Taiko Dai

Here is another post where I ties in my experiance of living in Japan to magic. Well I find so many great examples! Anyways, in the picture in this post is something called “Taiko Dai“. There are not found all round Japan but are popular in Shikoku and some other parts of Japan. Inside each of these big floats is a taiko drum and a drummer. Members of the taiko dai team carry it while the drummer plays inside. There are also guys on top and standing around it directing the poor guys carrying it how to move it and bounce it around. They have regional competitions during festivals and they can get quite crazy.

Ok Now why I am writing about taiko dais? Well it goes back to when I first saw them in the Summer of 2001. I went to the local festival in Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture  where on one of the days a Taiko Dai competition was the main event. They are big, heavy and the guys carrying them where doing amazing things I have never seen before. It felt like magic. I was seeing hearing and feeling something completely new. I will never forget it. This reminded me how many people may feel when they see magic for the first time. It is also important to pay attention to this and really do a good job of creating this feeling because if you do it right the spectator will never forget you. So when I work on my show on effects, presentation etc. I always keep this in mind. I always want to bring an enjoying feeling of something new and wonderful to my audience. I want them to feel the way I did. Which a good performance mixed with just the right effects you can create this. But it takes work and love for the art for this to happen. Also the magic and the presentation has to be who your performing character is wither its just you or a stage character you have created. When you have blended these together the audience will enjoy your performance and will remember you and have the same feeling I did when I went to that Taiko Dai festival.

Aaron

Magic Pot

Today I went into Takamatsu the capital city of Kagawa Prefecture for a show I had to do at a Cafe. The show was well, interesting as I thought when I originally booked it ( I knew it was going to be a challenge). Was not easy but went over well. 25 years of experience got me through this one. The show was well received but I was burnt out. I’ll  leave this story for another day. Anyways, I wanted to visit the magic shop in Tamakatsu but it was closed.  I had some time before the show so I went by. I always seem to get there when it is closed. Eventually I will get to the shop when it is open. Magic Pot  is the magic company here on Shikoku that puts on the Shikoku Magic Convention as well as many other magic events and run the magic bar chain “Tejinaya” on Shikoku and the Chugoku area of Japan. This year the convention is in Takamatsu again and will be held in May. Once I know more information about this years convention I will post it! I hope they get the same venue as last year because it was very good.  I also dropped by one of the big book stores there and WOW they had a lot of Japanese translations of influential magic books usually found only at magic shops such as the Card College series, books by Derek Dingle and a whole lot more. When I have more time going to go back there and look through them all. Now I am going to have a hot bath and head to bed!

Aaron

How To Do Impersonations

I went to back to the library today and I found this book: Do Impersonations in 5 minutes! 100 Japanese Celebrities. I thought it would be an interesting read and I may be able to find some things I can use on my Japanese show. Though it may be strange having a Canadian doing the odd one line impersonation of a Japanese celebrity but hey it is worth a try! I’ll stick to those in the book I know well. Always looking to try new things that fit better in with Japanese culture that wont seem so weird. Wish me luck!

Aaron

I know this is mostly a magic blog but I am also a fan of tech so I wanted to jump on the bandwagon and blog about the new Apple iPad and write about some of my thoughts and how it relates to me in Japan. I am not an Apple fanboy but I am a recent “convert” to the Mac platform after years of being frustrated with Windows. This December I gave up Windows and bought a MacBook Pro. After over a year of using the iPhone I was convinced. Anyways back to the iPad. Firstly I have seen many people complain about what it lacks the biggest being a camera for pictures and or for video conferencing. Now lets go to what Steve Jobs talked about at the iPad presentation. It is a device between the smart phone a regular computer, a kind of bridge. Smart phones and computers have cameras so why need a third? I know, I know, people said this about cells phones a few years ago. But imagine holding the iPad out to do a video conference, your arms would get tired and the video would be all bouncy like bad home videos. It would only work well if it was on a kickstand. So it seems to use this tablet this way is perhaps awkward and not so elegant. This is the reason I see for it not having a camera as well as keeping the price down and the device light and thin. Remember you have to think of this as a new device not as a net book, nor a laptop, nor as a tablet PC using a normal desktop OS. This is something new easy to use and something convenient when you want t relax or are sitting on a plane, train, or bus. I can also think of many business applications for this device for record keeping.

Ok what about here in Japan and would I buy it. Well I might, the problem is the Japanese iTunes store has no movies or TV shows, one of the main features of the iPad. Of course you can convert current DVD etc. but that takes the beauty and ease and loses the point of the system. It also looks as if there won’t be a iBook store any time soon as well. A work around for this is of course to use the Amazon Kindle app for the iPhone. It seems for me anyway that until the Japanese iTunes store gets upgraded with movies and TV’s shows and gets the book store in Japan I don’t see myself using this device soon. I do however see how I can it use at show venues for setting up and prepping my show but I just use my iPhone and my MacBook Pro for now. I do hope to see it get these features here with cheap 3g connections then I will probably pick it up.

Written on my iPhone.
Aaron

Me With Terushita after the Competition!

The Bar Magician Competition at Bar Magician Intiki Magician was excellent! There were 14 competitors and everyone did an great job. This was the 3rd time Terushita held the event. It also was the magic bars 2nd anniversary. Competitors ranged from University Magic Club Member’s a  group of 3 1st grade elementary school girls to professionals. But the main point of the evening was no about the competition but having fun with each other and entertaining the guests. I was lucky and won the special achievement award.

What I enjoyed about it was I got to enjoy doing magic with my magic buddies as well as I made some new magic friends and this is what magic is all about. Here is a link to the pictures from the evening. During the evening I made 2 AudioBoo’s one pre-event and one after with an Interview with Bar Intiki Owner Terushita and excuse Terushita’s attempt at very bad English at the end LOL

Pre-Event Magic AudioBoo

Magic Audioboo Interview with Bar Intiki Magician Owner Terushita.

Mr. Momentos, Cyril, and me

On September 19, 2009, Momentos Magic Bar in Takamatsu will close after 22 years of business. This is the magic bar were I worked for 2 years from 2004 to 2006. Mr. Momentos will move onto another business after the bar is closed. I own a great deal to Mr. Momentos, as he gave me my first big magic break in Japan by having me as a guest performer at his bar before I became a regular performer 3 times a week. During the time I was there is wife and assistant passed away in 2004 from cancer. In 2006 Mr. Momentos moved the bar to Nagoya for 2 years and then returned back to Takamatsu in the fall of 2008. The picture on the left is when Mr. Momentos took me to see Cyril’s show in Takamatsu. Many other great magicians got their magic bar experience from working in his magic bar. My Good friends. Shinotsuke, Jack Amano, and Terushita. We will miss Momentos and wish Mr. Momentos all the best in his next endeavor. This ends a magic era in Takamatsu.

Japanese Magic Book

An interesting way to learn magic is learning it in another language. After living in Japan for 6 years now, I have leaned magic from Japanese magic books and Japanese magicians, of course in Japanese. This is an interesting experience. I found out you learn some interesting things when you do try to learn magic in a different language. One is I learned how to describe things I would do in my magic show that I did not learn how to do during my Japanese language education. It helps a lot that I was a already a magician because it helped me decipher the hard technical terms found in magic books that do no show up in a regular dictionary. It also taught me to be patient and take more time when learning a new effect. When reading how to do an effect or learning how to do sleights it takes A LOT longer than in your own native language. But I found this is a good thing because it forced me to analyze every detail to make sure I was doing the technique right. Learning from Japanese magic books also helped my Japanese Language performances. This is because reading from the Japanese books I learned the proper language for certain movements, and explanations. 
If you are learning a second language I suggest try learning some magic from a books in that language, not only will it help you learn and practice the language your are studying but it can help your magic performing in that language and improve you English speaking magic as well.

Any comments please let me know!
Aaron

Me at Kansai Airport

Today I feel like blogging some more about performing magic in Japan. As I am sure I have mentioned before I have lived in Japan since 2003. And I do love it and I love performing here. In Japan I have had the opportunity to perform for a different type of audience. In Canada I performed at many types of events from schools, bars, malls, exclusive clubs, companies, and many others. But in Japan when working at a magic bar I had a new audience. Fist I must explain briefly and simply about Japanese night life. I could go on for pages about the different kinds of drinking establishments in Japan. This night life bar system is called Mizushoubai. There is type of bar called a Snack pronounced Sunakku in Japanese. This are bars were you pay a set price to sit and have a drink which is usually water and whiskey. Most Magic Bars in Japan are like Snacks. The customers come in and pay a set price anywhere from 3000 yen to over 10,000 yen depending on the bar and where is it located. So that’s the basic system. So whats my point? Oh yeah, the main customer base for these are business men who should be on their way home. So a lot of the audience I performed for at the magic bar was for groups of businessmen. Many times the groups that came were some kind of manger with his subordinates. This group is different than any other type of audience I have performed for. You may they think of the stereotype Japanese businessman but as you know stereotypes have no meaning. They guys know how to relax and have fun. They are great to perform for. You see they come to the magic bar and it is not cheap, so they expect to have fun and want to have fun. They love the magic and love watching the show and I loved performing for them. Every night at the bar was great fun with this kind of audience and I hope to perform for this group again some time soon!

Maggy Shinji and Me

Today I will introduce some Japanese magicians that I like. Of course there are many, many good magicians in Japan. The ones I would like to introduce are magicians that are well known to the Japanese public as they appear regularly on TV.

The first Magician I would like to introduce is the magician in the picture with me in this blog. His name is Maggy Shinji and is a comedy magician. He is one of many students of Maggy Shiro. He often appears on Japanese variety shows and is most famous for performing with Rocky Raccoon and making his ear big. His magic is silly but he always has a real magic punch at the end. He is also a really nice guy.

Next I want to introduce Mr. Marick. He is one of my all time favourite magicians in Japan. He usually has one or two magic specials a year on TV along as appearing as a guest on Japanese variety shows. His magic is very creative. He never does any standard magic or bought prop as is, he always changes them to fit him, and I admire this about him. I have not had a chance to see his dinner show live yet but when I get the chance I am there. His name Marick is a combination of the words Magic and Trick.  I believe his image as a magician is the strongest image of a magician in Japan. I believe this because of the way he has branded himself. From his name to his own theme music which is well know in Japan.

The next Japanese Magician is one of the best close-up Magicians I have seen and that is Tomohiro Maeda. He is all class. He appears on Japanese TV from time to time on Variety shows and is always dressed in the best suits and performs to perfection. He is not just a great magician in Japan but one of the best in the world.

The last magician that I will introduce today is Pierr.  Pierr’s close-up magic is superb along with his skill his character is great. He performs as if he was a high class French Magician. A good mix of comedy and beautiful magic make his performing fun and entertaining. He is a regular at Vernon’s Bar in Osaka. The next time I head to Osaka I will try to go see his show there.

There are many many more Magicians that I love here and in the future I will blog about some more!
Aaron

Visiting Momentos Magic Bar in 2004

Still working hard still on my close up show over the past few days.  As well working more bugs out of the stage show. One thing I am looking forward to in the next few months is the Magic Bar competition in Takamatsu at my friends magic bar “The Intiki Magician“. Within the next few days I will post the details here about the event. I will join the contest so I am working on that routine as well. Been many years since I competed in any kind of Magic Competition. This one seems like fun so I will enter. I like to have fun people and my friends bar is perfect for it.
The picture on the left is from a different magic bar. This is the old magic bar I used to work at called Momentos. Sad news that he is closing the bar this September after 22 years of business. Lots of great memories there. That’s all for my blabbing for today. Tomorrow I will update with a new Magic Audioboo.