Tokyo Vice, the gritty, neo-noir BBC drama series set in the Japanese capital, is returning for a second season.
Based on the 2009 book of the same name by Jake Adelstein, the US show stars Ansel Elgort (Jake) and Ken Watanabe (Hiroto) as an American journalist and veteran detective respectively.
In season one, viewers watched Jake arrive in Tokyo to join the staff of a major Japanese newspaper. After passing a written exam in Japanese, he becomes their first foreign-born journalist before being taken under the wing of Detective Hiroto, in the vice squad. Together, the pair uncover the dark and dangerous world of the Japanese yakuza.
While the first series left viewers on a cliffhanger, Elgort insists that fans of the show will appreciate the creative decisions made during the second series, which runs to 10 episodes, compared with the first one’s eight.
“Unlike season one, the end of this season [two] – the last bite you get is going to leave you satisfied,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “You’re not going to be like ‘Wait! That’s the end?’
“It doesn’t leave you on any cliffhangers. It doesn’t do that TV thing where it’s just trying to get you ready for the next season. It’s going to leave you satisfied at the end and with a great viewing experience.”
The second series, which has already been broadcast in the US on HBO, has been described by Variety as “one of the most finely rendered urban portraits on TV, a crime drama that resists sensationalism in favour of a more patient and character-forward approach”.
With new episodes set to be released on the BBC in May, here is everything we know about Tokyo Vice.
Who is in the Tokyo Vice cast?
Most of the familiar faces from season one of Tokyo Vice have returned for season two.
Jake Adelstein as Ansel Elgort
The 30-year-old son of legendary fashion photographer, Arthur, Ansel Elgort gained widespread recognition for his role in the 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars.
In 2017, he played the title character in Edgar Wright’s action thriller Baby Driver, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture. And in 2021, he starred as Tony in Steven Spielberg’s musical film West Side Story.
Other film appearances include The Goldfinch and Billionaire Boys Club.
Ken Watanabe as Hiroto Katagiri
Ken Watanabe is best known to Western audiences for his performance as Lord Katsumoto in the 2003 film The Last Samurai – which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
He has also appeared in the films Memoirs of a Geisha, Batman Begins, Letters from Iwo Jima, Inception, Godzilla, Transformers: Age of Extinction and The Creator.
Recent rumours indicate that he may be in the running for an Emmy’s Best Actor nomination for his performance in season two of Tokyo Vice. Watch this space.
Samantha Porter as Rachel Keller
Rachel Keller’s Samantha is a US expat and former Mormon who makes her living as a hostess in the Onyx Club of the Kabukicho district.
In real life, Keller is best known for her roles as Sydney “Syd” Barrett in the FX TV series Legion and as Simone Gerhardt in the second season of Fargo.
Her work in Write When You Get Work earned her a nomination at 2020’s British Independent Film Festival.
Show Kasamatsu as Akiro Sato
In the series, Show Kasamatsu plays a skilled member and enforcer of the Chihara-Kai gang. As well as collecting protection money around Tokyo, Akiro is Samantha’s handler in the Onyx Club.
His secret crush on the American helps Akiro see a way out of the yakuza lifestyle – and also means his world quickly collides with that of Jake’s.
Before Tokyo Vice, Kasamatsu appeared in few English-language productions. He is best known in the UK and America for his work in Gannibal, a Disney+ sci-fi horror.
Other cast members
- Hideaki Itō (Lessons of Evil and Umizaru) as Jin Miyamoto
- Ella Rumpf (Raw and Tiger Girl) as Polina
- Rinko Kikuchi (Babel and Pacific Rim) as Emi Maruyama
- Tomohisa Yamashita (Code Blue: The Movie) as Akira
- Miki Maya (The Quiz Show) as Shoko Nagata
- Yōsuke Kubozuka (Silence) as Naoki Hayama
- Shun Sugata (Kill Bill and The Last Samurai) as Hitoshi Ishida
- Takaki Uda (Ramen Girl) as Jun “Trendy” Shinohara
- Kosuke Tanaka (One More Student) as Makoto “Tintin” Kurihira
- Masato Hagiwara (Cure) as Duke
Where is Tokyo Vice filmed?
“There was never a question about whether we were going to shoot Tokyo Vice entirely in Japan,” HBO Max’s head of original content told the Hollywood Reporter.
Sarah Aubrey was always adamant that Tokyo Vice was going to be shot in the city on which the story was based.
And, while the setting of Tokyo offers viewers a gritty, exotic backdrop to an equally unique TV show, it also posed a massive challenge to the showmakers.
The reason why so few film productions – especially Western ones – are set in Japan’s capital is because of its notorious reputation as being one the most challenging cities to navigate as a film or television creator.
Producer Todd Sharp said: “I’ve shot almost everywhere in the world, and in most places, the scenery and the languages change, but you can operate in more or less the same way.
“But Japan is a totally different world in terms of how the film industry works and how the local population feels about it.
“The only way to work here is to assuage every concern, and demonstrate extreme conscientiousness at all times – and let’s be honest, that’s not how everyone in this industry tends to behave.”
Luckily, Tokyo Vice pulled off the seemingly impossible, offering a truly immersive experience of one of Asia’s greatest metropolises.
Throughout the series, Japan enthusiasts can spot iconic landmarks of the city, including The Don Quijote store on the corner of Yasukuni Dōri Avenue, where international visitors flock to pick up traditional Japanese games; Golden Gai, a well-known neighbourhood for tiny drinking spots, near the entertainment district of Shinjuku; and Park Hyatt, which was originally made famous for Western audiences by the Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson film Lost in Translation.
The main districts where location managers decided to film the show were the commercial district of Akasaka, Kabukicho – widely viewed as the red light district of Tokyo – and the buzzing neighbourhood of Shinjuku, best known for its vibrant nightlife and a variety of lively bars and restaurants
When will the second series be shown on the BBC?
The crime drama first premiered on BBC One in November 2022.
The second series returns to screens on 14 May with the first episode Don’t Ever F***ing Miss starting at 10.40pm.
There will be at least one new episode out every week, but if you cannot wait, every episode from both series is available to stream on BBC iPlayer right now.