The Second Hokkaido Magic Convention

During the weekend, there was the Second Hokkaido Magic Convention here in Sapporo. There was a series of lectures by the guest magicians, but I did not have time to attend that. I did go to see the show, though. I even got a seat at the third row from the front, which was very very close to the stage. So close that I learned a lot about the secret compartments of the illusion props...

週末に第２回北海道マジックコンベンションが札幌にあった。ゲストマジシャンのレクチャーもあったが他の予定があって行けなかった。ショーは見に行ったけど。ステージから3列目の席だったから、超近い感じだった。近すぎて、イリュージョンの秘密の作り方とかの勉強にもなった…

First, the magician Birdie Koyama did a small levitation effect as a welcome to the event. Then there was a section called the "Free performance", which was magic done by amateurs but people who did not want to participate in the competition part of the convention. The magicians ranged in age from somewhere around 60 years old to over 80. Some of them were quite good, some not so good.

スタートは、小山バーディーさんが浮いているティッシュのマジックを挨拶みたいに見せてくれた。その後は「フリー演技」というセッションがあった。アマチュアがマジックを見せてくれるがコンテストに入りたくないアマチュアだった。出たマジシャンは60～80歳の人だった。上手な人もいたし、そうでもない人もいた。

Next there was a short break and then the competition part of the convention started. This year there were five contestants. One of them was once a member of the university magic club at my university (that I was a member of up until two years ago) but that was many years before I came to Sapporo. The others were mainly retired people who took up magic when they no longer had any work to do. Many of them looked very nervous, but mostly everything went fine. There were no super good performances, and many of the same tricks are done (and done better) by the students in our magic club. There were lots of production effects, and almost everyone did the million cards (producing endless amounts of playing cards from thin air) and many did the four billiard ball production.

短い休憩の後、コンペティションが始まった。今年、5人のマジシャンが出ていた。1人はうちの大学の奇術研究会（部活のサークル）のOBだった。僕がサークルに入るだいぶ前にサークルを卒業したが飲み会だ会ったことがある。他の人は定年者で、退職してから暇になってマジックを練習し始めた人だった。かなり緊張感があった（手が震えるとか）がだいたい大丈夫だった。凄く良いパフォーマンスがなかった。ほぼ同じマジックをやる学生がうちのサークルに毎年いるし、学生の方が上手だと思ったし。でも、面白かった。ミリオンカード（空中からトランプを出すマジック）も四つ玉も、やる人が多かった。

Both in the free performance section and in the competition it was nice to see quite a few female magicians, though more than half were male. In the end, the winner of the competition also was a woman (with the guy from my club coming in second).

フリー演技のマジシャンでもコンペティションのマジシャンでも、女の人のマジシャンが結構いた。男の人の方がまだ多かったけど。コンペティションを優勝したマジシャンも女の人だった。僕の先輩が2位になった。

After the competition there was a slot with the professional performers. We got to see Akkey (who I know) who did a lot of very funny stuff and finished by producing a gigantic dove (human sized). We also got to see Batman do magic (the owner of the magic shop Mebius here in Sapporo for some reason loves to dress up as Batman and did a magic performance dressed like that). Then we saw Hiroshi Ota do many of the magic effects that had been done in the free performance section and in the competition, only he did them cleaner, funnier, and more competently. He did thins like the million cards and thimbles, and he did them very well.

コンペティションの後はプロのパフォーマンスもあった。マジシャンアッキー（知り合い）がかなり面白いパフォーマンスをして、最後に人間と同じ大きさのデカいハトを出した。バットマンもマジックを見せてくれた。札幌のマジックショップメビウスのオーナーさんがなぜか分からないがバットマンの仮装が好きだ。その格好でマジックを見せてくれた。大田ひろしさんがアマチュアの人たちがやったマジックをプロの見せ方で見せてくれた。ミリオンカードやシンブルのマジックをきれいに見せてくれた。

There was also a section called "dealer magic" with the owner of a magic shop in southern Japan doing lots of magic that was mainly showing off how to use props that he sold. It was not that interesting, but it is at least a good way to get to see how the props can be used and how suspicious they look in actual performance.

ディーラーマジックショーというセッションもあった。どこかからのマジックショップの人が売っている道具を使ってマジックを見せてくれた。そこまで面白くはなかったがその道具を買うとどういうマジックが出来るか、分かりやすかったし、本当に使う時にどれくらい怪しく見えるか分かりやすいし。

Finally there was a team doing illusions, and that was very nice. The magician Zauber and his wife did several famous illusions, like a girl appearing out of an empty cage set on fire, a zig-zag-illusion style trick, a girl put in a small box that is then run through with lots of swords, and a subtrunk illusion (a person locked in a box and a person standing on top of the box change places very quickly). Zauber  also did some tricks where he produced a lot of 10,000 yen bills, tricks with fire, and a trick with a prediction of an animal inside an envelope. Mrs Zauber changed her clothes a lot. Every time she got into a new box she had a new dress on, and every time she got out she had yet another dress, so she must have changed clothes 8 times or so.

最後にイリュージョンのチームもいた。良かった！ザウバーさんと奥さんが有名なイリュージョンを４つくらい見せてくれた。何も入っていない籠に火をつけると女の子が出る。ジグザグイリュージョンもあった。女の子が箱に入って、剣を刺したりするマジックも、人体交換のマジックもあった。ザウバーさんが他に火のマジックも1万円札が沢山出て来るマジックも、動物の絵の予言のマジックも見せてくれた。奥さんが何回も着替えた。何かの箱に入る前に毎回新しいドレスを着ていた。箱から出て来る時にも、また新しいドレス！8回くらい着替えたかな？

Zauber had also invited a magician from Kagoshima to do a guest performance during Zauber's guest performance. This magician did a performance of the Chinese quick change mask. The face mask changes instantly, many many times, without the magician's hands being anywhere near. It was the first time I saw this type of magic live.

ザウバーさんが鹿児島県からのマジシャンもゲストとして呼んだみたい。中国の仮面（顔の仮面が瞬間で変わるマジック）を見せてくれた。初めて生で見た。凄かった。

When the convention was over, I was very hot, very tired, and very hungry. The convention lasted for about 4 hours, which I think was too long. I got to see a lot of fun magic though. Then we left for our magic bar and me and my boss did magic for our guests there for a few more hours.

コンベンションが終わったら、僕が暑くて、疲れてて、お腹空いていた。4時間くらいのイベントだったから、長すぎだったと思う。2時間くらいがいいと思う。終わってから、店長とマジックバーに行って、夜中までマジックを見せていた。