Tokyo Swindlers, Netflix's New Miniseries, Becoming a Global Hit
Based on a true story told in the best-selling novel of the same name, Tokyo Swindlers is well worth binge-watching.
Listen to and/or watch the “Read My Lips Podcast Series“ version.
What’s new: Netflix's drama Tokyo Swindlers, which is called Jimenshitachi (地面師たち) in Japanese, has been attracting a lot of attention since its release on July 25, 2024. It has topped the domestic (in Japan) rankings of popular programs and has also made it into the top three in the global rankings.
Catch up quick: The drama and original book by Kō Shinjō (新庄耕) are based on an actual, high-profile real estate fraud that took place in 2017. At the time, Sekisui House, a major home builder in Japan, was defrauded of about 5. 5 billion yen (approximately $38 million) for the supposed purchase of approximately 600 tsubo (just under 2,000 square meters or 21,350 square feet) of land on the site of an old Japanese traditional inn called Ryokan Umikikan (旅館海喜館) in Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, which is located in an exclusive neighborhood in the center of the city.
Official trailer for Tokyo Swindlers (video sourced from YouTube)
The real estate syndicate that prepared to "sell" (fraudulently) this property went to great lengths to impersonate the real landowner and prepare forged identification documents. They then deceived Sekisui House by making the transaction appear as if it had been conducted by the rightful owner. It was a sensational story at the time because it was shocking how a large, well-known company like Sekisui House could be swindled out of such a large sum.
In the miniseries, the character of Takashi Aoyagi, played by actor Koji Yamamoto (山本耕史), the general manager of the development division of the housing company modeled after Sekisui House, is duped by a gang of sophisticated criminals.
"Aoyagi, the developer who falls for the real estate land sharks' schemes to acquire prime downtown land without knowing he is being duped, was portrayed in a very realistic way." - A former executive officer of Sekisui House, who knew the situation in the company at the time, commenting on his impression of the drama
It was not a simple case of fraud. There were problems on the Sekisui House side, as well. The real case began in March 2017, when Sekisui House received information that the owner of the inn wanted to sell her land. The inn had closed two years earlier, and many real estate agents had their eyes on it as a site for redevelopment. Up to that point, however, the landowner had been adamant that she would "never let it go.” So, when word got out that she had changed her mind, and Sekisui House was the first to obtain this knowledge, the company was under pressure to act quickly. In the book and Netflix miniseries, the property for sale was not an old inn, but a Buddhist temple. Although rare, old temples in Japan are sometimes sold to make way for new construction.
As in the fictionalized account of what happened, there were all sorts of internal politics at play within the top management of Sekisui House. The fictional real estate development manager, who wanted the land on which to build a brand new skyscraper that would become a combined office/hotel/restaurant complex, was actually a pawn of Sekisui House's number two executive, who sought the deal to oust the company's chairman by demonstrating his business acumen to the board of directors. With a proposed purchase price of 10 billion yen (approximately $69.2 million), the value of the development was much higher in the fictional drama.
Go deeper: The surprising twists and turns of the story, thrilling plot, and dark, fast-paced atmosphere draw both readers and viewers into Japan's underworld. The author of the book, Shinjo, is known for his controversial works that focus on people caught in the dark side of society. The dramatic adaptation captures the viewer's attention with violence and extreme attention to detail.
"I knew that would be the crux of the novel, so I carefully researched actual cases to find out what tricks the grunts used to successfully carry out their crimes." - Author Shinjo, explaining how he wrote the story
The real-life drama is what caught the author's attention.
"I was surprised that a trillion yen ($6.9 billion) company listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange with access to the latest technology could be cheated out of millions of dollars in such an analog way."- Author Shinjo
Shinjo explained that he did not have to embellish much about the background of his characters because the real-life participants in the story carried a lot of baggage.
"As I followed the news reports, I became interested in the identity of the suspects who perpetrated the fraud and their methods. Why would they go to such lengths to deceive people? I also wondered about the psychology of the victims who were duped by them. How could they have been fooled? By considering the motivations of both the predators and their prey, I was able to distill the underlying story.” - Author Shinjo
The boss of the scam, Harrison Yamanaka, is a mysterious character until the very end. The gang of criminals he gathers and manipulates to follow his orders are all unique. The main character Takumi, played by actor Go Ayano, has a dark past, having lost his family as a victim of a similar real estate fraud. The deeply written psychological portrayal of a victim turned perpetrator makes the reader feel emotionally involved with the criminals.
"At first, I imagined a group of cheerful and ironic criminals, like those in Ocean's Eleven or The Sting, but I thought that in this day and age, that kind of thing is not really desirable. Then I decided to give them a reason to commit a crime. So, I added a darker background to the story to make the reader feel more connected to these characters.” - Author Shinjo
The intrigue: Although the method of impersonating the landlord is strictly analog, both the book and the drama show how modern criminals use state-of-the-art technology, such as 3D printers and IC chips, to forge documents, make seals1, and driver's licenses. The same modus operandi was used in the actual crime.
In the real-life case, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police launched an investigation following a complaint from Sekisui House, and in October 2018, several men and women in the criminal group were arrested on charges of attempting to use a forged document and misrepresenting an original electromagnetic notarized deed.
Shinjo went far beyond the mechanics of fraud, however. He delved deep into the personality quirks, motivations, and persuasion techniques of the criminals.
A characteristic of such a scam is that each gang member has a specific role to play, and how the group works together is critical (think Ocean's Eleven). There is a "leader" who is the ringleader; an "informant" or johoya (情報屋) in Japanese, who gathers initial information about the company to be defrauded; a "lawyer" or horitsuya (法律屋) and "negotiator" or koshoyaku (交渉役), who negotiates directly with the target; a "counterfeiter" or ninbenshi (ニンベン師) who forges official documents such as passports and licenses; an "impersonator" or narisumasiyaku (なりすまし役) who pretends to be the landowner, and an "arranger" or tehaishi (手配師), who carefully recruits and trains often unknowing people who are in debt and desperate for money to impersonate the real landowners. The fake landowners had to audition and were selected based on similarities in face, body shape, and general demeanor to the real landowners.
"In the actual case, the landowner was the owner of an inn, but in the novel, I made her a temple nun. I set the land for the transaction near the new Takanawa Gateway Station, which is not too far from the site of the actual crime in 2017. When I walked around the area, I found that there were many temples in that upscale neighborhood. So, I came up with the idea of making the landowner an unmarried nun who had inherited an old temple. A nun would be more visually interesting than a regular landlord, and it would create more drama.” - Author Shinjo
So as not to be too much of a spoiler, let's just say that this fictional nun had some deviant tendencies, which the criminals in the story took full advantage of.
By the numbers: Tokyo Swindlers has been breaking records on several fronts at once.
Release Date: July 25, 2024 on Netflix
Production Cost: Each episode reportedly cost 100 million yen (just under $700,000), which is more than 3x the cost of what a typical dramatic crime story usually costs to produce for domestic consumption in Japan. A lot of this money is paid to the actors, but there are, apparently, some strings attached. Netflix has truly become the “black ship2” of the Japanese entertainment industry, but because it pays such a large guarantee, there are also major restrictions on appearances. In the case of regular Japanese dramas and movies, the basic agreement is that if you accept a job, you are allowed to take on other work as long as there is no direct competition among jobs. This is why, if you are a popular actor, your schedule will be tightly packed with both television dramas and movies. Several of them could end up being released at about the same time. However, when appearing on Netflix, the general actor’s contract stipulates an obligation to devote 100% of their time to the Netflix project for approximately 6 months. This is something that is not customary in the Japanese entertainment industry.
Rotten Tomatoes: Currently Tokyo Swindlers has a 100% rating on the Average Tomatometer and a 90% rating on the Average Pocornmeter, which are pretty good scores.
Netflix Japan Playback Ranking: Still #1 after about one month since the initial release.
Commentary: As I wrote in a note published on August 12, 2024, this miniseries is so good that my wife and I ended up binge-watching it over three nights.
This is the kind of intellectual true-crime story that immediately captivates the viewer. Its ties to the Japanese underworld only make it more interesting.
I have a confession to make. No, I'm not a land shark. In fact, I worked for several years in an office building in the Takanawa district of central Tokyo, which was a short walk to the famous Sengakuji Temple (泉岳寺) and the fictional temple that was supposedly for sale in Tokyo Swindlers. So, I have a personal connection to the story and recognized some of the locations where the filming took place (e.g. the low underpass under the Yamanote Line near the new Takanawa Gateway Station).
While I may have given away too much in the above description, rest assured that there is much more to the story and characters. I deliberately did not even go into the whole subplot about the police detectives who cracked the case, which is a fascinating story all by itself.
After watching the entire series, I have become even more skeptical of the legality of various transactions, almost to the point of paranoia. I know that most people have good intentions, but Tokyo Swindlers certainly makes you question that belief.
While the early signs are good, it will be interesting to see if Tokyo Swindlers can gain a significant audience outside of Japan, especially in the American market. It has a good chance of success, based on the intriguing story and the talented production quality. The only concern is whether some viewers will tolerate the attention to detail of the actual transaction itself, which is the heart of the scam. Hopefully, the content won't come across as too local (Japanese) to the point that viewers will be turned off by some of the arcane details. Perhaps a westernized version will be produced with Hollywood actors.
If you haven't seen this Netflix miniseries yet, make sure you set aside a block of time to watch it. You'll find it hard not to binge-watch.
What’s next: Whether Tokyo Swindlers will achieve the kind of international success that Squid Game, Narcos, and The Story of Jeffrey Dahmer have enjoyed remains to be seen. Given that Netflix has 270 million subscribers worldwide, which is roughly twice the total population of Japan, it is inevitable that this new miniseries will continue to do quite well.
Going forward, Netflix will likely continue to make inroads into the Japanese market - beyond anime - by aggressively recruiting actors from the major TV networks in Tokyo. While the high fees and the ability to focus on a single work may seem like a good thing for actors, Netflix’s approach is so innovative that entertainment agencies are pushing back. Japanese agents are fundamentally interested in maximizing the exposure of their talent to maintain visibility. Appearing on TV is a popularity index that makes it easier for names to be cast in commercials and dramas. Almost constant television appearances are seen as a sign of popularity. Even though Netflix offers a lucrative, often unbeatable guarantee, the agencies of relatively unknown actors sometimes find it difficult to find new work for their clients after being “out of the market” for 6 months or longer. Only a celebrity with a high enough status would be willing to appear on a Netflix show. While Netflix uses its abundant financial resources as a shield to push for unorthodox contracts with actors, directors and writers are said to be subjected to even harsher conditions.
As if keeping up with the action was not challenging enough, who knew that all of this was happening behind the scenes of Tokyo Swindlers? As an avid fan of Netflix and a subscriber since the pre-streaming days when Netflix used to mail DVDs via the post office (Gen Z readers may need to look this up), I for one am all for Netflix's dramatic foray into the Japanese miniseries and movie market as a fellow “black ship.”
Links to Japanese Sources: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/bb1032f584273785668a0a7e793c1102ea9b6e6e, https://hitocinema.mainichi.jp/article/tokyoswindlers-sekisuihousescam-topics, and http://seidoku.shueisha.co.jp/2001/read03.html.
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In Japan, inkan (印鑑) are “seals” or “chops” used for identification and authentication. They are essentially stamps with a personal or company name engraved on them. Inkan are widely used in various aspects of daily life, from opening bank accounts to signing contracts.
In Japan, being labeled a "black ship" or kurofune (黒船) in Japanese in an industry often refers to a company or individual that challenges the status quo or disrupts traditional practices. The term originates from the arrival of Commodore Perry's black ships in Japan in 1853. This event forced Japan to open its borders to the outside world after almost 300 years of self-imposed exile, leading to significant social and economic changes. Similarly, a "black ship" in a modern context can represent: (1) A foreign company like Netflix entering a Japanese market and challenging local dominance, (2) A domestic company that adopts innovative or unconventional strategies, and (3) An individual who is a trailblazer or disruptor in their field. While the term can be seen as a positive reference to innovation and progress, it can also imply a sense of disruption or threat to established norms. When I got my first job in Japan working for a Japanese company right after college, my nickname at the company was Taro Kurofune (黒船太郎). I was the first American employee of that company.
Good, I'll check it out.
Is the low underpass under the Yamanote Line what they call "kubikiri tunnel"? Unfortunately, its days are numbered.
Thanks for the great advice!