♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
MICHAEL MANN: It's fascinating when you are parachuting
inside the details of a culture
and looking at it from the inside out.
J.T. ROGERS: Tokyo Vice is inspired by
the memoir of the same title and the life of Jake Adelstein.
It's a deep dive into the various underworlds
of Tokyo in the late '90s.
It's a story about outsiders and insiders.
The behavior, the attitudes, the background, the history.
The world of Tokyo Vice is really four worlds.
There's the world of journalists,
there's the world of the police,
there's the world of yakuza,
and there's the world of nightlife and the hostess clubs
where all three of the other worlds
kind of intermingle.
DIRECTOR: Mark it. Action.
(SPEAKING IN JAPANESE)
Jake is our guide.
MANN: He's a young American
in pursuit of an outrageous ambition.
You wish to be a crime reporter in Japan.
(SPEAKING IN JAPANESE)
No foreigner has worked here, ever.
I understand.
Jake is really determined.
He really loves challenges,
and that was me with this project.
(SPEAKING IN JAPANESE)
Ansel is a joy to work with.
ROGERS: His ability and dedication
to creating a sense of authenticity
has been really exciting to watch.
MANN: Some of the preparation was to have Ansel go
and investigate a story, pursue it.
To bring the actor into actually having those skill sets,
which Ansel pursued fervently.
HIROTO KATAGIRI: Everything you do has consequences.
There is always a cost.
ROGERS: Ken Watanabe plays Detective Katagiri,
who becomes a sort of father figure to Jake.
(SPEAKING IN JAPANESE)
Ken-san is a deeply warm and generous person,
who knows what he wants and how to perform it.
MANN: Ken Watanabe, the first day we were shooting,
it's just walking up the sidewalk.
And when he walks up the sidewalk,
he steals all your attention.
It's just hijacked.
And I remember thinking to myself,
"That's called a movie star."
The biggest and most exciting challenge is:
How do you convey that tension and excitement and humor
between two cultures interacting with each other?
You think because you're a foreigner,
the rules are different?
Not at this company, and not with me.
SAMANTHA: So why are you doing this?
JAKE ADELSTEIN: Giving up and going home is not an option.
You know what I mean?
I know exactly what you mean.
JOHN LESHER: Rachel Keller plays the part of Samantha.
She's a hostess at a hostess bar in Tokyo.
Japan has always been a part of my life,
so I was really excited to start learning Japanese.
(SPEAKING IN JAPANESE)
RACHEL KELLER: Samantha is trying to reclaim her agency over her life.
If you wanna change your life, change your life.
It's really, really hard.
But I did it.
Sato is a young member of a yakuza family.
When the actor, Shô, walked in the room,
I say, "Action."
And then suddenly, there was a gravitas about him.
And I just thought,
"Man, this guy is like Japanese James Dean."
(RHYTHMIC CLAPPING)
ROGERS: We track Sato's struggle to define who he is going to be,
and what kind of life he's going to have.
(RHYTHMIC CLAPPING)
I could write about you.
But then I'd have to kill you.
(CHUCKLES)
(RHYTHMIC CLAPPING)
(MIMICS GUNSHOT)
ALAN POUL: We are the first American show
shot entirely in Japan.
MANN: There's so much visual beauty.
And we were able to shoot in places
and reveal parts of Tokyo that you could never get.
ROGERS: What a thrill to have Michael
be setting the tone, visually, for the series.
The master of noir.
The master of nighttime urban cinema.
To sort of watch him lay the template,
and to work with him in casting the characters
to begin the show,
to talk through how the world would go forward,
has been fascinating.
MANN: I work with a fantastic production designer
named Jeff Mann who-- No relation.
I think the sets he designed,
particularly Onyx, the Onyx hostess club.
I think it's brilliant.
It's some of the best production design,
you know, that I've had.
(SPEAKING IN JAPANESE)
MANN: John Grillo lit the show for me.
And then Roberto De Angelis, the camera operator.
These are people I've used for decades.
And what they contribute is quite fantastic.
DIEGO GARCIA: It's interesting how being in a new place inspires you.
The architecture, the colors, the shapes.
LESHER: I love stories that take you into a world
otherwise you wouldn't get to see.
And I think Tokyo Vice really does that.
Do you trust me?
Show the slick veneer of the '90s,
and then all the deep, traditional nature
of Japanese culture that's just underneath the surface.
You really get to see the underbelly of the city.
ROGER: It's a story about the outsider struggling to remake themselves
in the vision of how they want to be.
MANN: It's our ambition to bring the audience
into a whole different world.
♪ (MUSIC CLIMAXES) ♪