Tokyo Film Commission-supported drama “TOKYO VICE” to air and stream in US and Japan

TFC is assisting a new TV drama entitled “TOKYO VICE”

A major TV series with a total budget of 8.8 billion yen in which the Tokyo Film Commission (TFC) is involved, Tokyo Vice will stream in the US on HBO Max in 2022 and, in Japan, be aired and streamed exclusively by WOWOW in spring 2022.
One of the executive producers of the series and director of the first episode is Michael Mann, whose acclaimed works include the legendary “Miami Vice” series (‘84-89), “Heat” (’96), “The Insider” (’99), which was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Director, and the movie “Miami Vice” (’06). In November 2020, Mann paid a courtesy visit to Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike regarding the filming.

Cast as the protagonist Jake is up-and-coming Hollywood star Ansel Elgort, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in “Baby Driver” (’17) and played the lead in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” (’21). In the role of capable detective Katagiri is Ken Watanabe, world-renowned actor in “The Last Samurai” (’03), “Letters From Iwo Jima” (’06), “Inception” (’10), and “The Sea of Trees” (’16), while Jake’s senior reporter Eimi Maruyama is played by Rinko Kikuchi, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in “Babel” (’07) and starred in Hollywood hits such as “Pacific Rim” (’13) and “47 Ronin” (’13).

TFC has helped the series filming in locations around Tokyo.

Story

Jake, who has just graduated from Japanese university, joins a major newspaper and is put on the police beat. Over time, he befriends a detective with complicated connections to the underworld. He grows closer to the detective’s family and Japanese society as a result, but as he stubbornly pursues an exclusive scoop and aids in an investigation, he is drawn further into this unknown world – a world of intrigue and betrayal, vivid love and hate that is Tokyo’s fearsome underbelly.