Shoot Ogawa said his favorite magic trick is a time-honored classic that we’ve all seen before. However, a precious his goal of his is to mystify other magicians with it.
“I have been studying the linking rings since I was 10 years old,” Ogawa told The Rafu on Wednesday. “This is a world famous trick, of which all of magicians know the secret … and I am trying to fool them with the trick which they already know.”
The 45-year-old Tokyo native will be featured on this week’s episode of “Masters of Illusion,” the long-running magic hour broadcast on KTLA, Channel 5. The show airs Friday night at 8 p.m.
Ogawa is in his third season on the show, hosted by former Superman actor Dean Cain. This week’s installment also includes Chris Funk (guitar cord), Håkan Berg (singing rope trick), Chipper Lowell (soda can penetration), Nick Dopuch (traveling cards) and My Uyên (shadowbox and quick change).
At the age of 10, Ogawa said learning magic tricks not only earned him some new friends, but opened a new study of life for him, and the craft led the way for him to travel the world.
“There was a magician I used to love seeing on TV,” he recalled. “When I was 17, I met him in person, and later, I had the chance to perform with him on stage when I was 27.”
That illusionist he admired was the late Swedish magician Jonny Lonn.
Ogawa has earned a slew of accolades and awards in more than three decades into his own career, and hopes he can help inspire future generations of performers.
He has won several Magician of the Year awards, wowing audiences with tricks such as the “Ninja Rings” and the “Muscle Pass,” which he introduced to American magicians. Ogawa was also named the 2008 Parlour Magician of the Year by Hollywood Magic Castle’s Academy of Magical Arts.
Ogawa said his ultimate goal is not pulling off any particular illusion, but establishing a bond with people watching his performances.
“I am not looking for a trick. I am looking for what I want to tell to audience,” he explained. “What is it I want to tell the audience at the end of the show? What are they going to find? I’ve been doing this for almost 35 years … but I feel like it can be better tomorrow.”