Japanese stars Ito Hideaki (“Tokkai”), Kasamatsu Sho (“Flowers and Rain”) and Yamashita Tomohisa (“The Toronto Man”) have joined the cast as regulars in the series on “Tokyo Vice.” The series is supported by HBO Max broadcast service, Japan’s leading pay-TV company Wowow and Endeavor Content.
The series of police dramas in Japanese and English features a previously announced cast that includes Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, and Kikuchi Rinko.
The series is loosely inspired by the memoirs of 2009 American journalist Jake Adelstein, “Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Strike in Japan.” The series was created and written by Tony’s winning playwright, JT Rogers. Michael Mann directed the pilot episode. Destiny Daniel Cretton (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”) also directs.
Portrayed by Elgort in the series, Adelstein was the first foreigner to work crime for a Japanese newspaper and spent 12 years there. His book was first published in 2009 and has been translated into several languages. John Lesher opted for the book nine years ago and led the development and production.
The series tells Adelstein’s first-hand account of the battered Tokyo metropolitan police when he joins Tokyo’s deputy squadron to uncover corruption. The series narrates Adelstein’s daily descent into the sordid belly of Tokyo, where nothing and no one is really what or what they look like.
Ito plays Miyamoto, a deputy detective who is very good at his job and knows it. Kasamatsu plays Sato, a member of the Chihara-Kai crime family, while Yamashita portrays Akira, a professional host who is not as honest as he seems.
Other new additions to the cast include: Sugata Shun as Ishida, the leader of the Yakuza Chihara-kai group; Hagiwara Masato as Duke, the manager of the luxury hostess club; Tanida Ayumi as Tozawa, the leader of the Tozawa-gumi Yakuza group; and Toyohara Kosuke as Baku, supervisor of the newspaper company where Jake works, played by Ansel Elgort.
Mann is also executive producer of JT Rogers, Emily Gerson Saines, Alan Poul, Jake Adelstein, Elgort, Cretton, Watanabe, Brad Caleb Kane, Washio Kayo and Lesher.
The completed series will air exclusively on HBO Max in the United States in early 2022. Wowow will air and broadcast the series in Japan in the spring of 2022. Endeavor Content is in charge of worldwide distribution.