu Hands is a fun place to visit, too, for things magic and magical.
Enjoy your trip to Japan.
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 8th, 2023, 8:15 pm

Most Tenyo counters only have demonstrators on the weekends, if they have any demonstrators at all.
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erdnasephile
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby erdnasephile » June 8th, 2023, 9:04 pm

OP: there is a wonderful article Richard wrote in Genii on the magic bar scene in Japan. I'm sorry I don't have the issue reference handy, but a search of the on-line issues pm the Genii site should get you the results fast.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 8th, 2023, 9:20 pm

I think that issue was in 2000 or 2001.
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erdnasephile
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby erdnasephile » June 8th, 2023, 10:27 pm

I couldn't stand not remembering and had to track it down: October 2007 (vol.70,No.10) (It's a great read, and the article represents an amazing amount of time and effort!)

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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Raj » June 11th, 2023, 4:46 am

Highly recommend 12-ji in Ginza.

A few sittings every evening with close-up magicians at your table and a platform show by Saki (a student of Johnny Thompson and Armando Lucero).

http://www.empowermagic.jp/bar/

We made a reservation via Yuki who speaks great English: kimura@empowermagic.jp

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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 11th, 2023, 12:11 pm

I've been to 12 o'clock in Ginza--nice place!
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Paco Nagata
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Paco Nagata » June 12th, 2023, 1:40 pm

Someone in "The Magician's Forum" started a thread asking the same question on March 12th.
May be useful...

https://www.themagiciansforum.com/post/ ... l-12581421
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Michael Rubinstein » June 17th, 2023, 11:31 am

Not magic related, but the last time I was there, I really got a kick out of visiting the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, right by the Tokyo Dome. And as I recall, the entire street leading up to the HOF had wonderful small restaurants serving curry, my favorite dish.

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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby MagicTed » June 20th, 2023, 4:43 am

Thank you all! Visiting French Drop in Osaka tonight with reservation! I will hopefully be visiting one or two additional places in Tokyo in about a week or so!

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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby MagicTed » July 30th, 2023, 11:01 am

Thank you again everyone for the suggestions! Here's my update. I would have liked to visit more places, but I was with my 19 year old son who is not really into magic, so I couldn't go overboard!

We visited French Drop in Osaka. A friend of mine (American) who is married to a Japanese woman and raised his kids in Japan, and now still spends half the year in Japan, came with us. He's fluent in Japanese. My friend absolutely loved it and definitely wants to go back with others. My son and I were still jet lagged (this was like the second day we were in Japan, and there is a 13 hour time difference from our home). So that dampened our enjoyment. I still very much enjoyed it. The proprietor is a little into mentalism, which requires a little work of the spectator, and I was finding it hard to concentrate.

Toto's Bar in Tokyo (Ginza neighborhood) - this was great and Toto is a true master. My son liked Toto's bar the best and could see what a true master he was. My son and I were the only ones in the bar at the time (it was early) which makes it a little less fun versus going when there are more people there and a livelier atmosphere - but my son doesn't like crowded places with noise, so this was probably just as well!. The warm up magician was great too. This is in the Ginza neighborhood which is kind of upscale, and we found a good place to eat after the show.

Cuore in Tokyo (Shinjuku neighborhood) - I liked this but it was a little idiosyncratic. The proprietor was energetic and fun. The bar was overbrimming with the proprietor's personal collectibles (figures in their boxes, etc.). He does a close up act at the bar followed by a stage / parlor act (this is a small bar so you are just a few feet away from the stage). The stage act involved loud music and lasers, which my son really can't deal with, so he left during this part of the show. For the close up part, it was just me and my son and we enjoyed the magic. Then three young Japanese women who appeared to be office workers in their mid-20s stopping off for some drinks and fun came in - not party girls, just three friends stopping by. I thought this was great - something you don't see in America - a small group of friends going out after work to see some good magic! This was the stage act part of the show, and I enjoyed it more because the other guests were there laughing and reacting. Cuore did a great job - a fantastic multiplying bottles routine, a fun routine with one of the women involving a do as I do with a cup on top of her head filled with water, with a surprise ending for the audience, etc. The Shinjuku neighborhood where this bar is is a little bit like the Times Square of the 1970s - lots of bars, some hustlers approaching you (but you feel safe), women dressed scantily outside of those schoolgirl hostess bars, etc. But again, I never felt unsafe.

We tried going to Tejinaya Magic Bar - the website said it was open. But when we got there it turned out that this bar had closed.

One day my son went exploring on his own and I took the subway out to Ton Osaka's Magic Land. There was a good, well priced used book collection and I bought some books, including a small manuscript by Lennart Green, lecture notes by Torkova, The Great Leon by Mike Caveny, Versatile Card Magic by Frank Simon, and Divers Deceits by William Zavis.

I didn't get a chance to go to the Tenyo counters in the department stores - wish I had done that.

All in all, it was a great trip, magic and non-magic wise, and we both want to go back!

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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby MagicTed » July 30th, 2023, 11:13 am

One other thing! I was going to assemble a quick Hundy 500 out of Japanese currency so I could have some fun saying to people that I found the currency confusing and so on. But …. I couldn’t find rubber cement anywhere and the other glue sticks in the stores looked like they would ruin the currency when I wanted to take them apart. Lesson learned: when traveling abroad if you want to do Hundy 500 in local currency, bring your own rubber cement!
P.S. spell check keeps thinking I went to India not Japan. I keep having to change Hindu 500 to Hundy 500!

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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 30th, 2023, 1:41 pm

Great to hear you had a good time. Of the bars you visited, I think Toto is likely the best magician you saw. In addition to close up (he's known as "Spiderman" for a reason :) ), he also does a sort of stage-show with a small illusion and a great linking ring routine at the far end of the room.
The books you bought in Magic Land came from Shigeo Takagi's library, which they have been selling off over the past year.
Next time you should try to go to the Half Moon bar.
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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby MagicTed » July 30th, 2023, 3:36 pm

Thank you Richard! Cuoro told me that Toto had stopped doing the stage show a while ago (post Covid) but I was wondering whether it was because there were just two of us in the bar.
Thank you for letting me know the provenance of those books from the magic shop. I was dealing with Ton Onosaka’s wife in the shop although somebody was in back (I don’t think Ton Onosaka). She gave me a big list of books and manuscripts with some crossed out for “sold”. I saw a lot of great things on there including sought after things by Karl Fulves. When I asked for the more sought after things she came back and said they were actually already sold. I began to wonder whether they figured they would save those for someone they knew and had a relationship with, which is ok with me, or whether they really were sold. In any event, I was glad I stopped by there for a visit.

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Re: Visiting Tokyo - suggestions on Magic Bars?

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 30th, 2023, 7:44 pm

The lady was Mama-san. Satoshi (their son) was in the back.
I'm sure if they had the items you asked for, they would have sold them to you. Japanese magicians are very keen on books.
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