Black Box · Tokyo Vice · Casting home run
Plus: The Airbnb cops in Palm Springs
the true crime that's worth your time
Uh-oh, Tokyo Vice. We’ve talked about the HBO series Tokyo Vice a couple times here: It’s the Michael Mann-adjacent show about an American reporter in Japan, based on the book of the same name by journalist Jake Adelstein. That memoir came out in 2010, an era that was basically a completely other time when it came to calling bullshit on outlandish and disprovable claims (stay tuned this week for our take on the alleged Gray’s Anatomy faker, btw). But with greater attention on the property now that it’s a show starring the problematic Ansel Elgort, questions have been raised about the source material. Is Adelstein’s true crime book not so true after all?
Writing for the Hollywood Reporter, Gavin J. Blair says the book might be bunk, crediting critiques from both anonymous “insiders” and actual people mentioned in his book. Check this out:
An early chapter of Adelstein’s memoir is titled “It’s the New Year, Let’s Fight,” which chronicles a spectacular martial arts duel between Adelstein and a co-worker at his first newspaper bureau year-end party. Adelstein, as the story goes, takes his opponent briefly off his feet with what he calls a “one-inch punch” from Wing Chun Kung Fu, and before long, two other colleagues are brawling. Tsujii was at the party and says, “I didn’t see any kind of fights.”
Adelstein maintains that such brawls were a regular occurrence. “Our bonenkais [year-end parties] were violent. The Yomiuri was like the military; there were a lot of people with a sports mentality. That’s what happened at the end-of-year parties at this company.”
In another episode in an action-packed first year, Adelstein goes undercover — with the blessing of two of his superiors — to impersonate the Iranian friend of a murder suspect.
“There is absolutely no way that a journalist at the Yomiuri would be allowed to go undercover — a journalist wouldn’t even ask their bosses if they could do that,” says Tsujii. “In Japan, even the police don’t do real undercover operations; it’s basically illegal and evidence can’t be gathered that way, though there have been some legal reforms recently. … The Yomiuri was very strict about that kind of thing.”
(Speaking solely as an editor, I’d likely caution any writer who wants to detail a brawl they participated in from making themselves seem like the best fighter in the room — even if they were, which seems unlikely. There’s something especially gross about a story where a white American dude working in an Asian country is somehow the most proficient martial artist — look, I know that not every Japanese person is a ninja, and that Wing Chun is a Chinese discipline, but this still smacks of a Chuck Norris fantasy that should probably have been cut, regardless.)
According to the THR report, Adelstein made some pretty wild claims even before his book dropped. Speaking on 60 Minutes in 2009, he said his life was in danger after revealing details about yakuza workings, so “You have to keep your rooms shuttered, because you don’t want a sniper to pick you off across from somebody’s house.”
Put to Adelstein, he initially denies making the remark before noting he was playing it for laughs. “If I said it, I was joking because I was not fucking serious. … I don’t think anyone took that seriously. … I guess when I’m joking sometimes it doesn’t come across, sorry.”
Yiiikes. By the end of the report, Adelstein offers to show Blair all his notebooks from that time, which he claims will help prove he’s ben telling the truth all along. He ended up rescheduling that meeting, then canceling it, which doesn’t do much to suggest that his glass, as it were, is unshattered — then again, he’s since tweeted links to an online archive in an effort to establish some credibility.
The folks at HBO don’t seem to care about the controversy, though: producer John Lesher says that “There were so many things that we embellished and created that had nothing to do with, let’s call it ‘the real Jake Adelstein story’…Whether the book is true or not, you should take it up with him and the people depicted in the book. I wasn’t there.” — EB
We’ve talked here before about how Airbnb has a security team dedicated to keeping high-profile incidents at homes on the platform out of the headlines — but it looks like those folks just got Streisanded. It’s been nearly a year since Bloomberg’s wild yarn, “Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away,” dropped, an in-depth look at the wild hustle employed by the short-term rental company to keep a lid on reports of rapes, assaults, and other crimes. If you haven’t given the longread a look, you should.
Along the way, a former member of that Airbnb team switched sides, leaving the startup for Hollywood. Variety reports that this unnamed agent will help tell the story of Enjoy Your Stay, a dramatic series based on the crisis team.
The show is from first-time TV writer Will Connors, who before this was a business and tech reporter at the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The outstanding question here is if a skill in writing newspaper stories easily translates to episodic TV — it wouldn’t necessarily for me, though I wouldn’t be mad at the chance to try. If Connors flounders, however, there’s still that mysterious unnamed former Airbnb staffer to help, on the payroll “as an anonymous source and consultant.”
The show is still in the earliest of planning stages, but it’s already infuriating members of the multitudes of Facebook groups devoted to hosting short-term rental properties, some of which I belong to as I now own one too. “Great, can’t wait for a guest to demand a refund because they watch a show that tells them they’re going to get raped,” one recently wrote in a group I belong to, a remark alarmingly agreed with by a large number of other hosts. Sir, if you’re concerned that might happen, you’re going to get really mad at Dave Franco in a minute. — EB
Sarah is ready to cast this Dannemora-esque tale of allegedly aided escape. Casey Cole White was serving time in an Alabama prison for attempted murder and robbery, Vicky White was that prison’s assistant director of corrections.
They both disappeared Monday, and as of this writing have not been found. According to officials, Vicky was involved, one way or another. “We know she participated. Whether she did that willingly or if she was coerced, threatened somehow to participate in the case … not really sure. We know for sure she did participate,” Lauderdale county sheriff, Rick Singleton said at a press conference reported on by the Guardian.
When the photos of the two unrelated Whites dropped yesterday, Sarah was on it immediately, Slacking me “here's a "cast this docudrama" link for you … Tina Yothers and John Krasinski.”
It’s hard to argue with that, but if I were Krasinski, I’d head to the gym and the lifts store now. That’s because one of Casey Cole White’s most distinctive features (after looking like Jim from The Office, I guess) is his size: He’s 6’9” and around 260 lbs. Seems like some big shoes to fill. — EB
I would SO watch a show called Palm Springs Airbnb Cops. Palm Springs, California, is known for its elderly population, mid-century architecture, and wildly hot weather; it’s also a destination for vacationers like me (and at least two BE subscribers I know of) whose idea of a good time is flopping by a pool all day, then going to an old person restaurant for dinner.
That destination status means the area is overrun with short-term rentals, party homes next to the aforementioned elders. As you can imagine, this has created loads of friction, but unlike your or my neighborhood, where folks basically gripe on Nextdoor and that’s the extent of things, the city has taken special legal steps: a team of “compliance officers” who work in tandem with PSPD to enforce rules against outdoor music or too many cars parked outside the home.
The LA Times did a ridealong with one of officer Mitchell Nabhan, and it’s absolutely fascinating. Here’s a snip:
A call came in to the hotline at 7:05 p.m. Loud music at a house on Jill Circle. Nabhan arrived within 10 minutes and noticed six cars crammed into the tight driveway. He took photos with his phone. Thumping music blared from the home, rattling the windows.
Nabhan opened an app on his phone, dubbed Shazam, that can identify a song within seconds. If there is a dispute later over the noise, he can include in his report the name of the song he heard. But the song was a club mix so the app failed to identify it.
The city’s records showed the house was not supposed to be rented that weekend.
After he banged on the door several times, two young men, each holding plastic cups, appeared at the door. They seemed confused by Nabhan’s questions. One young man in a tank top repeatedly asked for Nabhan’s name. A young woman in a cut-off shirt stepped through the door. She was annoyed that the music had been turned down. “But it’s my birthday,” she complained.
Guys, I can’t watch those animal cops shows due to animal pain aversion, and I can’t watch most human cops shows because, as you know from reading this newsletter, they rarely have the best of intentions. But Airbnb Cops could be the low-stakes crime show I need right now (especially today, where I woke up thinking I’d had a horrible dream then realized it wasn’t a dream, we’re headed backwards….).
Imagine turning on a show that’s just a guy driving through neighborhoods of gorgeous Jetsons-looking homes, occasionally knocking on doors and telling whippersnappers to knock it off with the Major Lazer. That’s my kind of TV. — EB
Wednesday on Best Evidence: True crime you meet when you’re walking down the street.
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