HBO's Tokyo Vice is still a perfect weekend binge

Crime dramas have become a crowded field, with many shows recycling familiar beats and interchangeable backlots. Tokyo Vice separates itself by treating its setting as more than a backdrop: 1990s Tokyo — its geography, institutions and culture — drives the story as much as the crimes themselves.

Developed by J.T. Rogers and executive produced by Michael Mann, the two-season series adapts Jake Adelstein’s memoir into a stylized descent into rain-slicked, neon-tinged streets. The plot loosely follows American reporter Jake Adelstein, played by Ansel Elgort, as he covers the Tokyo police beat at the fictional Meicho Shimbun and navigates a Yakuza world undergoing a violent identity crisis.

Veteran performances anchor the show: Ken Watanabe plays Hiroto Katagari, a detective whose calm exterior masks systemic exhaustion, while Rinko Kikuchi’s Emi Maruyama battles newsroom inertia and entrenched sexism.

Japan, Tokyo

tokyo vice, hbo, 1990s tokyo, michael mann, j.t. rogers, jake adelstein, ansel elgort, ken watanabe, rinko kikuchi, yakuza