I have some exciting news to share: my new series, Park After Dark, premieres tomorrow, November 3.
Park After Dark is a Disney Parks horror anthology. Each episode is a voicemail from a guest who experienced something unexplained inside the parks — a monorail that never arrived, a ghost who was never supposed to be there, a door only children can find.
Episode 1 is called “The Monorail.” Every 99th departure, a train disappears.
New episodes arrive every Tuesday. You can watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get podcasts — all the links are on the show’s page.
If you check it out, let me know what you think. And if you’ve ever had a moment in the parks that felt a little off, you’re exactly who I made this for.
Our podcast,The Red Room, just hit #1 on Apple Podcasts’ Fiction chart.
When my creative partner, Milton, and I started working on this project, we knew we wanted to create something special. We wanted to tell a story that would pull listeners in, keep them guessing, and make them question what they thought they knew. But seeing The Red Room reach the top of the charts? That’s something else entirely.
And we couldn’t have done it without you.
A Story About Memory, Mystery, and the Unexplained
For those who haven’t listened yet, The Red Room is a 10-episode narrative audio thriller that begins with an impossible 911 call and spirals into a mystery involving a missing teenager, disturbing secrets, and the unsettling possibility that memories might not belong to the people experiencing them.
What if you could remember something that hasn’t happened yet? What if the past, present, and future weren’t as separate as we believe?
Those questions are at the heart of the series. Milton and I put a tremendous amount of work into bringing this story to life, and we wanted to create an experience that takes full advantage of what audio storytelling can do.
Now, seeing the show connect with listeners in this way is incredibly rewarding.
Thank You for Getting Us Here
The response since launch has been amazing. We’ve watched the show climb the charts, celebrated your reviews
I have some exciting news to share: my horror movieNyctophobiais now available as a vertical series!
Originally created as a horror film, Nyctophobia: Be Afraid of the Dark is getting a new life in a format designed for the way people watch content today: vertically, on their phones.
As a filmmaker, it’s always exciting to see a project find new ways to reach an audience. The entertainment landscape continues to evolve, and vertical storytelling has become an increasingly interesting way to deliver dramatic, suspenseful, and engaging stories. Now, Nyctophobia gets to be part of that evolution.
A New Way to Experience the Horror
Nyctophobia explores the supernatural and the fear of the dark. The title itself refers to nyctophobia, the fear of darkness, and that fear is at the heart of the film’s experience.
Horror has always been a genre that adapts to new ways of reaching audiences. From theatrical releases to streaming platforms and now vertical series, the goal remains the same: to pull viewers into a story, keep them on the edge of their seats, and leave them thinking about what they’ve just watched.
I’m excited to see how Nyctophobia translates into this new format and how a new audience might discover the story.
Excited for What’s Next
One of the best things about working in film and television is watching a project continue to find opportunities long after its original release. Having Nyctophobia available as a vertical series is another chapter in the life of the film, and I’m looking forward to checking it out myself soon!
If you’re a horror fan, keep an eye out for Nyctophobia. And if you enjoy watching your entertainment on your phone, you now have another way to experience the nightmare.
Sometimes, the scariest things are the ones you can’t see in the dark.
And now, you can experience that fear one vertical episode at a time.
Today, I’m excited to announce the launch of The Red Room, a new 10-episode narrative audio thriller I’ve been developing with my creative partner, Milton Liu.
The Red Room begins with an impossible 911 call and spirals into a mystery involving a missing teenager, a true-crime investigation, disturbing secrets, and a mystery that challenges our understanding of memory and time.
What if a memory didn’t belong to you? What if you could remember something that hasn’t happened yet? And what if the past, present, and future weren’t as separate as we believe?
These questions are at the heart of The Red Room. Milton and I have put a tremendous amount of work into bringing this story to life, building a world designed to unfold through sound and draw listeners deeper into its central mystery.
I’m also incredibly grateful to Voyage Media for helping us bring this project into the world. Collaborations like this make it possible to take an idea and turn it into an immersive audio experience that audiences can discover and enjoy.
If you listen, I’d love your support. Please subscribe, leave a rating, and write a review. Reviews help new podcasts find their audience, and every bit of support makes a difference.
Thank you to everyone who has supported Milton and me along the way. We’re excited to finally share The Red Room with you, and we hope you’ll join us for the mystery.
Every October, the leaves start falling, pumpkin spice hits the menus, and the internet gears up for the exact same annual screaming match: what is harmless fun, and what is straight-up cultural appropriation?
In this special guest-free Halloween episode, co-hosts Koji Steven Sakai and Michelle MaliZaki bypass the tired internet finger-wagging to unpack the real cultural divide at the heart of this debate. Why do locals in Japan often love seeing tourists in kimono, while Asian Americans cringe when they see a polyester “geisha” robe at an American frat party?
Koji and Michelle conduct an autopsy on the classic aisles of Spirit Halloween—from funeral collars and kabuki stagehands to inflatable sumo suits—before stepping up as judge and jury in the Japanese America Court of Appeals to rule on anime cosplay, the Boston MFA “Kimono Wednesdays,” and 2000s pop stars. Plus: a simple, three-point litmus test to keep your Halloween costume fun, respectful, and off call-out threads.
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CREDITS
The music was created by Jalen Blank
Written by Koji Steven Sakai
Hosts: Michelle Malazaki and Koji Steven Sakai
Edited by Koji Steven Sakai
Produced by Koji Steven Sakai in conjunction with the Japanese American National Museum
Are there 5,000-year-old subterranean catacombs winding beneath the streets of Downtown Los Angeles—and was it built by a hyper-intellectual race of Lizard People?
In honor of National Lizard Day, Kat, Duane, and Koji keep it in-house to dig into one of LA’s most persistent, bizarre, and infamous underground urban legends. We trace the story back to 1933, when a mining engineer named George Warren Shufelt claimed his “radio X-ray” mapped out a 1,900-foot lizard-shaped network of tunnels hiding ancient treasure and reptilian history beneath Fort Moore Hill.
Plus, the crew breaks down how to spot a billionaire lizard in the wild, debate whether ugly people built secret underground communities, and tackle a wild Cryptid Speed Round featuring the Dog Woman of Watts, Ohio’s spark-wielding Loveland Frogman, and a green-skinned Christmas Werewolf stalking Griffith Park!
In this episode, we cover:
Billionaire Lizard Detection: How to spot a cold-blooded tech mogul by their glitching habits, yacht sunbathing, and awkward social cues.
The 1934 Dig: George Warren Shufelt’s Hopi legend claims, his radio X-ray device, and the LA Times front-page story that started it all.
The Theories: Was it an underground haven for the “aesthetically challenged,” a non-union secret Hollywood movie set, or a Japanese sleeper cell incubating Godzilla before WWII?
Cryptid Speed Round: Real or ridiculous? We review LA’s local 1961 quadruped monster, Ohio’s wizard toad, and a bizarre Griffith Park Christmas spectacle.
🎧 Listen, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to keep the truth unburied!
What are “they” not telling us? We’ll find out, figure out, and, when all else fails, make up the missing pieces to some of the most scandalous, unexplained phenomena, and true crime affecting our world today. Join comedian Dwayne Perkins, writer Koji Steven Sakai, and comedian/actor/writer Cat Alvarado on The Unofficial Official Story Podcast every month, and by the end of each episode, we’ll tell you what’s really…maybe…happening.
Welcome back to Japanese America! In Season 3, Episode 7, we step directly into one of the most monumental, legally complex, and deeply emotional chapters in our community’s history: the fight for Japanese American Redress.
While most people think of Redress in terms of the landmark Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and the 120,000 Japanese Americans forced into domestic concentration camps, there is a massive parallel story of international kidnapping and legal limbo that took decades to bring to light. In this episode, we explore the extraordinary narrative of Japanese Latin American (JLA) deportees.
Through the rare, deeply personal oral histories of the three Naganuma Brothers—Jimmy, George Kazuharu, and Kazumu Julio Cesar—we trace a family’s journey from a thriving life in Callao, Peru, to being abducted by the U.S. military, fumigated with DDT upon arrival in New Orleans, and incarcerated at the Department of Justice internment camp in Crystal City, Texas.
We examine their multi-decade battle for basic legal status after being classified as “illegal entrants,” and highlight the fierce advocacy of their sister Kiyo, whose bold confrontation with U.S. officials made her siblings some of the few Japanese Peruvians to receive the full $20,000 Redress settlement. Koji also shares his own personal connection to Crystal City, where his family was incarcerated after his grandfather gave up his citizenship, illustrating the diverse and irony-filled nature of that camp
Links & Resources Mentioned
Discover Nikkei & Densho Partnership: Listen to the full oral histories and read the complete transcripts for:
Are giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) a marvel of natural selection, or are they just highly paid actors sweating it out inside heavy plush suits to fuel a multi-million dollar international conservation scam?
This week, the crew dives deep into the bizarre biology of the world’s favorite lazy carnivore. From their evolutionary choice to eat toxic grass all day to their infamous need for mood lighting and performance drugs just to keep the species going, the math simply isn’t checking out. To help us unmask the truth, standout stand-up comedian John Campanelli joins the desk to break down the evidence, pitch his own wild theories, and reveal which modern historical figures might actually be a complete fabrication.
⚠️ A QUICK PRODUCTION NOTE FROM THE TEAM:
We want to sincerely apologize for the audio quality on this week’s episode. Koji completely messed up the recording settings in the home studio before we pressed track. He knows it sounds a little rough, he feels terrible about it, and he solemnly promises to do better next time. Thank you for bearing with us!
In this episode, we cover:
The Animatronic Zoo Opener: Why we think alligators and koalas are operating on mechanical gyroscopes.
The Incompetence Evolution: How pandas weaponized pretty privilege to force humans into taking care of them.
The Taiwan Bear Scandal: That real-life 1980s incident where a zoo painted a sun bear black and white.
The Modern Fabrication List: Why the crew suspects Banksy, Leonardo da Vinci, and a certain tech billionaire are entirely fake or alien vessels.
🎧 Listen, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star review to keep us ahead of the algorithm (and help fund Koji’s future audio engineering lessons)!
About the Guest:
John Campanelli’s debut album Nervous led LAFT Magazine to call him “A comedian for the people,” while his second release, New Phone, Who Is This?, hit #1 for New Comedy Releases. He has toured with Dane Cook, recently played Radio City Music Hall on Matt Rife’s ProbleMATTic World Tour, and appeared in Esther Povitsky’s Comedy Central special Hot For My Name and feature film Drug Store June. His television and media credits include Comics Unleashed, Gotham Comedy Live, and Adult Swim. A major staple of the Los Angeles scene, John ran long-running shows at The Comedy Store and the Laugh Factory, and currently holds residencies at the Hollywood Improv and Flappers.
What are “they” not telling us? We’ll find out, figure out, and, when all else fails, make up the missing pieces to some of the most scandalous, unexplained phenomena, and true crime affecting our world today. Join comedian Dwayne Perkins, writer Koji Steven Sakai, and comedian/actor/writer Cat Alvarado on The Unofficial Official Story Podcast every month, and by the end of each episode, we’ll tell you what’s really…maybe…happening.
