(3) Yellow fever
Stefhen Bryan interview pt.2
Dear readers, here’s the second part of Jeff Krueger’s interview with Stefhen Bryan, You can read the first part here.
Jeff: I'm trying to get the the time frame now. The book finishes in 2007. You marry Shoko in 2008. You're together in America from 2008 to 2014, and then things are not going well. So in 2014 you decide that you're coming back to Japan by yourself for three months. What was the mindset when you decided to come back to Japan solo? And why Japan? What was it that drew you back to Japan?
Stef: Once you come here and you've lived here for a while, it's really difficult to break away permanently. And I missed Japan at that time. I missed the beauty of Japan. I love the physical beauty of Japan. Everything is beautiful. Wa (harmony) and aesthetics are the two main tenets of this culture. It's not just a trash can that has to be kawaii and cute.
Jeff: But you also don't like the infantilization of people which you write about in the book.
Stef: Yeah, But I was not having sex in America with anybody.
Jeff: So is it safe to say that the aesthetics, the beauty AND the yellow fever brought you back?
Stef: I really felt at home in Japan at the time and I just needed a break.
Jeff: That's interesting because the last time we spoke, I think you said that you've had enough and you're ready to get out of Japan. Also, the book is largely critical of aspects of Japan that you don't like. It's not just sex. It's like there's a lot of social commentary there. There's a lot of statistics and facts. And then you left Japan, went back to United States. And now you are saying that you've had enough of this place, and you want to get out. What brought you to that realization and where do you see yourself now?
Stef: I think it depends on the stages of my life, you know, at a certain time in my youth I could tolerate the shortcomings of Japan, but I think I can't anymore. The only reason why we came back to Japan in 2021, was that I was always adamant about not raising my child in the United States. I said to Shoko, look, alright, we're gonna have this kid. It means we have to move back to Japan. Because I don't wanna raise her here until she's 11-12 years old. I want her to have her formative years in Japan.
Jeff: One of the things that you rail on in the book is the status of women in Japan. You mentioned that this country places 91st in terms of gender equality, 52nd in economic empowerment, 54th in political empowerment. That was back in 2007. I checked the data and now it’s even worse. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Report, which analyzes statistical data related to the status of women, Japan is 116th out of 146 countries, with the lowest level of gender equality among all the 38 members of the OECD today.
Stef: One of the reasons I want to take my daughter to the US one day is that I don’t want her to think that the only thing she could do is be a nail artist or a fucking dog trimmer. I still do some teaching at junior high school now and these girls, their hobby is sleeping. They have no idea that they could be whatever they want to be. To be honest, Jeff, I'm very apathetic about Japan now. I'm just really focused on my child and knowing that she cannot be here beyond elementary school. She's also Afro Asian, you know, she's half yellow, half black. And the social dynamics are not as supportive in Japan as they would be in the West.
Jeff: I seem to remember that in your book you said something to the effect that on the whole you were a force for good in Japan. It made me stop and think because just simply basing it on the information that you presented in the book, it's difficult to parse. You know, you were fornicating in a public park and a child saw you. You've had multiple pregnancies which resulted in abortions. Then add to this the fact that you both gave and received multiple STD's on a variety of occasions, do you truly feel that you are a force for good in Japan?
Stef: Uh, it wasn't multiple STD's. It was one. I only got chlamydia. But to answer your question, yes I do. Because you know, these are private issues, right? But when you consider the public issues that Japanese people see, Stefhen Brian was definitely a force for good. Because I was iconoclastic, sort of. For example, many people thought that I was some kind of athlete or some kind of sportsman, just because I’m black. But it turns out I studied economics and I write. I like to think I'm an intellectual and when they hear this they say, I didn't know that. In fact, one doctor told me that he didn't think black people were so smart. But we are. We're different from what you see in the media.
I'm not particularly proud of the exhibitionism and what I did in the park. Â I thought about the trauma that the kid might have experienced. But at the time, I was just elated. I love public sex. I love outdoor sex. And I love the shock of it all, so to speak. So you know, we're human beings, we are multifaceted. So there are aspects of me that are bad and there are definitely parts of me that are good for society. And teaching in Japan and enlightening and empowering people. I consider myself a positive contributor. Even now, you know, the housewives that I've had sex with in Japan, including the one I'm having sex with now, they had no experience. They had no idea that a man can actually think about his partner's feelings and put her feelings before their own. Do you know what I mean?
Jeff: In your book we don't get to hear anything about possible ways in which you felt like you were discriminated against as a black man. There's definitely maybe a sense that as a foreigner, Shoko's parents might not have accepted you as much as they could have. But other girls’ parents embraced you with open arms. Would you say, looking at the broad swath of experiences that you've had in Japan as a black man, that there's been anything like discrimination against you?
Stef: You know, I didn't mention discrimination because it has never really been at the forefront of my thoughts. I don't think that any negative behavior that's directed toward me has necessarily something to do with my race. I did note that regarding race, a Japanese woman, if she's so inclined to engage in an interracial relationship, she's going to prefer, for many reasons, a white guy over a black guy. Black men, for example, have a more difficult time, from what I'm hearing, on dating apps. Because you can see their picture, and most of the Japanese women who are into international dating prefer white guys.
So back to your question, I didn't really focus on the discrimination, but I do know that most of my experiences with families of Japanese girls have been very positive. Same with my friends.
Jeff: So race hasn't been at the forefront of your mind while living here.
Stef: Absolutely. Maybe it’s because I wasn't raised in America. Jamaicans don't think about race. On the contrary, I relished the idea of being the only African person in any environment in Japan on the train. I think I'm like, my God, I'm the only black person here, man. Jeez. I mean, it sounds like an advantage from my perspective.
Jeff: You've talked about an upcoming book project. I think this is a wonderful project for you, as you approach the age of 60 and you can tackle the years between 2007 and 2023 and talk about how things have evolved for both you on a personal level and your family, but also for Japan.
Stef: You know Jeff, the only problem with that is that I'm just not passionate about Japan anymore. When I wrote Black Passenger I was consuming so much data and so much information about Japan. I was looking for it, seeking it out every day because I was interested. It was a new society, a new country, a new experience. I always wondered, why is this happening? This goes completely against all the shit that I've learned in university. So I was researching and digging up stuff and talking to people. Now, I'm not anymore. You know what? Japan is a Titanic. They don't care. They don't care about the fact that they're sinking really slowly.
Jeff: Well, yeah, that does seem to be the case with the declining birth rate and the kind of closed border policy. It feels like Japan is just accepting its fate falling onto its own sword. It's ready to go under.
Stef: I will write about Japan because I'm here and even though I'm not as observant as I was before, I still process some information and I'm very concerned about the child abuse rate in this country. It's just maddening. Well, I guess this next book is gonna be pretty boring compared to the first one because it’s not gonna be as tantalizing as writing about fucking. It's gonna be more about the transition to fatherhood, especially not having any modeling as a child. I think that a lot of men have this problem, especially a lot of black men. A lot of African men have problems being fathers because many of us didn't have fathers and we don't know how to make that connection with our children. That's why a lot of men walk away from their children, it’s because they're not bonded properly.