The Test
The Test is the first episode of the first season of Tokyo Vice. It was released on April 7th, along with the Kishi Kaisei and Read the Air.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
Hired as Meicho Shimbun’s first American crime reporter, Jake Adelstein is quickly tasked with covering two cases that initially appear unrelated, but soon stakes his career – and life – on connecting the dots.
Plot Summary[edit | edit source]
A two year flashforward shows Jake Adelstein and Hiroto Katagiri arrive at a restaurant for a meeting with the Yakuza. They put on stab-proof vests as they prepare for the meeting and are warned to sit with their backs to the wall and only accept food and drink from the waiter they have placed within the restaurant and therefore know well. When they arrive to take their table, however, they are informed that their hosts have already arrived and as a result, their meeting has been moved to their private chambers upstairs. The two seem concerned but agree that they will meet with the Yakuza as planned.
During the meeting, Adelstein is warned – presumably by a high ranking member of the Yakuza — to stop his investigations and kill his story; the story is harmful to Tozawa and therefore endangers the entire Yakuza operation. To ensure Adelstein's compliance, the Yakuza warn him that if he publishes the story, they will come after both him and his family — he will have nowhere to hide. Adelstein makes a sarcastic comment about smoking a cigarette whilst considering the offer.
Back in the present, it's 1999, two-years earlier. Adelstein is learning Japanese on a bus as he travels through downtown Tokyo. He arrives to teach English to Japanese students before later practicing at a dojo. Later that night, he grabs dinner at a food-stand whilst continuing to learn everything he can about the geography and economy of Japan. This quickly becomes stressful for him and after he leaves the food-stand, he goes clubbing and bumps into an old-friend who is returning back to the US later that night.
As Jake walks home from the club, he is visibly intrigued as he watches an entourage of men exit a limousine. As he stares, visibly intrigued, he is warned off by one of the men who tell him to mind his business. He arrives at Takada-san's where he reads through a magazine in which he finds numerous photos, one of which is a photo of the man he saw previously exiting the limousine. Jake later returns home above Takada-san's where it is revealed that he is investigating the men and has compiled numerous newspaper clippings of the men and their activities.
The following day, Adelstein arrives at the Meicho Shimbun Newspaper to complete a qualifying exam; it is revealed that this is the test he has been studying for previously. Despite being warned that the test is in Japanese, Adelstein is quick to complete the test with ease. After the test is over, Adelstein panics and realises that there are several questions on the rear of the test that he has failed to complete. Later that night, Takada-san receives a call for Adelstein and when the latter answers it, he is surprised but overjoyed to find out that he has been successful in his completion of the exam and has therefore been asked to return.
At the newspaper, Adelstein is questioned about his education and his reasoning for wanting to work for the Meicho Shimbun. He remarks that his father is a coroner and has taken him to crime scenes before, this has fuelled his desire to be a crime reporter in Japan. The panel of judges are impressed with Adelstein and tell him that he scored highly even with the questions that he missed on the paper. With this, he is successfully invited to work for the newspaper.
During his first day at the newspaper, Adelstein finds it difficult to adapt. He is singled out numerous times for being foreign and finds that he clashes with Eimi, his superior. As the newspaper takes the new reporters out for drinks later that night, it is revealed by several of Adelstein's friends that everyone at the newspaper believes that he is a spy infiltrating the newspaper. Jake laughs at this, visibly amused at the thought.
The following day, Adelstein and the other reporters are assigned to their first case: a man who has been stabbed and died as a result of blood loss. Adelstein seems uninterested in the crime scene until the arrival of Hiroto Katagiri, who immediately catches Adelstein's attention. After they have examined the crime scene, the reporters sit as they listen to the press release on the crime. Adelstein also finds this uninteresting given the lack of details, but is fixated upon a man who arrives to watch the press conference, Miyamoto-san. When he asks his fellow reporter who the man is, he is told that he is big within the gun trade, but also prostitution.
Returning to the office, Adelstein is handed an assignment to write up the contents of the Police press release for the newspaper. He visits the house of the deceased to find out more information about him and finds numerous unopened bills, one of which is an overdue notice for a loan of a large amount. Adelstein is intrigued and visits the location of the loan shark to find that their office is empty and in disrepair. He writes this up in his report, but finds it is rejected by the newspaper who cite that he should've just copied up what the Police report said; this also causes issues with Adelstein and his superior, Eimi, who warns him that he must do his job and nothing more.
Adelstein decides that he will attempt to solve the case alone and visits Miyamoto-san for help on working with the Police. Miyamoto is initially reluctant to aid him and makes fun of him before offering him help in return for advice about picking up women. Miyamoto-san and Adelstein stop off at a club on the way to deal with some business and Adelstein gets talking with a young woman who was singing at the club. The two seem to hit it off, but it quickly becomes clear that the woman is a prostitute and only talking with Adelstein because he is buying her drinks.
Afterwards, Miyamoto takes Jake to another club to continue their talks and test his theory about picking up women. Miyamoto tells Jake that the first thing he must understand is that there are no murders in Japan — even if they appear to be so. When Adelstein queries this, he is told that although things appear as murder, the Police refuse to acknowledge them as such and instead class them as manslaughter or other forms of homicide, but never murder. Things are cut short when Miyamoto is called away to work to deal with a man who eventually sets himself on fire. Once again, Adelstein finds the logo of the loan-shark company on the match-box of the man who set himself alight.
Jake takes the news of the story to Eimi, but she dismisses him and tells him that he must work on the story he has been assigned and that story only; he has already messed up once and this got her into trouble. Nonetheless, Adelstein goes to the Police to ask for a copy of the report on the man who set himself on fire. He takes bottles of alcohol as a bribe, and is successful in his attempts. Adelstein later visits the wife of the man and she plays him a voicemail the man was left by the Yakuza. She tells Jake that her husband was trying to protect her from the Yakuza, but the extraordinary interest rates took their borrowing through the roof. After the man killed himself, the Yakuza stopped calling asking for the money.
Later that night, a ceremony is held in which Hitoshi Ishida is sworn in as the leader of the Ishida clan. There are several members of the Yakuza in attendance, including a man Adelstein bumped into in the toilets of the club the previous night.
As Jake walks home that night, he has visions of the man who set himself on fire dosing himself with petroleum. Jake finds this disturbing but is unable to make the visions stop.
Cast and Characters[edit | edit source]
- Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein
- Ken Watanabe as Hiroto Katagiri
- Rachel Keller as Samantha
- Hideaki Ito as Jin Miyamoto
- Show Kasamatsu as Sato
- Ella Rumpf as Polina
- Rinko Kikuchi as Emi
- Tomohisa Yamashita as Akira
- Masayoshi Haneda as Yoshihiro Kume
- Alisa Wild as Krystina