Customer Reviews

Black Passenger Yellow Cabs: Of Exile And Excess In Japan

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For anyone who has been interested in Japanese pop culture and have had the opportunity to visit the country, to partake in the culture and to be passionate about it, I have had the opportunity to meet two type of men in my life who love Japan. The type who love the culture and literally be absorbed by it and those who not only look at Japan as an opportunity to make money and the opportunity to get laid.

As a person who has written about Japanese pop culture, I am of the former but there are so many people I have went to college with, worked with who are part of the latter. Men who love Japanese women, men who have been absorbed by the sexual part of the culture through hentai/ecchi manga and anime, Japanese porn and/or gravure models.

And once you arrive to Japan, the sex is a big part of the culture and you can find it all around you. Stores, vending machines and even your Japanese guy friends who are willing to tell you about Japanese women, Japanese love hotels and much more. Especially Westeners or other fellow gaijin who are willing to tell you about their exploits on the subway or at a restaurant.

"Black Passenger Yellow Cabs" by Stefhen FD Bryan is a book about a man who not only craves Asian women, he is a man with a sexual addiction, who went to Japan and is now writing about his personal experiences and sexual exploits.

Stefhen is originally from Jamaica and at a young age, was already well-endowed and was taken advantage of by younger women. To put it bluntly, he was raped as he was only a young boy who didn't know any better, but this was life in Jamaica and it was what lit the match that would burn inside him for many years to come.

Bryan would write, "I grew to become a lesbian happily trapped in a man's body and from my first sexual experience until recently, sex was the first thing I thought of upon meeting every woman."

Stefhen is passionate about Asian women and he details in his book of how his interested shifted to Asian women and what brought him to Japan. Not long after living in Japan, Stefhen was having a lot of sex with Japanese women. I know for a fact that many Japanese women I knew had always enjoyed Black actors and athletes and also music performers and for Stefhen, he was a Black man who was their Bob Marley or Jay-Z, and he was there to teach them English and somehow he ended up having sex with women, their mothers, fellow teachers and he writes about each women and his experience with them.

Some may look at how this book was written as glorified bragging on Bryan's part and in a way, it may appear that way but part of me was not looking at Stefhen as a guy I wanted to high five and say "you're the man" or looking at a major mac daddy. This was a man who writes about his experience but knowing he had a sexual addiction. And it's important to note that there are books in which people write about sex and their exploits in passing off tips to those who want to get laid, but this is not one of those books. This is an intellectual man who writes this book intelligently but smart enough to know that the topics he writes about is something that he should not become too esoteric.

Not only does he write about his experience of being a horny man who can't wait to partake in sex with a woman, but we also get an explanation of Japan culture, an explanation of his state of mind, his living conditions and even his challenges.

From early in the book in which he writes about his first experience of a 16-year-old taking advantage of him at the age of 7, we see how this plays out. Having sex with a Japanese girl named Ai and then one day alone with her mother, she jokes about him (again, he does make the point that women keep telling him of how well-endowed he is) and similar to the boy at age 7, he whips it out for his girlfriends mother to partake in and how the mother hasn't had any pleasure for twenty years because of work. Stefhen brings up how Japanese men are overworked and are never home and then gives us statistics of those who are overworked in Japan. Interesting but yet related tangent but that is how "Black Passenger Yellow Cabs" works. You get a little story about his sexual exploits but also teaching the reader about Japanese culture.

While this book does go into his exploits with Japanese women, he also goes into his sexual experience with Chinese, Korean and other women of a variety ethnicities that he had sex with as well. Needless to say, there are many women that Stefhen FD Bryan has slept with and part of me was growing tired of reading about the exploits. I looked at this book as a man who was raped at a young age and now acting out of what he thought women were about...sexual pleasure and I couldn't wait to get to the end because I was hoping that he would get help. At the rate he was going, not only was I wondering how many diseases he may get (or spread - the Dr. Akari chapter was quite surprising to say the least), I often wondered if there was anyone in his life to tell him that "enough was enough".

Unfortunately, if you are a foreign teacher and you're moving around and you meet other gaijin (foreigners) of guys who want to get laid, they are just going to support the habits of one getting all he can get and in this case, Japan was like a buffet and the ending was like a buffet, you get tired of it.

It's important to note that Stefhen Bryan did get help with his depression and he did get help to understand what happened to him at a young age, but I use the "buffet" as a metaphor because like any buffet, we all get tired when we had our fill but it doesn't take long for us to get over that and partake in another buffet. Is Stefhen Bryan really done? Was the book a therapeutic way to deal with a lot of women he has slept with and put it into perspective?

I can see many guys reading this book, learning from Stefhen's ways and also learning about Japan at the same time. I can also see people reading this book and learning what goes through the minds of some men, especially foreigners but it's important to note that one should not be judgmental on foreigners, especially on Black men who are in Japan and are also Black and are teaching in Japan. There is enough stereotyping and a blind ignorance that pervades Japanese culture towards foreigners to note that all gaijin are not in Japan to get laid (and I know many of my guys friends in Japan will then tell me - not if you're in Roppongi).

But not all of Bryan's book is about having sex, there is some important factual information and one of the chapters that I found quite interesting was his chapter on "Abortion in Japan" but his experience was afterward with a girl named Fu and how he had to experience a Japanese and their cultural tie to their parents. I know first hand how that feels and where in America, things are a bit different, in Japan, blood is thicker than water and in most cases, blood will win over love most of the time.

I did find it interesting to find these breaks in chapters where we go from one chapter about a woman and then the next chapter, we would see Stefhen focus more on Japanese culture. For example, he would talk about Shoko and then we would read a very informative chapter on socialization in Japan from women's empowerment to child abuse in Japan and then news stories of murders in Japan and then back to Shoko. Interesting way the book is structured but I look at it as being a non-traditional book, so I was OK with it.

"Black Passenger Yellow Cabs" is a book that I know many guys will enjoy because I know way too many men who would love to be in Stefhen Bryan's shoes. But I'm not one of those men. I came away reading this book, not happy nor excited but part of me felt sorry for Stefhen FD Bryan. I'm sure many men may think it's all cool if you can have partake in as many women as possible in Japan and look at Stefhen Bryan as a hero but I don't. If anything, may it be that he is done or even if he unfortunately relapses, he finds that one woman in his life that is not a sexual object but a woman that he can truly love.

Overall, "Black Passenger Yellow Cabs" is well-written, well-researched but I wish more time was given towards the final chapters on the resolution because the book ends rather abruptly. Nevertheless, the book was quite entertaining, sexually-charged, yet intelligently written that under all the detailed sexual experiences featured in the book, you can still learn a little bit about Japanese society and culture. If you are looking for book on Japanese culture and sex, this book is for you!

Avid readers love to talk about the books that changed their life, how they somehow transcended the usual beginning to end cycle and seeped into the realities of day to day living or the bedrock of their world view. I always felt an ache in my heart when people would talk like this. I've read many great books but none have truly affected me this way, not even the Bible. I'm happy to say that has changed and I have Stefhen F. D. Bryan to thank.

This is a book with something for everybody to love, although I think it's safe to say there's also something for everybody to hate. I think that's a strong point, Mr. Bryan is presenting the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth regardless of what you think of him. There were times when I wanted to give him a high five, and times when I wanted to slap him, but his honesty, sincerity and good humor won me over and will win over most who come to this book with an open mind. Through this book you'll feel like you know Mr. Bryan in a way you might not even know many of your friends, he's just that honest and comprehensive.

Though I give it a five I can definitely see this story isn't for everyone. Although I didn't want it to end I can see how many might think it's too long. While I certainly enjoyed every sexual encounter described, I did think they were starting to get a little repetitive near the end. And speaking of the end, it abruptly as the book seems to go from 60 to 0 in one short chapter. Still, all this said I personally wouldn't change a thing, for me the rough around the edge quality nicely complimented the warts and all nature of the book. It also made the book more personal, it feels like you're having an ongoing conversation with Mr. Bryan and any editorial defects end up helping to recreate the natural flow of a conversation. This could all be rationalization due to my deep personal reaction, but to anyone who might think that I'd say any book who's faults are worth rationalizing is special.

In the spirit of full disclosure this is coming from a guy whose parents caught him searching for "Hot Japanese Babes" back in 7th grade, so you can see why a book like this would have a personal appeal. But the book did more than excite me with the prospects of an American's sexual escapades in Japan, it helped me come to terms with my own interest in Eastern Asian women. For as long as I've been a sexual being I've been drawn to this one type of women above all others and it's been a source of deep shame. I would read stories of gay men and women in the closet and feel a deep emotional connection with them. I felt like I'd been cursed to be a curse to the very women I felt most deeply for. Mr. Bryan's book changed that for me, truly getting through to me with the message that it's OK to be honest. He brought together the sexual and the social, destroying the puritanical religious ideas and the liberal ideas of inter-racial relationships as post-colonial exploitation that had poisoned my sense of self.

I can see this book enabling men and enlightening women, as well as enabling women and enlightening men. Read it, I bet you'll love it, but even if you hate it the hate will be deep, emotional and enlightening.

In short, I would recommend this book to the following people:

1. Men interested in going to Japan

2. Men who live in Japan now or who have left Japan

3. Men who are attracted to Japanese or Asian women

4. Japanese women who are interested in dating non-Japanese men

5. Japanese women who are interested in knowing what some non-Japanese men think about them and their country

6. Non-Japanese women in Japan who are unable to find people to date

7. People interested in Japanese society, history and politics

I would recommend that the following types of people stay away from this book:

1. People offended by crude language

2. People who do not like discussions sexism, racism, suicide, and violence

3. People who resent non-Japanese men dating and having sex with Japanese women

4. People who are uncomfortable talking about sex, sexuality, infidelity and sexual irresponsibility

5. People with strong moral compasses or strong religious beliefs that make them easily offended by immorality

6. People who judge a literary work by its language mechanics, such as punctuation, spelling and word choice

Mr. Bryan's work provides a compelling foray into the realms of sexual dysfunction, sociological decay, and the pursuit of self-comfort in Japan, the United States, and Jamaica. To be sure, this book includes a lot of graphic depictions of his sexual antics and a few impolitic characterizations of Japanese and Jamaican society. But the rawness and frankness with which he treats these issues makes his observations more powerful. Obviously, this book should be quite popular among men whose attraction to Japanese women led them to Japan, as Mr. Bryan's recollections of his sexual exploits there are quite humorous and graphic. Men of a firmer moral timber should find this an interesting read too because these recollections allow such men to live vicariously through Mr. Bryan in that they too can be sexually irresponsible while maintaining their moral compass and sexual health. Having lived in Japan for four years myself, I found it quite easy to relate to a lot of Mr. Bryan's observations and experiences, particularly when it came to discussing the dysfunctional inflexibility of Japanese society and how its social dynamics may lead to poorly adjusted adults of both sexes.

This work, however, is not without its flaws. To start, some of the chapters are very short--as in one or two pages long. This distracts the reader because it interrupts the flow. Secondly, some of the Jamaican expressions he incorporates into the book have no standard English translations, thus making it difficult for readers to adequately understand what is being said. The Japanese expressions he includes also need to be edited, though this is not an issue for readers who don't understand Japanese. Fortunately, these are all relatively minor mechanical issues that could easily be fixed with the work of an editor.

Perhaps the biggest weakness of the book for me was the abruptness with which he ended it. There is not enough discussion, to me, on how Mr. Bryan's sexual addiction began to weaken. Also, the plurality of the book talks about his love for two women named Shoko and Azusa (both are pseudonyms). However, when he finally makes his decision to marry one of them and leave Japan, very little discussion is given regarding the aftermath. Similarly, there are several other women of consequence whom he talks about in the book, but the reader is often left wondering what happened to them afterwards. Do they still keep in touch? How did they take the news of his marriage and departure from Japan? Did they part on good terms? And what about the women who refused his advances? For readers who like closure, this is a significant issue. For those who are more interested in the exploits themselves, it is not an issue at all.

Despite these weaknesses, the book overall is an interesting, powerful, and unique read. As someone who does not read a lot of books, I found it quite difficult to put this book down. With a bit of editing, some reorganizing of the chapters, and tying up some of the loose ends at the end of the text, I would happily rate this book with 5 stars. But even at 4 stars, this is still a very good book. But to be sure, it is definitely not for everyone.

Stefan Bryan's book is breathtakingly honest. The titillation of his first-person tales of sexual encounters in Japan is well balanced by a thoughtful analysis of the social idiosyncrasies of that insular nation. Stefan's credibility as a writer is enhanced immeasurably by his unflinching insights into the demons of his own character. From Kingston's ghetto to UCLA to philanderer par excellence in Japan, Mr. Bryan juxtaposes a male-oriented, yet sensitive, erotic memoir against a surprising array of Japanese cultural neuroses.

Michael Ashburne

7/11/10

I was asked by the writer to read and review the novel. This should have been two separate novels. The way it is written now, the writer sounds like he is a sociopath. He give us story after story of him manipulating these different women for sex. That he has sex with mothers and daughters, co-workers, etc. But also he complains on the plight of these same women by the society that they live in that makes it possible for him to take advantage of these women. If this was a simply an erotic tale. Maybe he could convince me what these women saw in him. Size could not just be the main event. Especially since he has paid for over 13 abortions. If he wrote a second novel on the plight of the women in these countries. It could have been a stronger book.

k. reddick

As a black man living in Japan myself, I originally looked for a book that might know what I was feeling about this country. This book hit it on the head. It starts out as an erotic tale of his conquests but little by little, evolves into a deep look at a society that mass produces the kind of women that he encountered. Some may look at this book as an exaggeration, or that the author is simply boasting, but anyone who lives here and has experienced it first hand will know that it is nothing of the sort. It is just a very honest account of one man's experiences and the things he learned while living in Japan. I think that this book has to be told in the matter it was because keeping the two separated does not do any justice to any facet of the book. I'm also married to a Japanese woman, so after reading some of the opinions offered by the author, I asked my wife what she felt about those same points, thinking she would call me crazy for making the broad statements that are offered in the book. Instead, she could only nod her head in agreement, almost flabbergasted that I knew such a thing. It has been no secret that Japan is very weary of "gaijin" or foreigners in their homogenous society, with blacks holding an especially low spot in their social ladder. The women are also looked at to fulfill very specific roles, and are very afraid of change. As an American living in Japan, I initially thought there could be nothing wrong with this country. After living here for almost five years, having read this book, and having just about all of it confirmed, raising a half black and half Japanese daughter in Japan gives me second thoughts about living here long-term. The only negative thing that I can say about this book is that I found it hard to keep track of the timelines sometimes because the author jumps back and forth through time when talking about the women he encountered. This book is very intriguing and is a more honest look into Japan, its people, and its culture, than anything else I've ever seen. As soon as this book is translated into Japanese next year, I'll be asking my wife to read it also. If you want to look at Japan past the "tatemae", the face and attitude that is drilled into every Japanese citizen to have, and look into the real part of this society, look no further than this book and give it a read or two.

I met Stefhen Bryan when he agreed to discuss his book at one of my bookclub meetings while he was visiting San Francisco. Stefhen began with an introduction about himself and read us excerpts from Black Passenger, needless to say he kept our full attention the entire time he read. He was generous to answer all questions the women gave him. It was the best author visit we had and everyone there ended up reading his book. The book is incredibly interesting, entertaining and very...very... "colorful."

If you're like me and typically don't care to read a biography, make this one an exception.

Many will read this book for tips on picking up Japanese women, and while there is indeed such advice within, it's integrated both with the cultural history of Japan and the author's own journey as a man. To understand the Japanese woman one must understand the culture she lives in, how she is perceived and expected to act, etc., and the book explains this, along with first-hand accounts of the author's experiences. The book works on three levels simultaneously: sex memoir; cultural expose and 'coming of age' journey, the latter of which is painful and revealing, and makes the book less an erotic tell-all and more of a personal and admirable struggle. Highly recommended.

Stefen Bryan's focus on Japan through his book BPYC, is not merely a subculture issue, but covers in depth the hidden disease of Japanese society, like the inhibition of pleasure, high rate of abortion and sexless couples etc., as such, I find the work to be a new type of journalism that blends communication with entertainment and brutal academism.

In Black Passenger Yellow Cabs we get a glimpse into the life that is the author Stefhen Bryan---but the book is more than just a story about his life. It is a chapter in the story that is all of mankind's life in the way it examines our very existance, why we do what we do and how we deal with the consequences of our actions and those of others around us.

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I began reading this book, but I will say that I was open to the possibilities that might lay ahead. Isn' that the way we all should be when approached or faced with something new? That iswhat Stefhen did, and in the process he was able to learn about himself, his strengths as well as his vices, as well as what he really wanted in life.

Aside from the internal and external situations that the writer dealt with, there were those of the people and laws around him. The book goes into some of the differences that countries have when it comes to certain crimes and injustices, as well as allows us to see that we can easily have a rose-colored view about the world that might be still unknown to us.

As others have mentioned in their reviews and discussions the book does address the issue of sexuality and sex, with the author coming to terms with his own weaknesses in this area. There was even a point in the book where sex seemed to be used as a way to pacify or punish those around him. This being another brutally honest way Bryan tells us the struggle that he found himself embroiled in. Aside from that, there is also the issue of violence against women,another deadly vice that raises questions not just for the author but all of us as we try and put ourselves in his situation at that point in his life.

This is a book with many layers, but one that is worth the time and thoughtfulness it will take to really appreciate it. Believe me when I say I see it as time well spent.