'Tokyo Vice' Bosses on That Violent Ending and Having an Idea for ...

Logo text

[This story contains major spoilers from the finale of season two of Tokyo Vice, “Endgame.”]

Shinzo Tozawa (Ayumi Tanida) had dreams of becoming the one supreme oyabun (leader) of the yakuza crime syndicate in Japan.

In the season two finale of Tokyo Vice (now streaming on Max), those dreams ended with his violent demise — by his own hands.

Initially, it appeared in the series — which is filled with twists and turns of the bloody yakuza subculture in Japan, as it’s covered by American journalist Jake Adelstein, played by Ansel Elgort, who co-stars alongside Ken Watanabe — that Tozawa played a winning hand by murdering rival clan leaders, and threatening to kill police officers and reporters (and their families) who appeared to hurt his climb to absolute power in Tokyo and beyond.

But in all the yakuza leader’s ruthlessness, Tozawa made one major misstep. He showed blatant disrespect and dishonor toward his wife, Kazuko Tozawa (Makiko Watanabe), who fell in love with Tozawa when he was a young petty criminal in the streets of Tokyo and who helped build him up through her powerful yakuza family. When her husband’s repugnance was more than she could stomach, Kazuko set in motion for damning documentation to be found by Adelstein, Tokyo’s Police and, eventually, the yakuza clans that would bring about his downfall.

She outs Tozawa for sharing yakuza secrets with the FBI in exchange for being able to fly to the U.S. for liver surgery, and tells her husband there is only one solution for this treachery to the organization. She says she will tell their children that their father died honorably. Tozawa then takes his own life by cutting his throat (an act that isn’t shown on camera). 

The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with Tokyo Vice’s creator/executive producer J.T. Rogers and the director/executive producer Alan Poul to discuss the intricate details of filming in Japan, developing friendships and understanding in a different culture, working with a Japanese acting legend, and the possibility of a third season.

***

Tozawa met a violent and bloody end to his reign of terror in the season finale. And the final blow wouldn’t come directly from the yakuza clans, but by his own two hands. Why was taking his own life the only way that Tozawa could be punished for his sins?

J.T. ROGERS Well, the honest truth is that I planned for that to happen literally years ago when I was writing the show. The question was not, did he have to? The question was, if he is going to meet his end, what is a realistic, cinematically exciting, plot surprising, but also in the culture of the yakuza at that moment, realistic way, and reason why he would take his own life?

ALAN POUL But also remember, the show is fiction. So when we talk about authenticity, it’s what possibly could’ve happened, what doesn’t feel like it is based on a misunderstanding of the culture. But it’s also not a documentary, because it’s a crime drama. In the case of Tozawa, what J.T. has built is a very specific situation in which the one person he had underestimated, being his wife, has been in cahoots with the other oyabuns (leaders of the yakuza clans) to engineer this situation. That specifically may not have ever happened, but the way we stacked the deck, yes it was plausible. That’s what I would say.

What is the name of the ritual where a leader like Tozawa takes his own life?

POUL You’re talking about seppuku, also known as hara-kiri, which would not have been appropriate. And that involves a ritual of disembowelment, or you put the dagger into your own stomach. So, we made it clear that he simply cut his own throat, which is not the noble samurai way but is certainly the easier way out. But if we had depicted him, as some Western shows might, committing seppuku, that would have been a lie, because that wouldn’t happen. The yakuza cut off their little finger when it’s demanded of them, but the only modern instance of that kind of ritual death is when the author Yukio Mishima did it in 1970, and he did it as a very dramatic symbolic act. But other than that, that doesn’t happen.

Alan, did it become easier to shoot and produce this series over the five years it was in production? If so, in what ways? Was the pilot shot in 2019?

POUL Well, no. It’s actually four years. We started prepping 2019. We shot six days of the pilot, six days only in March of 2020, then we were shut down by COVID for eight months. So, most of the pilot was shot toward the end of 2020, and season one into 2021, but it’s been a long haul. And the difference between what it was like to shoot season one and what it was like to shoot season two is night and day. Because in season one it was in the middle of COVID, nobody knew us or trusted us; they just knew we were a bunch of Americans coming in to make a show about yakuza, so they assumed. And based on history, they assumed correctly, that we would get everything wrong. And then when we came back for season two, we went from being pariahs to being VIP, because the Japanese had seen season one and they knew that we had paid attention and we had gotten it right, and that the show was authentic and true to the nature of the country. And so, doors opened up that had not been available to us before.

I’ll just complete what I was saying before, which is that really the key players in turning this around, as I said, one was that that the Japanese liked and respected the show after having seen it, but the governor of Tokyo, a woman named Yuriko Koike, became a fan and welcomed us into her office and pledged the support of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for season two. So, it’s a symbolic nod, but in terms of making it OK for people to cooperate with us, it was a huge turning point.

ROGERS Yes, I think that in a way, we had to get season one done and out. Because you can say everything you wanted about being authentic, and that we’re doing everything we can to be respectful and veracity is important to us. But, proof is in the pudding. In terms of learning about the culture, especially the yakuza culture — the police culture, the (hostess clubs of Kabukicho) nightlife that Sam [Porter, played by Rachel Keller] is in most seasons — obviously the real Jake Adelstein’s book is a starting point; I’ve known him since high school. But I spent a lot of time traveling years ago in his pocket, meeting people from this world. And Alan has a long history of working and living in Japan; he’s fluent in Japanese. And we made every effort to not only with ourselves but with this show, to have mostly Japanese people, Japanese artists, Japanese actors, Japanese designers, Japanese crew, Japanese creators.

So, everyone was obsessed with the idea that, if you were a policeman in the late ’90s in Tokyo, or a journalist or a yakuza, you could come and see our show and say, “My goodness, that’s how it was!” And that’s been gratifying to get that feedback. But sometimes we would have to stop shooting in the middle of something to have a conversation about a detail, a line. Just a long, wonderful but laborious process.

Can you share more insight on how you were able to show the audience so many details in the yakuza culture and way of life, besides relying on Adelstein’s book?

ROGERS To be clear, legally and following the rules, no one in our show can speak to anyone who is a member of the yakuza. It is illegal. And we have not, and I want to be very clear about that. But when you leave the yakuza, you’re excommunicated or you choose to leave; you negotiate leaving and then you’re out in the real world. And so, a lot of the yakuza who are extras, a lot of people with extraordinary tattoos were extras, were ex-yakuza who were advisers who spoke with us.

Again, all of them were former members, but they are of the world; so, once they saw the point of the show from the way I designed it at the beginning — that we’re going to explore this multifaceted world, we’re not going to make a show just about good guys and bad guys, but we’re going to be respectful to all parties — then they opened up. And again, Alan spending a great deal of time as the intermediary and the dual-language, dual-culture expert was immensely helpful.

And that’s how you were able to get that beautiful imagery and detailed scene of the ritual where Akiro Sato (Show Kasamatsu) is being initiated as the new leader of the Chihara-Kai yakuza clan?

POUL So, for a scene like that, of course it is also echoing the scene from the pilot of season one that Michael Mann shot. And it was shot in the same location. But we had our yakuza consultant, who is a certified ex-yakuza, on set the entire time to make sure that every gesture, every movement, every intonation — it’s a very stilted language — or what he does during the ceremony, making sure that all of that was letter-perfect in a way that not just the Japanese audience but even the yakuza would be able to appreciate it as authentic.

Show Kasamatsu told me (in an interview running on THR tomorrow) that Shun Sugata, who plays Hitoshi Ishida, is a legend in Japan, and it was nerve-wracking to act alongside him. How was it working with Sugata, who is this superstar in Japanese cinema?

ROGERS It was so, so great! And also, from our point of view, I was just amazed, having multiple years, making two seasons with this character. Just every day on set I would be confounded by how he would be on the camera waving his gun, or just feeling like he is waving a gun because he has that gravitas, that voice and that presence. And the camera stops and he turns and becomes a teddy bear, “Oh J.T., how are you …,” and you’re like, “How is that possible?” (Laughs.) So, yeah, he is a legend! He’s extraordinary and just a joy to work with.

POUL I am a little surprised that Show was intimidated once he started working with him, because he is the sweetest man alive and he loves to joke around and giggle. But then, as soon as the director says “action,” he’s terrifying!

ROGERS Terrifying. Just click your fingers and he transforms.

All of those things go into building trust in a Japanese culture that some would call a closed society. Were there challenges in doing it with an American production company?

ROGERS We had a herculean challenge, especially for our location crew in season one. I give a lot of props to them for what they were able to do, because it’s a culture that is very different than ours. Especially in New York or Los Angeles, it’s like, “You want to close down the street? That’s great! We make a little money for the city; everyone will deal with it.” This is the complete opposite. “Why would you close the street? We have to talk to the policeman on the street, and that madam so and so, who lives in that corner, if she wants to go get bread across the street, we have to shut down your shoot, literally. And if she complains, we’re going to throw you out, because you are inconveniencing us. We’re not interested, we’re not here for Hollywood.” As a citizen, I respect that very much; so, we had to have many, many meetings for every single location and say, “This is why we have to come back.” And it’s just a great deal of patience.

But one of the things that we learned in season one, and that I certainly learned as the creator and writer of the show, is that Tokyo is actually a main character. The city itself is a main character, so we actually wanted to be even more on location in season two.  So again, that’s a hat tip to the location team. It was easier, as Alan talked about, and having the ambassador too was very helpful. But it was still a huge mountain to climb. All of us are really proud of how much of the city is shown in season two.

J.T., will there be a third season? And if so, what might it look like, since it seems like you’ve tied the first two seasons up in a bloody bow?

ROGERS Well, we would love to make a season three. As you know, we have to see how all the tea leaves play out and all of that. I have a whole story ready to go and other than it being called Tokyo Vice, I’m not going to tell you anything. (Laughs.) I’m not going to give myself away. But it will be full of twists and turns.

Tokyo Vice season two is now streaming on Max.