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Tokyo Vice Goes to Press
Jake’s big exposé, and what it took to publish it, cements the series as a great gangster show that’s also a great journalism show.
In his capacity as a reporter, Jake grows close to the unflinching detective Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe), who believes that balance among the various yakuza gangs must be maintained to keep Tokyo safe and running smoothly. And in his capacity as just a 20-something dude who hangs out at various clubs, he connects with fellow American Sam (Rachel Keller), a hostess at an establishment favored by the yakuza, including up-and-coming Chihara-Kai member Sato (Show Kasamatsu, single-handedly making smoking sexy again). The parallels between Emi and Jake, and their relationships with Ozaki and Katagiri, are precise enough to let us understand the complicated role journalism plays in a society where law and order are compromised by so much — by the yakuza and their money, by the failures of the police, by the rigidity of the government — and to encourage us to consider whether the journalistic expectation of objectivity can realistically function in such a system.
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