I'm Jealous of Japan's Magic Bars

Another reason to love Japan

Japan is one of those bucket list countries that you have to visit, and upon visiting you quickly realise that one trip is not enough to experience everything this country has to offer.

I have been twice, and my wife and I have been discussing where else to go for our next trip already, we just know Japan is a country we’ll be returning to multiple times in the future! We just have to alternate between other countries, so our international bucket list starts whittling down.

Bar & Magic Ace

One of the highlights in Japan is the abundance of magic shows you can see within the major cities, which when compared to Sydney Australia leaves a lot to be desired.

Magic Bars Galore

The major cities of Japan are packed with people, with thousands of humans coming in and out it’s difficult to find an empty street.

The many buildings within the streets with multiple stories and basement levels means there are many businesses around of different varieties, and since I can’t read Japanese, I have no idea what most of the businesses when looking at the building maps.

The first time I was in Osaka, Japan I went to two magic bars, The French Drop and a random one I Googled. Both were different but enjoyable in their own way. The French Drop also had a magic shop and they have a set time for their evening shows, where you sit at a table and watch different magicians perform close up magic. When you come outside of that time, you sit at the bar and can order drinks while magicians show you magic throughout your stay. This was very fun as a magician as you end up getting to converse more and jam a bit of magic.

Me with Take (left) and Shamon (right)

The other bar was called Bar & Magic A-Omoro (now closed), and was an intimate place up a flight of stairs in a building found in the more seedier sides of Osaka with male host and hostess bars amongst other solicitations late at night. You would take a spot at the bar, be served a drink of your choice and a magician would come and perform a set for you. At the same time different magicians would also be performing for other patrons seated along the bar, and they would alternate so by the end of the night you’ve seen all four magicians. This was also a great experience especially after I told them I was also a magician, where they began sharing more obscure pieces of magic that laymen wouldn’t appreciate or were not always appropriate for a normal audience. I bought a deck of their cards at the end of the night and left very satisfied.

Cut to this past April, I went to the Half Moon Magic Bar in Tokyo where you are seated at a bar but instead of watching multiple magicians perform, you’re there to watch one magician, Hide perform his full show. I wrote about this experience in more detail which you can read here, but it highlights another version of the magic bar you can experience in Japan.

There are many more bars that I haven’t experienced, with other one-man magic shows, multiple magicians or unique stipulations to draw patrons. One such bar had a hook where if you guessed the method correctly of the trick performed, you’d get 1000 yen, only for non-magicians of course.

Would This Work in Sydney?

That got me thinking about the magic scene in Sydney and if a similar setup were possible.

Unfortunately I don’t think it could exactly. Unlike Japan, our cities aren’t consistently busy that you could make a living running a magic bar every night of the week. Magic in Sydney is more seasonal, with shows coming and going with a run for a month or a week before moving on. There are exceptions to this of course, such as Bruce Glen’s The Gentleman Magician’s Magical Soirée that runs every Friday and Saturday night.

Interestingly enough Japan has brought the magic bar concept to Australia, with the Maho Magic Bar experience, which has been doing very well in Sydney that they have come back multiple times over the past couple of years.

I’m sure it’s like this in other cities and countries, and I’d be interested to know what magic shows look like where you are. Are there regular shows throughout the year for you to attend or do they come in seasons, whether it’s school holidays, fringe festivals or year-end opportunities?

Until such a time where Sydney’s population of over 5 million gets close to Osaka or Tokyo’s of 18 million or 37 million respectively we’ll have to provide magic entertainment the only way we know best - at events be they corporate, birthday parties or weddings, or take the jump and sell tickets to your own show!

And while that’s unlikely to happen in my lifetime, there’s always another holiday to Japan to look forward to…I wonder if Sapporo has a magic scene?