Yep, you heard right. I worked for the Japanese mafia and didn't even know it. Why am I even writing about this? Probably because 10-15 years I'll forget even more details about what I did plus chances are no one else will even read this. It's amazing how everyones life now revolves around blogs (i.e. myspace, blogspot, etc...) Once I'm done w/ this its going to stay here. If you happen to stumble upon this well I hope you enjoy my lil story. And on that note...
I was 15 (16?) and already a trouble maker. My dad was in the Air Force and stationed at Yokota AFB. I'll skip all the bullshit and get to the good stuff. One of my 'stints' for being a troublemaker was to serve community service at the local commissary. Believe it or not it was actually pretty cool. For one, I wasn't the only one performing community service plus I got to work in the back. This was a nice bonus because any damaged merchandise was passed under my nose. I've lost count how many times I swiped cartons of cigarettes! Oh the irony.
It was at the commissary I met a Japanese national (shit, I forgot his name. See what I mean about forgetting details?) who also worked there. He was much older and we became good friends. One day he asked if I didn't mind sponsoring some of his 'friends' on base to use the golf course. Of course, I was young and naive so I agreed to do so. Let me stop here for a sec and tell you something about Japanese and golf. For one, golfing is pretty much considered 'elite' in Japan. It's a sport you normally see Japanese business men only enjoying. Something you and I take for granted here in the United States. Golfing in Japan is EXPENSIVE! It's not unsual to pay anywhere from $150 on up for a round of golf. It's been awhile I'm pretty sure its much more than that today. One benefit of being a military dependent is golfing on base (any military installation) is that it is very very cheap to play. I think to play a complete round of golf was only $15 bucks per player. What a bargain. Little did I know I was only sponsoring these guys so they could use our golf facilities and take advantage of the super low fare.
Here's the kicker. I would normally sponsor 4-6 guys once per week and each guy would pay me $50 bucks. Sometimes more! So here is this 15 (16?) year old kid making anywhere from $200-$300 a week back in '88! It was great! I only wish I learned the value of the dollar. Whenever I got payed I would take all my friends to the Burger King on base and buy anything they wanted (ungrateful bastards).
This continued on for a while. Eventually these guys began to invite me to their place of business. It varied from bowling alleys, bars and even spas (this was the first time I saw the tattoos) Very cool! Everytime we would show up we had full run of the place. No customers and everything was on the house.
One of my best experiences was when
Maverick Collier (
Rest In Peace brother) left Japan. I asked one of my Japanese friends if I could have some friends come over to his bar to have a going away party for Maverick. I didn't know what he was going to say. He ended up giving me and my friends full access to the bar. Yes, we had the bar all to ourselves! I couldn't fucking believe it! So here's this bar full of 14, 15 and 16 year old kids getting drunk and partying. Believe or not we didn't destroy the place and everyone had a good time.
So yeah, that's my experience w/ the Japanese mafia. I wish I could recall more but I can't. If there's a god and I do meet him (her?) I wish I could just kickback and watch me relive my life in Japan.
Living in Japan was one of the best things I ever experienced. I made friends and experienced things that I will never forget. Being a military dependent is one of the greatest experiences a kid will ever have.
