Episode 3

Read the Air is the third episode of the first season of Tokyo Vice.
==Synopsis==
Jake's persistence pays off when he receives an exclusive from Detective Katagiri — but catches the less ideal eye of someone else in the process. Meanwhile, Samantha hits it off with a new customer, as Sato chooses between words and fists.Official Tokyo Vice Synopsis from Max website
==Summary==
A doctor performs an exam on the head of the Tozawa clan; when it's done, the member stares at himself in the mirror and focuses on the red mark underneath his right eye on his cheek. He puts on some make-up to cover it and later attends a meeting with an associate concerning their clan's business model. However, Tozawa gives his associate a silent glare, signaling his plea was flatly denied, and the associate decides to withdraw his proposal and leave. With that over, Tozawa stands by the window and looks outside at the cloudy horizon.
Meanwhile, Jake rides a bus while listening to a taped recording of his sister talking about his school life and how concerned their mother is for him. Arriving at his stop, Jake walks to Detective Katagiri's home and is first met by one of his daughters, who runs away while calling him a Tengu. Katagiri's wife, accompanied by her other daughter, then appears before Jake and apologizes for her daughter's behavior. Jake brushes it off and asks Katagiri's wife if he's home, but she claims her husband isn't. Displeased, Jake hands his wife some ice cream and beer before leaving.
As Jake leaves, Katagiri calls out to Jake; the two then sit down and talk while Katagiri comments how beer and sweets are how the Meicho Shimbun Newspaper taught him how to recruit cops. Jake comments on how he figured it'd break the ice between them and sequentially asks what Katagiri said to make the Tozawa member surrender his gun. Taking a sip of his drink, Katagiri claims it's complicated, and Jake then asks if he's willing to confine to him a story, but Katagiri tries to end the conversation. Tenaciously, Jake bows to Katagiri and requests that Katagiri detail the city's dark side and cover it in a story, but he's currently incapable of doing so due to his lack of knowledge. Impressed by Jake's sincerity, Katagiri cites a Japanese proverb "A path opens to those who are honest" that means truth comes to honest people.
The two would then sit on Katagiri 's porch and discuss, off the record, about his interaction with the Yakuza the other night. Katagiri discloses that the Yakuza can't be gotten rid of. Hence, it's the police's job to maintain peace amongst the gangs, and it has been like that for a few years until Shinzo Tozawa arrived from Kansai. What Jake witnessed the night before was an altercation between the Tozawa and the Chihara-Kai at a low-level turf of theirs. Because Jake didn't write about it, it didn't exacerbate the situation between the two yakuza clans. This prompts Jake to joke that "he's the one who kept the peace", making the two laugh.
Samantha and Polina sit at a table, entertaining Hasegawa and his associates until Duke arrives and informs Samantha that a new customer has requested her. Duke would then replace Samantha with someone named Momo, and when Samantha arrived at the table with her customer, she introduced herself in Japanese. On the other hand, Matsuo introduced himself in English, which Samantha took as him trying to impress her, and claimed that his name was similar to Matsuo Basho. When asked if she knew who Basho was, she recited one of his haikus to him. Impressed by Samantha's knowledge of Basho's work, Matsuo recites one of Basho's haikus himself, and Samantha mentions that Basho was dying when he wrote that one.
Sato and Kume would visit the bar where the altercation occurred between their clan and the Tozawa clan. There, they deal with a smart-mouthed owner who complained about the feeble protection the Chihara-Kai offers. Despite Kume mentioning that the boss waived their protection fee for that month, the owner didn't care, citing he was considering siding with the Tozawa clan instead. This upsets Sato, who smacks the owner for his comments, and when the two later leave the place, Kume scolds Sato for acting out against the owner as he'd never have the guts to do it. Kume then mentions how he recruited Sato when he worked as a fish gutter at the docks, and he 'freed' him. They continue walking, and Kume advises Sato for future reference: he must learn to "read the air". Initially, they planned to visit a pachinko parlor next, but a bunch of dresses by a loading dock caught their eye.
At the Meicho Building, Jake pastes a news article into a book and notes the great number of suicide occurrences in Japan. Tin-Tin comments that it is common and some other facts about them. After Tin-Tin leaves, Jake answers a phone call concerning a disgruntled customer. The customer complains about not having his paper delivered and then complains that a gaijin answered the phone. Being upset, the customer demands that he speak to his supervisor. So Jake signals Emi, who takes the call only to further displease the customer for being a woman. Hence, Emi apologizes, claiming only gaijin and women are available to answer calls today, hangs up on the customer, and assigns Jake more scrap work. As she explains the details of her assignment, the phone rings, and Emi answers it. The call is for Jake, who takes it, leading to him accompanying Katagiri and riot police officers on a bus to someplace.
They arrive at their destination and walk toward a building owned by the Tozawa, where Katagiri advises Jake on how to handle the situation if things go bad. Katagiri then rings the doorbell; there, a man named Makabe answers it and allows most of them in, which includes Katagiri and Jake. They are led into an office where some Tozawa officials apologize for their actions in the bar the other night against the Chihara-Kai. One of the officials allows the one who stabbed one of the Chihara-Kai's members, Nakamura, to be arrested and show proof of validation that he's been expelled from their group. Although Nakamura was arrested, Katagiri cites that the gun that Nakamura had was carrying bullets owned by a separate party. Hence, he demands that two more people be arrested then and there. One of the men there argues that Katagiri is asking for too much, but Katagiri stands his ground and claims if the clan throws a gauntlet on the Chihara-Kai's court, the police will assist them in picking it up. The Tozawa official tries to negotiate a deal with Katagiri, offering double what the Chihara-Kai pays them; however, Katagiri stoically demands the official to repeat himself. Tacitly, the official signals the two men to surrender, thereby ending the confrontation.
Outside, the arrested men are taken away as photographers and reporters try to get information about the situation. With Jake by his side, Katagiri allows him to write about the scene, so long as he doesn't quote what he saw there. Unbeknownst to Jake, he had appeared in a news report about the situation, and Sato, who was watching it, would recognize him there.
That night, Jake would join Trendy and Tin-Tin at a restaurant where he celebrates his newly published article with them. Tin-Tin, though, was envious because their racist superior, Baku, disparaged his work as inferior compared to Jake's. So the trio drinks to "Fuck Baku".
At the Onyx bar, Duke handles their earnings for the night and passes around the hostesses' pay. Duke compliments his top two earners, Luna and Samantha, but disparages the others as incapable of selling the dreams he wants them to advertise. Samantha would stand up for the other ladies and later console the self-conscious Malee in the locker room. It is there that Samantha reveals that she's been saving up to one day buy her own club, but to not tell anyone.
Exiting the locker room, the other hostesses look at the dresses brought by the members of the Chihara-Kai. Polina gets into an argument with one of the members, and Sato breaks it up. He then approaches and talks to Samantha, claiming that none of the dresses there would look good on her, but he has one in the locker room to show her. Sato then leads Samantha there and asks her to put on the orange dress he had picked out for her. She does and decides to buy it for herself. However, Sato then claims that it is not for sale and wants her to take it off and return it.
Later, outside the bar, Samantha is invited by Polina to join her in visiting a host club, but Samantha declines and suggests Polina go home. When the two part ways, Samantha is met by Jake, and the two ride on her motorcycle to get something to eat at a restaurant. There, Jake asks more about why Samantha decided to work at the Onyx bar. Samantha answered she originally worked as an English teacher, and as time passed, she wanted to "Fuck Tokyo". They'd go on to mention a couple of manga and a popular Japanese singer and songwriter. Then Samantha asks Jake to be fully honest with her and ask what he truly wants to know about her, so Jake asks if she's a prostitute or not. A bit put off by the question, Samantha details the prices for her services but admits she was being facetious.
Starting things over, Samantha suggests they reveal their background to each other in a 15-second expat, and Jake goes first. He talks about his father disowning him; his mother tries to guilt trip him into coming home over his suicidal sister. Samantha then reveals that her father is a political judge, her mom's hooked on Vicodin, and she doesn't know or care where she is. However, Jake doesn't believe her and asks for one shred of truth. Samantha answers that she hasn't spoken to her family in four years. They'd then enjoy their newly served beer, and Samantha would order something else for them.
At the Chihara-Kai clan HQ, Ishida has a meeting with a few of his executives, including Kume, with a couple of police officers who ask that he assist them with an upcoming meeting with foreign diplomats. Later, the tea that Ishida and company drank returned, and one of the foul-mouthed members commented how they didn't enjoy it. One of the members spoke ill of Ishida, and an executive smacked the member over it. Kume advised him to be mindful of what he says, as they owe their lives to the boss. Sato witnessed as it unfolded and refocused his attention on a newspaper article written by Jake concerning the arrests of the three members of the Tozawa clan.
Walking through a department store, Jake listens to another tape sent to him by his sister, who talks about wanting to hear from him. Looking at a melon for sale, Jake expressed interest in purchasing it.
Switching back to Sato's side, the foul-mouthed member disparages Sato by accusing him of having sex with a gaijin lady in the restroom after another member returns from the HQ's restroom. Despite Sato claiming he was merely trying to sell the lady in question a dress, the foul-mouthed member continues, and Kume tacitly allows Sato to discipline them on the rooftop. However, overcome with rage, Sato beats the foul-mouthed member to a bloody pulp. This would earn him harsh discipline from Ishida in his office; however, Sato offers to make up for his actions by getting a better replacement for him.
Elsewhere, Jake visits Katagiri 's home and delivers the melon he purchased from the store, and Katagiri, along with his wife, two daughters, and Jake, enjoy it together in their dining room. As they do, Jake compliments Katagiri for the great favor he did for him and later sits in Katagiri's room as jazz music is played. They briefly discuss Jake's article about the arrests Katagiri made and how his editor brutally edited it. Sequing the conversation to a more serious subject, Jake shows the matchbox that the man immolated himself with and how it's connected to another crime he investigated. However, Katagiri can't investigate the crime because of how shifty it is and that it's connected to a Yakuza group. Katagiri advises that although the loan shark companies move constantly, all have a registration number that can't be changed, and it would remain the same no matter how often the company changes its number or location. On the other hand, Katagiri can't tell Jake more since he'd be fired if he shares evidence with a reporter. Katagiri then tells Jake that he has to put his daughters to bed, so Jake leaves.
Right as Jake leaves, Natsumi, one of Katagiri 's daughters, gives Jake the folder that contains the loan shark company's register number. Natsumi claims she snatched it from her father's desk and totally not under her father's order to avoid any legal repercussions. Jake would review the folder's contents and copy down notes. Meanwhile, Emi is shown at her apartment, on the phone while preparing dinner for someone who spoke in only Korean. After she was done with her conversation, she'd yell at the man for disturbing her phone call. 
Samantha would be seen talking on the phone with Polina about her day; unbeknownst to her, she was being spied on by Matsuo.
Switching over to Jake, he walks down a streetway and catches Trendy in an alleyway with a man whom he fondles. Jack then enters a small bar and orders a beer for himself and Trendy, who denies being with another man in the alleyway. When asked where Tin-Tin was, Trendy claims he'll meet them at the cages. Jake then shows Trendy what he received from Katagiri .
Later, the two meet with Tin-Tin at the cages, where Jake tries and fails at hitting the baseballs. The three talk about the folder containing incriminating evidence, and as Trendy takes a shot at hitting the baseballs, he hits every single one. Not long after this, Jake is taken away by two Yakuza men and is driven off somewhere.
==Characters==
* Jake Adelstein
* Hiroto Katagiri
* Samantha
* Akiro Sato
* Polina
* Emi Maruyama
* Hitoshi Ishida
* Luna
* Shinzo Togawa
* Hasegawa
* Duke
* Momo
* Matsuo
* Makabe
* Nakamura
* Baku
* Tanaka
* Natsumi
==Episode Images==
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==Trivia==
* One of Hiroto's daughters would call Jake a "Tengu" who are often called Mountain Goblins and are known to capturing little girls.
* The man mentioned in this episode named Matsuo Bashō, is a historically famous Haiku writer.
* A couple of Manga series are mentioned, those being Dragon Head and 20th Century Boys.
* The music artist Kahimi Karie was mentioned in this episode, and her song ELASTIC GIRL was also mentioned.
* * This episode features the real-life locations, the Shinjuku Batting Center & Shinjuku Golden Gai.
==References==
Category:Episodes