{"id":37503,"date":"2024-06-05T11:36:23","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T18:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/locationmanagers.org\/?p=37503"},"modified":"2024-10-21T13:34:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T20:34:58","slug":"back-on-the-beat-tokyo-vice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/locationmanagers.org\/es\/back-on-the-beat-tokyo-vice\/","title":{"rendered":"Back on the Beat: Tokyo Vice"},"content":{"rendered":"

SLM Masanori \u201cMasa\u201d Aikawa\/LMGI and his team ramp up the action on the streets of Tokyo in Season 2 of the hit drama series\u2026<\/h3>\n
\n

by Shaun O\u2019Banion<\/h4>\n

All photos courtesy of MAX, photographed by Kumiko Tsuchiya, unless otherwise noted<\/h5>\n
\n
\"Ken

Ken Watanabe<\/p><\/div>\n

Loosely inspired by American journalist Jake Adelstein\u2019s firsthand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat, Season 2 of the HBO\/Max series Tokyo Vice continues to follow reporter Adelstein (played by Ansel Elgort) and his relationship with detective Hiroto Katagiri (played by actor and executive producer Ken Watanabe) as they delve into Tokyo\u2019s dangerous underworld.<\/b><\/p>\n

While the premiere season had a fair amount of Tokyo exteriors, this highly anticipated return takes viewers deeper into the high-rise glass and steel offices of the brutally violent Yakuza crime syndicate, the bustling bullpen of \u201cThe Meicho\u201d newsroom, the darkened corridors of the Metropolitan Police Department, an exclusive hostess club on Tokyo\u2019s famed Akasaka Street, and a stunning historic temple where an elaborate funeral takes place.<\/p>\n

In expanding the world of the show\u2019s second season, supervising location manager Masanori \u201cMasa\u201d Aikawa, the LMGI\u2019s first-ever Japan-based member, and his team made it possible for production to feature numerous locations throughout the city\u2014some of which have never, ever, been photographed before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love finding and sharing a location with the team,\u201d says Aikawa via a translator, \u201cand then the process of planning and cooperating with all the various entities that make it all come together, from the residents to the local government and police. It\u2019s all very exciting for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

L-R: Ansel Elgort with Rinko Kikuchi at The Meicho office<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cEveryone who loved Season 1 said, \u2018Wow, I\u2019ve never seen so much of the city on screen before,\u2019\u201d says veteran EP and director Alan Poul (The Newsroom, Six Feet Under<\/i>), \u201cbut my feeling, watching the season as many times as I did, was that we didn\u2019t show enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became abundantly clear that even though we felt we hadn\u2019t seen that much of it, for the audience, the city of Tokyo had become a major character in the show,\u201d adds showrunner J.T. Rogers (HBO\u2019s Oslo<\/i>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first season, Poul and Rogers both felt like they\u2019d been forced into shooting a lot of people in rooms.<\/p>\n

Aikawa and his team would have to be on top of their game to deliver locations that would fulfill the creative vision for the second season\u2014and playing the game in Japan is not always the way it is played in other parts of the world. According to Aikawa, there are many locations in Japan where \u201cmoney doesn\u2019t talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ayumi Tanida (center) with Tokyo skyline<\/p><\/div>\n

The Japanese Way\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Everything in Japan is based on relationships, and while LMGI members in other parts of the world know how important it is to build a relationship and camaraderie with property owners, in Japan, it is the only way anything gets done.<\/p>\n

In terms of getting specific locations approved for shooting, the process begins and ends with the property owners, and it can take four, five or even six months to get a single location.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s enormously labor- and time-intensive,\u201d explains Poul. \u201cIn many cases, it means going somewhere and bringing a little box of sweets and staying for at least one cup of tea.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if someone from Masa\u2019s team goes and creates that relationship, that person must remain the only point of contact for that location. \u201cYou can\u2019t show up and say, \u2018oh yeah, yesterday you talked to Joe. Well, I\u2019m Dave, one of the other location scouts, and I\u2019m going to handle things today,\u2019\u201d continues Poul, \u201cthat\u2019s not possible. You have to keep the continuity of the first contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another tricky element is that if the team scouts a location but opts not to use it, that can be viewed as an insult. \u201cMasa and his team essentially live on a tightrope,\u201d says Rogers, \u201cbecause you might want to use a place later on, but by simply not choosing it now, you\u2019ve offended the owner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaining permissions and access for filming around the world is often more of a top-down process \u2026 working with film commissions, city offices and police, then residents. In Japan, everything is bottom up. You start with residents and, while you may get support from the top, ultimately, the decisions at a city level get made by the local police because as Poul explains, \u201cShould anything go wrong, they\u2019re the ones whose necks are on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Japan also operates very differently from other countries when it comes to gaining actual control of an on-location set. Shutting down and \u201cowning\u201d a street or having traffic control just aren\u2019t things that happen there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, if you are granted permission by the police, it\u2019s only a \u201cstreet usage permission,\u201d which means that the police are aware of your presence and that you\u2019ve proven the support of the location and its neighbors \u2026 but not that you control a street or location in any way, shape or form.<\/p>\n

American execs and creatives had to come to terms with the sheer size of the Japanese Location Department required to navigate the subtleties of traditional culture and the intricacies of government bureaucracy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Co-executive producer Satch Watanabe even told the Tokyo Vice<\/i> production company Fifth Season that for Season 2, they would need an expanded prep in order to do what Rogers, Poul and the other members of the team wanted to accomplish.<\/p>\n

This desire to open things up began what Poul refers to as \u201cthe long dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ansel Egort<\/p><\/div>\n

The Long Dance<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Season 1, we were kind of pariahs,\u201d says Rogers. \u201cIt was like, \u2018who are these gaijin \u5916\u4eba (foreigners) coming over here and making a show about the Yakuza?\u2019 In terms of locations, Aikawa and the team had to take us around\u2014along with highly respected series star Ken Watanabe\u2014to all of the government offices to sort of calm everyone\u2019s fears about how we might portray them and their city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also that the Yakuza are a pretty taboo topic,\u201d says Poul. \u201cThen there\u2019s the fact that the book our show is based on was so controversial that it was never published in Japan. Basically, we had so many strikes against us out of the gate and nobody wanted to deal with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogers and his writing staff began writing things into the scripts that, in Season 1, literally would\u2019ve been impossible for them to pull off, like gunfights in the street, motorcycles tearing through neighborhoods and even a car chase.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go to Masa,\u201d relates Rogers, \u201cand I\u2019m like, \u2018look, I get the level of ask here, but we need it.\u2019 We\u2019re very lucky because Masa is so good at what he does. He\u2019s so patient and he knows that I wouldn\u2019t push for something if it wasn\u2019t absolutely necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Tokyo. Photo by Masa Aikawa\/LMGI<\/p><\/div>\n

A Distant Dream<\/b><\/p>\n

Masanori \u201cMasa\u201d Aikawa became interested in film and television at a young age. His father, a big film buff, loved Western cinema and would often bring home the latest laserdiscs of Hollywood films from the \u201970s and \u201980s like Back to the Future<\/i>, the Alien<\/i> film series and RoboCop<\/i>. Aikawa was entranced by these films and the vision of directors like Robert Zemeckis, Ridley Scott and Paul Verhoeven.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fueled by his father\u2019s love of film and his growing passion for storytelling, Aikawa decided that he wanted to pursue a career in the industry, but the question was, how would he even begin?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t speak English and, having grown up in Japan,\u201d Aikawa says, \u201cthe idea of ever having the chance to participate in Hollywood productions seemed impossible. To me, Hollywood was a distant world, so it didn\u2019t even cross my mind to make Hollywood my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Aikawa focused on finding a way into the Japanese film industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI participated in my first Japanese drama production as a sort of field trip about 20 years ago,\u201d he recalls, \u201cand after being able to see the process up close, there was no going back. I decided to learn how to produce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up the Ladder<\/b><\/p>\n

In Japan, there are two ways to get into the business. The first is to find your way into a job at a major Japanese studio like Toho or Toei, Kadokawa. The other, much like anywhere else, is to begin as an assistant in production and work your way up. Given his lack of connections, Aikawa had no choice but to take the longer route.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The production department in Japan, called Seisaku-bu \u5236\u4f5c\u90e8, is comprised of a variety of different teams. \u201cIt\u2019s a very diverse department here,\u201d he explains. \u201cProduction handles everything from location scouting to transportation, hotel arrangements, catering and budget management.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For 10 years, Aikawa observed and worked in every Seisaku-bu, learning about the responsibilities of each before moving up to Seisaku-tanto (the Japanese equivalent of UPM) and then later, as a producer on several films. It was during those years that he began to develop an affinity for those who found and handled locations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, Aikawa was hired to work with the location division of Seisaku-bu on a Chinese film that was shooting in Tokyo. There, he befriended one of the Japanese producers who would offer him a huge opportunity\u2026 and his big break.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Tokyo. Photo by Masa Aikawa\/LMGI<\/p><\/div>\n

A Dream Realized<\/b><\/p>\n

The producer had signed on to a major international series for HBO. Veteran filmmaker Michael Mann was on board to direct the pilot and also serve as an executive producer. His visual sense would shape and define the vibe and the look of the new series.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing that Aikawa had done an incredible job finding and securing locations for the Chinese feature, the producer invited him to join the location team on the pilot episode of Tokyo Vice<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI joined the project as a scout in 2020,\u201d says Aikawa. \u201cJanice Polley\/LMGI was the SLM for the pilot and was very welcoming.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t communicate with him much directly due to the language barrier,\u201d recalls Polley, \u201cbut he was a great scout. That was obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

She remembers having a conversation early on with Aikawa and the rest of the team (via a translator) in which she told them that it was absolutely critical for them to help Tokyo government officials understand how important international film and television could be to the city, and to the country in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, I told them not to give up or give in,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But just days into filming the pilot, the pandemic shut production down. \u201cWe were still looking for locations all over the city and beyond,\u201d Aikawa says, \u201cbut then, of course, everything stopped.\u201d It would be eight long months before filming for the pilot could once again move forward.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Architect\u2019s house. Photo by James Lisle<\/p><\/div>\n

Tokyo in Tokyo<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThere were, initially, many versions of \u2018Tokyo,\u2019 including the possibility of shooting Osaka for Tokyo, which is a lot easier,\u201d Mann said in a 2022 interview with Gold Derby<\/i> editor Christopher Rosen, \u201cbut I wanted to do Tokyo in Tokyo and have the viewers experience this immersion into Jake\u2019s life.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That worked for Rogers and Poul. Even though filming in Tokyo would offer many challenges, they both knew the city well and understood what filming there would mean for the series.<\/p>\n

Rogers grew up in Malaysia and, as a child, would visit Tokyo frequently. Poul had lived in Japan for three months at age 17 as an exchange student and completely fell in love with the country. While at university, he majored in Japanese language and literature and spent a year living in Tokyo, during which time he became fluent in the language.<\/p>\n

One of the critical locations Mann selected early on was an eight-story office building near the Tokyo Bay which would serve as The Meicho offices. Initially, it was thought to be less than ideal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s right in the middle of Tokyo,\u201d Poul says, \u201cparking is a nightmare, and it\u2019s a building that\u2019s being used on other floors for a lot of different things, so there\u2019s a ton of restrictions. It was also a difficult negotiation and very expensive, but Michael understood the value of that location and the ability to look out of the windows and see the city for real, see the elevated train\u2026 I mean, you could spend a lot and use CGI or LED screens but \u2026 the shots we get are pretty amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mix of periods in Tokyo is really extraordinary,\u201d adds Aikawa. \u201cWe\u2019re known in film and television as the very modern city with neon and light, so the idea that right in the middle of all of that sits a temple from the 1300s is sort of a crazy thing \u2026 but this is how we live here and it\u2019s fun to be able to show that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe locations Masa and the team find allows the other cast members and I to completely immerse ourselves in the world of the show every time we step on set. They really do an incredible job.\u201d<\/b><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>\u2013Ken Watanabe, <\/b>executive producer\/actor<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

Hopes Dashed<\/b><\/p>\n

When the pilot was completed, Aikawa would assume leadership of the location team for the remaining seven episodes of Season 1 and be invited back for its second. Thinking ahead, they had searched for practical locations that would not only work for Season 1, but for all that might follow.<\/p>\n

When the second season ramped up in June of 2022, Aikawa\u2019s first calls were to the owners of four key locations from Season 1. He had no idea that he and his team were about to deal with major issues \u2026 with all four!<\/p>\n

For the many scenes set at The Meicho, production had been able to secure two full floors of the building: one which was dressed entirely by the art department to serve as the main floor of the paper, and the other used for crew staging and holding for the hundred or so background playing \u201creporters.\u201d But the building had changed hands\u2014and the new owner was not very excited about hosting the production company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The building that served as the Chihara-kai headquarters and Yakuza gangster Ishida\u2019s office was set to figure heavily in Season 2 and Masa found that it was freshly on the market with a buyer already at the table.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a new building was being erected right next door to the house that had served as the home of detective Katagiri and his family. Not only would scenes not match for Season 2, which picks up exactly where Season 1 left off, but Aikawa would have to enlist the support of whoever owned that new building as well!<\/p>\n

Lastly, the building where the police station had been shot was simply no longer available and no amount of negotiation could change that reality.<\/p>\n

So, negotiations would have to begin anew with the three remaining locations, and they simply had to secure them\u2014no matter the cost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a major negotiation,\u201d says Aikawa, \u201cand if I\u2019m being completely honest, for a little while, I wasn\u2019t entirely sure we would get them back. But from my point of view, there was no other option. We just had to make it work, and so we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Money Talks, Just Not in Tokyo<\/b><\/p>\n

The only way to make it work was for Aikawa and his team to go back again and again in order to gain the trust of the new owners and build real relationships with them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It took more than a month to get permission to shoot the offices of Ishida and the Chihara-kai again and roughly the same amount of time to re-secure permission to shoot the Katagiri home and The Meicho. The police station was eventually recreated on stage, but that was by no means an easy negotiation as stage space in Tokyo is at a premium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a ton of stage options in or near the city to begin with,\u201d says Satch Watanabe, \u201cand then Netflix rented all the big stages from Toho Studios for something like 10 years, that made it even harder for other projects to get space. People started renting out warehouses. Now you have to go even further away from the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, of course, in a city as densely packed as Tokyo, it\u2019s not just about the locations themselves but where to keep all the support vehicles and the \u201cbackyard,\u201d or what North American productions call \u201cbasecamp.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Akasaka Street: Unprecedented\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

In Season 1, Adelstein\u2019s American friend Samantha (played by Rachel Keller). decides to open her own hostess club in Tokyo\u2019s trendy Akasaka District, comprised of luxury hotels, upscale bistros and various corporate headquarters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The interior of her club, which throughout the season goes from being under construction to open and full of customers, would be shot inside of a converted gymnasium, but for one pivotal scene in Season 2, the producing team had a request. They wanted to shoot the exterior on the real Akasaka Street. More than that, they wanted to essentially control the entire block for a period of time and fill it with police vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo big Japanese series or film had ever shot on that street,\u201d says Aikawa, \u201cmostly because they would never be willing to expend the enormous time and resources required to get the approval, so if we got it, it would be unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Rogers understood that sometimes production could expect too much from its location team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say, \u2018I want this, I want that,\u2019 but in a city like Tokyo in particular, you have to trust your team. If Masa says they can\u2019t make it work, and I know how hard they\u2019ve tried, I have to go, \u2018fine, give me the script back, I\u2019ll give everyone a new version tomorrow morning with a new location.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But Masa and his team knew there was no way to fake Akasaka Street. And on a show that, after only one season, had grown in respect for having gotten things right\u2014even among the Japanese community\u2014they knew they simply had to find a way to make it work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made the initial contact with the police six months before,\u201d says Aikawa, \u201cand they told us they would only consider our proposal after we had gotten permission to shoot from every single business in the area.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aikawa assumes the police figured that he and the team would simply abandon the request given that it meant speaking with and gaining the permission of a few hundred businesses. They were wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to every single owner multiple times over that six-month period until we got permission,\u201d says Masa.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, they were given limited control of the street for just six hours, from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Poul chalks up the approval to a number of factors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, Masa and his team just did a great job putting it all together. And then, I think, it\u2019s that once the first season had aired in Japan, they realized we weren\u2019t doing with our show what other foreigners had done before which is to make it all into this sort of cheesy exoticism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, we had sort of become VIPs in a way thanks to a couple of members of the parliament and our U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, who is no stranger to the entertainment world and even hosted a party on our behalf at his official residence. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it was down to the cooperation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) under the leadership of Governor Yuriko Koike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koike even asked Poul if he\u2019d be willing to serve as the official Tourism Ambassador for the Tokyo Metropolitan government. \u201cBelieve me, I\u2019m not so deluded to think that that carries a lot of weight with the cops, but it does create a superficial perception of our being welcome in the city,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Members of the local Japanese industry are amazed by what Aikawa and the producers have pulled off. Poul has been asked to give a seminar to some 300 industry professionals under the auspices of the Visual Industry Promotional Organization (VIPO), a quasi-governmental agency in Japan that is trying to facilitate production there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, with the first season having aired to much critical acclaim, it seemed the doors had opened a bit wider to the team when they reassembled for Season 2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Jake\u2019s Apartment<\/b><\/p>\n

During prep for the pilot, Mann was wandering around the city when he found himself in Akabane (\u8d64\u7fbd), a neighborhood in Kita, Tokyo, near the border with Saitama Prefecture. He was immediately taken with it as the place where the young reporter might live.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had already found another location in an area Michael had been to quite a bit,\u201d recalls Aikawa, \u201cbut from what I heard, he had gotten lost in Akabane and decided he liked the atmosphere there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aikawa knew that filming in Akabane would not be an easy get\u2014particularly since much of the shooting there across both seasons would require night work. \u201cOf course, with night shoots, you\u2019re mostly worried about noise complaints,\u201d says Masa, \u201cand we did get some, but in the end, we worked it out with people, and I guess we did OK because when Season 2 came around, we were allowed to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the filming there also involved car and motorcycle stunt work which also complicates things in terms of safety because Tokyo doesn\u2019t have \u201cmovie police\u201d the way most of our major cities do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of unthinkable there,\u201d says Poul, \u201cso even though you have permission from the local police to be there, they still have the power to shut you down at any time and you can\u2019t just say, \u2018well, we have a contract.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

They also have to be extra careful when doing stunt work or gunfire in a public space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re in the middle of rolling,\u201d adds Poul, \u201cand grandpa is carrying his groceries from the local grocery and wants to get through to his house, you ask him politely if he\u2019ll wait until we cut, but if he says, \u2018no, to hell with you, I\u2019m going now,\u2019 he can walk through your shot and you are not allowed to stop him in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n

One neighborhood sequence in which Jake unwittingly contributes to the theft of a motorcycle took a full four months to gain approval. For one, it\u2019s a night sequence in a residential area, and the guy who steals the bike has to tear out into the street and head off in the opposite direction of traffic as precision drivers screech and pull over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But more than that, according to Poul, \u201cIt was because we were portraying a character breaking the law and going the wrong way down the street!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Production also filmed the interior of Jake\u2019s residence there, which is its own kind of challenge since, according to Aikawa, \u201cThe apartment is the size of a postage stamp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Temple<\/b><\/p>\n

Scenes for the funeral of one of the show\u2019s major characters were shot at the Ry\u016bk\u014d-ji (\u9f8d\u53e3\u5bfa) Temple in the city of Fujisawa, Kanagawa prefecture (a Tokyo suburb). The temple itself dates to 1337 and features a long stairway up to the Hond\u014d or main temple.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the day of the filming, it rained, and Aikawa feels that it actually served to enhance the tone of the scene. Even with hundreds of extras attending a massive funeral in a downpour, the day\u2019s work was far less complicated than almost anything else they had shot during the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a private property and we were able to stay inside the temple grounds at all times,\u201d says Poul, \u201cso all Masa needed to handle was negotiation with the temple management and then they basically let us do whatever we wanted, including bringing in cranes. So, I mean, it looks terrific, but that, paradoxically, was easier than being on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Shrine<\/b><\/p>\n

A location they returned to after its first appearance in Season 1 is The Atago Shrine (\u611b\u5b95\u795e\u793e), which appears in a flashback where Samantha and her friend meet. The property dates back to the year 1603, though most of the buildings which exist there now were built in 1958. Located on Atagoyama, a view of the city from Tokyo prefecture is now obscured by high-rise apartment buildings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn a similar way to Ry\u016bk\u014d-ji, the Atago really shows off the contrast between the shrine and the modern city,\u201d says Aikasa.<\/p>\n

According to actor and EP Ken Watanabe, locations like the Shrine, the Temple, or even just the Katagiri home are what make it possible for the cast to do their best work.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecreating \u201990s-era Tokyo is incredibly challenging due to the need for authentic and accurate locations that fit the period,\u201d he says. \u201cThe locations Masa and the team find allows the other cast members and I to completely immerse ourselves in the world of the show every time we step on set. They really do an incredible job.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Killer Sequence on a Singular Highway\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

In another pivotal sequence, detective Katagiri is transporting a witness from one location to another by car. As written, the scene took place on a four-lane highway\u2014another near impossibility to get access to in Tokyo\u2014and yet they were granted permission. Sort of.<\/p>\n

Normally, you want to present options to the director. But given that they needed to create a traffic jam where a speeding motorcycle whizzes between cars and an assassin fires a gun into a car, there was only one choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMasa and I went to the director and the DP and basically said, \u2018For what you want to do, we found one location. Make yourself like it,\u201d laughs Poul.<\/p>\n

\u201cThinking back, I don\u2019t think there were any easy locations on this show,\u201d says Aikawa, \u201cbut this one was a bit easier than others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both he and Poul agree that the sequence is owed directly to their relationship with Governor Koike, because what looks on the show like a four-lane highway is actually just a street directly outside of the Tokyo City Hall, which is the big building you see in the background.<\/p>\n

They had to shoot it on a Sunday, of course, but since they had the support of the governor and they were in front of that building, it meant that they got a spectacular amount of access and control.<\/p>\n

\"\"Looking Back\/Looking Forward<\/b><\/p>\n

With all 10 episodes of Season 2 now streaming on Max, Aikawa feels a deep sense of appreciation for what his team was able to accomplish. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for the work of the entire team and also for help of everyone in the local government, at the Tokyo Location Box (Tokyo\u2019s version of a film commission) and especially to all of the property owners who worked with us and made it all come together,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Satch Watanabe, 76% of the season was shot on location.<\/p>\n

A third season of the series has yet to be ordered as of press time but, not one to sit idly by, Aikawa has already jumped into a new venture: his own company.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we wrapped the season, I started Tokyo Rock Studio with a few members of my Tokyo Vice <\/i>team, so we can use our collective experience going forward,\u201d he shares. \u201cThe feeling was that if I just let the team break up and another huge overseas production comes into Japan, we might not be able to get everyone back together again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aikawa is also grateful to the membership of the LMGI for making him its first-ever Japanese member.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI sincerely thank my fellow LMGI members for attending FOCUS in the UK last year. It was amazing for me to visit the LMGI booth and to have a chance to talk to my wonderful LMGI colleagues,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am thrilled to be connected to others in the world who are in the same line of work as I am and to have made new friends with whom I can share and exchange information. I hope that in the future, I will continue to connect with LMGI members and international filmmakers to share the many wonderful locations we have in Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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