Ansel Elgort takes on the Japan’s mafia in HBO drama series

By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — The HBO Max drama series “Tokyo Vice” takes the perennial story of a novice reporter on the police beat but places it in the bustling exotic landscape of the Japanese capital of the 1990s. Ansel Elgort of “West Side Story” immersed himself in the leading role not only by learning to speak Japanese like a native but acquiring the ropes of an investigative reporter. The series, which premieres Thursday, weaves in allusions to the Japanese film genre depicting yakuza, as well as the glitzy night life, where powerful men of Japan rub shoulders with their underworld counterparts.