'Tokyo Vice' trivia and fun facts

Ansel Elgort diligently prepared for his role. Before the start of the first season, he took several Japanese classes and even wrote three journalistic articles in the language to prepare himself. His training continued for the second season; he kept taking classes, and a notable improvement in his Japanese pronunciation and intonation can be heard.

The project began development in 2013 as a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe in the role of Jake Adelstein. It ultimately did not go forward and returned almost a decade later as a television series.

In addition to learning to speak the language fluently, Ansel Elgort fell in love with Japanese culture during his stay in the country to film the series. So much so that he ended up spending more time there and even prepared a Japanese calligraphy exhibition in an art gallery in the capital.

Actress Odessa Young was set to play Samantha in the series. However, due to the pandemic, filming was delayed, and she had to decline the role due to scheduling conflicts. Rachel Keller replaced her.

'Tokyo Vice' is one of the few foreign series that has managed to film on the streets of Tokyo. The multitude of necessary permits and the local opposition to this type of filming make it very difficult for shootings to take place on the actual streets.