“Things have changed,” Katagiri tells Ishida with a cold, Eastwood-like rasp. Two men from Chihara-kai remain in custody from Katagiri and Nagata’s first raid, and they aren’t going anywhere. The raids on weaker clans were only the beginning, and Ishida’s men happened to be there when the hammer came down on any and all yakuza in the room. Katagiri leans in and resumes the respectful tenor with which he and Ishida worked together to preserve the balance of their worlds.
“Ishida-san, you are one of the few honorable ones,” says Katagiri. “I do not wish to see you end up in prison. This is a different world now.” It is time to shut down Chiharai-kai; get out while the getting’s good.
“You misunderstand your own country,” Ishida retorts. “Society runs smoothly because, underneath it, we hold back the chaos. There is no Japan without yakuza.” Both men are half-right here. Katagiri’s spitting facts about the violent realignment around the corner. But Ishida’s bearing some old-guard wisdom. The “honorable” yakuza of his generation ran the organization like a Night’s Watch — the fortified liaison between the over and underworlds, peace and oblivion. Their time may be coming to an end, but the eruption of chaos to follow will be “a time of monsters.”
Sure enough, the new order of cops and robbers goes full “chaotic evil” this week on Tokyo Vice. Fate wastes no time with Ishida. He’s got all the bosses together on a sick Tokyo rooftop for another one of these “suit meetings,” talking about staying united through the raids and “fighting makes us only more vulnerable” when Tozawa serves him up a classic he’s right behind me, isn’t he moment.
Equally smooth and aggressive as always, Tozawa semi-politely says he’s troubled by Chihara-kai taking some of his territory in his absence. “Honor demands you must choose. Are you with him, or are you with me?” Ishida requests a one-on-one, and everyone else bolts. Ishida forcefully argues for setting aside grievances, but maintaining order is the last thing on Tozawa’s agenda. He’s an unstoppable force heading toward a teetering monument. Ishida’s seen it all and surely his fair share of young upstarts bucking for the throne over the years. He leaves Tozawa with a warning: “You light this fire; you’re the one who will burn.”
Meanwhile, Meicho is all a buzz with the new yakuza busts. Two clans were obliterated in two weeks, and they have no idea how the police are making the arrests stick. Baku is barking at everyone to double down on their contacts. He calls Jake out in front of everyone. “Adelstein, whatever else you’ve been working on, this takes precedence.” Hell yeah, brother.
So Jake catches Katagiri in the police station parking garage and has his first run-in with Nagata’s strong arm. “Detective Katagiri is unavailable to the press,” she tells Jake forcefully when he asks his pal for some off-the-record info. No luck there. Back at the office, he tries calling Misaki while scouring the books for any law that would allow the cops to arrest and detain so quickly. He’s on the phone with his Mom (who’s passive-aggressively reminding him that his Dad’s whole world is hinging on Jake coming home for his 60th) when Misaki calls him back, asking for a meetup at their “secret spot.”
That’s where Jake finds out Tozawa’s back, “like a new man” and everything. “I won’t go back to my old life,” Misaki tells him. “I’ll see you soon.” And with that, she’s gone as quickly as she arrived. The urgency of the situation couldn’t be more apparent. Katagiri instructs him to hang back until they know where Tozawa is and how he’s well again: “Remember Jake, patience is not a weakness.” But Jake’s reporter brain is already moving, hot on the enemy’s trail.
And sure enough, Jake spots the man himself, in the flesh, looking as fly as ever, at the Lawers’ Offices representing Hishinuma-kai after the raid. While there, he also finds out the police are charging the yakuza with Obstruction of Police Duty, a law normally used against political agitators. The city is moving to a dangerous new rhythm Jake hadn’t been hip to the day before.
Elsewhere, Sato and Hayama are on the train to Nagano to meet Ota, a wild, old ex-Chihara-kai who remains loyal to the organization. Ishida’s finally given into the whole buying guns idea, and he’s sent his number one- and number two-boy to get them from one of Ota’s contacts. They haven’t even reached their destination, and already Hayama’s taking every possible opportunity to be an absolute fucking demon. “Kaito told me of your … kindness.” Sato tells Hayama. The day before, his little brother had basically told him to fuck off at Sato’s warning to stay away from Hayama. Now Hayama’s returning his plea to leave Kaito alone with another fiendish taunt. “Tell your mother,” he says, “I’ll take care of him.”
Out at Ota’s shack in the woods, things continue to play out like a Beau is Afraid-type picaresque dark comedy of errors for Sato. Ota’s a kooky old bastard, upping the ante on Hayama’s incessant razzing, stoking the literal flames that are about to light up on his own ass. Sato watches helplessly as these two hot-heads get drunker and more belligerent by the minute over a game of five-finger filet. When the game finally erupts into actual combat, Ota gets a stab in on Hayama’s leg, which is more than all it takes for Hayama to gut him back, slit his throat, light the shack ablaze, and botch the whole fucking errand. A fitting end to an excruciating, slow-burn demonstration of the chaos to come from the young punks waiting to take their seats of power. A new keeper of the old guard, Hayama will not be.
For both Samantha and Jake, the night ends on the same resounding “oh fuck” note. Samantha successfully infiltrates Ohno’s incredible house by the sea, sneaks away to his office, and sneaks a photo of the railway station plans for Ishida while the poor guy’s chopping carrots in the kitchen like an absolute wholesome snack of a bougie bachelor. The little heist is a success until Ohno notices his bag has been left unclasped. “Samantha, if you make a deal with Oyabun, you must deliver,” Sato had told her. “If you fail, I’m not sure I can help you.” If she didn’t have her wheelin’ and dealin’ work cut out for her before, she sure does now.
Back in the city, Jake tails Tozawa to a meeting with Chairman Nakahara. He can’t get in the building but sticks around long enough to watch Nakahara hit the pavement mere yards away. “You are a street punk lucky enough to marry into a powerful family,” Nakahara tells Tozawa before his own men turn against him and throw him off the top of the building. “Know your place.” But Tozawa’s more in the “manifest your place” mood these days. He knows word will get out about this, and fast. He’s counting on it.
Off the Record
• Emi’s off-the-clock inquiries into the office fire that destroyed the Yoshino video are slowly percolating into a full-blown, off-the-record investigation. In hushed tones with Baku in his office, she shares that every Meicho’s AV department member said the same thing about the fire. None of them could have started it. Baku wants to blame faulty wiring, but Emi pushes enough to make it clear that foul play is the more likely scenario, given the timing. Baku tells her to drop it. He’ll have the paper investigate discreetly. Thanks for letting him know, etc. Not sus at all, bro.
• Tokyo Vice continues to provide a well of pop-anthropological character work. Take Trendy’s night out with Jason from the U.S. Embassy. Jason flubs an interaction with another guy at the gay club Trendy takes him to and asks him “what he does” for a living. “We don’t discuss personal matters here,” Trendy explains. “Work at work. Home at home. Bar at bar.” Jason makes a very American-sounding case for living life completely outside the closet. All life should be lived on a wide-open plain, all out in the open. Not necessarily an option when you operate in a complex social ecosystem, thriving or dying by how well you play in your respective lanes.
• Shoutout to Josef Kubota Wladyka for directing the living hell out of the last two episodes — the kind of visual steady hand that reassures you you’re watching the best show on the air right at the midway point.
Andy Andersen , 2024-02-23 00:42:19
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