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LMGI COMPASS Spring 2024
to navigate the subtleties of traditional culture and the
intricacies of government bureaucracy.
Co-executive producer Satch Watanabe even told the
Tokyo Vice 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.
This desire to open things up began what Poul refers to as
"the long dance."
THE LONG DANCE
"In Season 1, we were kind of pariahs," says Rogers. "It was
like, 'who are these gaijin 外人 (foreigners) coming over here
and making a show about the Yakuza?' In terms of locations,
Aikawa and the team had to take us around—along with
highly respected series star Ken Watanabe—to all of the
government offices to sort of calm everyone's fears about
how we might portray them and their city."
"It was also that the Yakuza are a pretty taboo topic," says
Poul. "Then there's 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."
Rogers and his writing staff began writing things into the
scripts that, in Season 1, literally would've been impossible
for them to pull off, like gunfights in the street, motorcycles
tearing through neighborhoods and even a car chase.
"I go to Masa," relates Rogers, "and I'm like, 'look, I get the
level of ask here, but we need it.' We're very lucky because
Masa is so good at what he does. He's so patient and he knows
that I wouldn't push for something if it wasn't absolutely
necessary."
A DISTANT DREAM
Masanori "Masa" 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 '70s and '80s like
Back to the Future, the Alien film series and RoboCop. Aikawa
was entranced by these films and the vision of directors like
Robert Zemeckis, Ridley Scott and Paul Verhoeven.
Fueled by his father's 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?
"I don't speak English and, having grown up in Japan,"
Ansel Elgort
