What was the weirdest experience with the Yakuza?
BM: I had to do an interview in a really illicit massage parlor in Queens, and it was a Japanese mafia run massage parlor. I get to the door with a friend of mine, who’s a translator. So a woman looks at us through the door and thinks that because I’m a white guy, I’m a cop. So she says, you can’t come in. And my friend’s telling them, he’s got a meeting with the guy who owns the place. So she said I had to show my penis to get in the door, because she thought if I was a cop I wouldn’t do that. So I had to unveil myself in an alley in Queens. I had to get the story. That book took me to some scary places. UD: Craziest thing you’ve ever seen in Japan? BM: The sexual harassment clubs. They’re really perverse. You go down these stairs and it looks like a subway car. It vibrates, like a real subway car. And there are women standing around pretending they’re riding the subway. And you pay a fee and you can go in and molest the women. These are very popular. And there’s another one that’s li
