We’re in the thick of it now, folks. “The best show in town,†as our big baddie Tozawa describes it. Longtime kaicho Noburu Nkahara has just been thrown from atop a building, the trail to his murderer already clouded in the fog of conspiracy. The police run with the suicide angle at the press conference the following day. A suicide note was found on the scene and authenticated. But everyone in our ragtag crew of Tokyo underground operators knows what it all really means: Tozawa is taking over the entire Kansai operation.
From the back of the room, Nagata notices Jake and Trendy pressing for questions. “Your gaijin is smarter than he looks,†she tells Katagiri. They both agree that if Tozawa has returned, then his gumi must be the next target. Katagiri confesses that, months prior, Tozawa had threatened his and his family’s lives, and he still hasn’t told Headquarters because he doesn’t know who to trust over there anymore. Nagata reassures him that she’ll make sure his family is protected. He’ll be assigned to an unconnected case, but just on the books.
Back in the pressroom, Emi runs into her boyfriend, Shingo. His team at Tokyo Weekly have found something on the topic of Meicho’s videotape fire. One of his reporters looked into Kazushin Holdings, a series of corporations owned by Kazuko Tozawa (Makiko Watanabe). All legitimate businesses on paper, but they make significant donations to several Nationalist political groups, one of which Emi’s boss, Baku, is also a member of. Is Baku on Tozawa’s payroll? Shingo hates the guy, but he doubts it. More likely, “sometimes he looks away, or does a few things here and there behind the scenes.â€
“Like getting rid of a videotape,†Emi responds.
That same morning, Samantha wakes up at Ohno’s — caught red-handed with photos of the Shimbashi station plans the night before. “I’m so sorry, I won’t tell them what I saw,†she tells Ohno. She’ll say that she was caught first and couldn’t find anything. Ohno knows that’ll be real bad news for Samantha, so he proposes another venture they could present to Ishida together. There’s a new project he’s working on in the early stages. If Ishida were to buy up the surrounding real estate, the owners of this private venture would profit and likely ask no questions.
Meanwhile, Samantha will enlist Jake to publish the Shimbashi project and make it worthless, which will make their new proposal a valuable replacement. It’s sort of convenient that Ohno’s not only down to facilitate this whole thing (his job may now depend on it, after all) but seems to genuinely feel for Samantha and understand her plight. “I know what it is to need forgiveness,†he tells her. (Shout-out to Takayuki Suzuki and Rachel Keller for taking this cool but tumultuous ships-passing-in-the-night dynamic to the finish line.)
Breakfast at the Tozawas proves less conflict resolution and more conflict acceleration. Shinzo puts a new necklace around the neck of his wife, Kazuko: “Thank you for keeping the fires burning while I was away.â€
“Nakahara was my father’s brother-in-law,†she responds curtly. The biggest fire burning while her husband was away was clearly her ire. “We are on the verge of something unprecedented,†Tozawa responds. “Nakahara-san was in the way.†But Nakahara understood the need for boundaries between the legitimate businesses of the organization and the questionable side hustles with which Shinzo is currently running rampant. In his absence, Kazuko has continued to cultivate the necessary relationships in government and finance to help bring her husband’s volatile plans to fruition. His return and insistence on taking the reins of the family business will only gum up the works. “Without my family you would still be nothing,†she says. “As you were when I met you.†The weight of Tozawa’s situation — that he’s a low-level yakuza thug who came to power by marrying into a wealthy, powerful family — has been creeping up on him the last few episodes, and now we’re getting a clearer view than ever of who’s really wielding the big stick of power here. When Shinzo slams his hand on the table, gets up, and rips the necklace from his wife’s neck, the implied threat feels hollow.
After all, “having a death wish isn’t sexy,†as Samantha tells Jake later on at the club. He’s just told her Tozawa’s back in town and he aims to make him pay for what he did to Polina. “I’d rather not find out one day you just disappeared and there will be no consequences,†she reiterates. On the plus side of things, though, Jake’s going to set up the leak of the Shimbashi station project at Meicho. Emi gives him the go-ahead to have the article ready for the next day’s edition, and Jake throws the story Tin Tin’s way — coaching him on how to interview at the Ministry of Transportation. “Make them think that you already have proof of the location,†Jake instructs. “You just need confirmation. But don’t say the name.†Tin Tin flubs it on that last part, giving up the name at the Ministry in a pinch. The representative he’s speaking to says he’ll get back to him on the confirmation, only to announce the Shimbashi station project on TV the next day. Samantha and Ohno’s plan is now activated, but Tin Tin’s story (and pride) is crushed.
“Everything went according to plan?†That night, Ishida takes a look at the Soviet surplus pistols Sato and Hayama are peddling as the weapons they successfully procured from Ota. Sure, Oyabun, everything went according to plan … ish. Ishida knows Hayama’s “slipped and fell†excuse for his limp is bullshit, but he doesn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he bids Hayama good work and “dismissed,†and asks Sato to hang back. The Shimbashi project was announced early and Sam just DM’d him with a meeting request with Ohno at the club. “I want you there,†says Ishida. “A lesson may have to be taught.â€
Before the big meeting, Sato pays a visit to Jake at the batting cages. Always one to return a favor with yet another favor request and a shit-eating grin, Jake presents Sato with a sneaker box with just one shoe in it — “One more favor and I’ll give you the other.†Where do yakuza go when they have a liver issue (“illness of the tradeâ€)? According to Sato, there’s a German doctor in Thailand who does a weird blood-infusion thing that works for about six months. Then they die. Later on, in a conference with Katagiri and Nagata, Jake tries to put the pieces together, suggesting Tozawa tried to blackmail Minister Shigematsu, then went to Thailand when he failed to get clearance into the U.S. for medical care. “This is wishful thinking,†Katagiri advises. Tozawa “did not come back and kill Nakahara just to die.†They’re onto something here, but they’ve got to keep digging.
Meanwhile, Tozawa’s going full-steam ahead with his master plan, addressing a yakuza gathering that includes their “brothers from Kansai.†Everyone in attendance knows what Tozawa did, and a guy from the Kansai table finally confronts it head-on. “Transition is difficult,†Tozawa responds, “but most of you understand that our future glitters.†Tozawa isn’t bucking for Oyabun here. There will be no more oyabun. “I will be your president,†he says. The Tozawa corporation (a.k.a. his wife’s money and connections to legitimate power, surely an enticing resource for everyone in the room) will ensure them all dividends. No more paying tribute.
And if they don’t join Tozawa? They won’t last long. “The police are devouring all our enemies for us,†he says. “One by one. It’s the best show in town.†Tozawa’s aim is higher than the organization’s historical bevy of shady and semi-legit businesses. He wants a seat on every major boardroom in Japan. It’s a rousing speech, and it gets everyone, including the Kansai crew, to accept Tozawa’s proposed new order.
It’s a shifting tide that bodes ill for the Chihara-kai folks at Club Polina tonight. Despite Erika’s warning everything’s on track for Ishida and Sato’s arrival. Not gonna lie, I’ve been on pins and needles waiting for Ishida, my current reigning fictional father figure, to fully acknowledge that Hayama ain’t shit. He immediately recognizes Sato’s confession of procuring the guns weeks before, against his orders, as the wisdom of a true oyabun. “One day, your judgment will protect the Chihara-kai,†Ishida says. “When you are its leader.â€
Hey, we’ve seen Gladiator, right folks? We know what happens when a wise old “emperor†tells his most trusted adviser and adopted son in private that he’s going to supersede the heir to the throne. And wouldn’t you know it, just as Ishida’s semi-begrudgingly accepted Ohno and Sam’s proposal at Club Polina, a pair of masked gunmen come barging in and start shooting up the place. The proceeding firefight claims wounded on both sides, but none more thoroughly than Ishida (who goes down swinging like the supreme badass he is). The fall of Chihara-kai’s Oyabun is sorely felt, not just because we love the guy, but out of mourning for the last thread of old-school honor we know he’s taking with him.
Off the Record
• Sato crosses paths with his mom while trying to drop Jake’s gift sneakers off at Kaito’s apartment. Kaito’s been getting in fights at school, and now he’s in danger of being expelled. “I can’t lose both my sons,†she says. “If [Kaito] throws away his life, it will be your fault. Fix this.†One reckons a cascading, path-converging reckoning on the horizon for Sato and his brothers, both real and found.
• Tin Tin’s fuck-up at the Ministry of Transportation is his and his alone, but his frustration with Jake is not only understandable but resonant. Jake is a gifted reporter, but watching this American get ahead by doing his big, brash American thing in a Japanese world while getting burned under the exhaust of his chaotic, meteoric rise isn’t a prolonged work scenario I’d wish on my worst enemy.
• Perfectly timed, eye-roll-inducing (but in a fun way), time-capsule moment at Club Polina when Sam tells the ladies at the club they have an important guest coming. “Is it Liam Gallagher?†Nice to be reminded at the halfway mark: On Tokyo Vice, we party strictly like it’s 1999.