Tozawa In ‘Tokyo Vice’ Season 2, Explained: Is Tozawa Dead Or Alive?

Tozawa was an influential member of the Yakuza community, but since Tokyo Vice season 1, he has been trying to become the master of the roster, i.e., first among equals. Tozawa had a plan in mind, but he knew that the odds needed to favor him, and only then could he succeed in his plans. In the first instance, we saw that Tozawa needed a liver transplant, and he knew that in order to do that, he would have to fly to the United States of America. Since Tozawa was such a big criminal, his name was on the most wanted list of probably every investigative agency. At that point in time, Shigematsu was the minister of travel, and so Tozawa went to him and asked him to remove his name from the no-fly list. Tozawa had a video of Shigematsu, which he used as leverage, but the latter said that what he was asking to do was above his pay grade. Shigematsu told him that he won’t be able to make Tozawa enter the US. Tozawa was angry, but he knew that he would have to find a solution to his problem before it was too late. So let’s find out what Tozawa did in Tokyo Vice season 2—how he reached the US—and if, in the end, he was able to turn the odds in his favor and become the uncrowned emperor of the Yakuza community.

Spoiler Alert

What deal did Tozawa make with the FBI? 

Tozawa was nowhere to be found at the beginning of Tokyo Vice Season 2. Nobody knew where he was or if he was even alive. There was general speculation among the people that he probably succumbed to his illness and that he was not going to come back ever again. In his absence, Yabuki made some changes in the way things were done, and there were a lot of people who thought that the Tozawa clan was losing its grip. Around the same time, Hayama took charge of things in the Chihara Kai gang, and he was very aggressive in his approach. Hayama believed that, in the absence of Tozawa, he would be able to reclaim all the territories that the Chaihara Kai gang had lost in the past. Hayama even convinced Ishida to go against his no-arms policy and be prepared for the worst-case scenario. But Tozawa came back out of nowhere, as if a phoenix had emerged from its ashes. Tozawa, surprisingly, was hale and hearty, and it seemed as if he didn’t suffer from any kind of ailment ever. For the longest time, Jake and Katagiri couldn’t decipher what would have happened and how Tozawa cured his illness. Firstly, there was speculation that he could have gone to Thailand for his treatment, as nobody considered the possibility that the man could enter the US. Slowly, it all started to seem unreal, and Jake and Katagari got to know that Tozawa, somehow, had been able to remove his name from the no-fly list and enter the US for his treatment. Jake went back to his hometown, and that’s when he went to the clinic where Tozawa had gotten his treatment done. Jake threatened the doctor and took information from him.

Around this time, the FBI conducted raids on a lot of Yakuza groups operating on US soil. The general speculation was that probably Tozawa was providing the FBI with intelligence in return for immunity from being arrested. But then it struck Kurihira that it could be probable that the FBI was the one who had entered into an agreement with Tozawa, and they would have facilitated his entry into the US. Things became much clearer when Jake went to talk to Lynn Oberfeld, the FBI agent. At first, she lied to Jake about having any kind of association with the Yakuza boss, but then Jake coerced her, and she accepted that the FBI had actually signed a contract with Tozawa. So basically, Tozawa was directly responsible for all the arrests of the Yakuza gangs that had happened recently. Nobody knew about this fact, and Jake and Katagari knew that if they could get their hands on that contract, then they would probably be able to turn the tide against Tozawa. 

Why did Tozawa take his own life? 

Jake realized that even if he got the contract, he wouldn’t be able to publish an article in Meicho. Tozawa had already threatened the board, and they were not ready to risk going against him. So Katagari came up with another solution. He knew that if the Yakuza community learned about the betrayal, then they would take action against the Yakuza boss. Meanwhile, in Tokyo Vice season 2, Tozawa made sure that the Yakuza community accepted him as their leader, and he expanded and legitimized the entire illegal business to some extent. Also, Tozawa was funding Shigematsu’s campaign, which was in the race to be elected prime minister. Tozawa knew that once Shigematsu became the PM, there would be no stopping him. One mistake that Tozawa made was to undermine the potential of his own wife. He belittled her even when he knew that it was her family marriage that made it possible for him to reach where he was at that moment. He believed that Kazuko wouldn’t do anything, and that was probably where he lost the game.

Katagiri and Jake put their lives at risk and procured the document that was signed between the FBI and Tozawa from the latter’s boat named Yoshino. Sato presented that contract in Tokyo Vice episode 10 in front of the Yakuza leaders, and they were shocked to know what Tozawa had done. Tozawa’s wife, Kazuko, also went against him, and the Yakuza bosses ordered him to take his own life. Tozawa had almost reached his destination, but in the end, he lost, as betrayal was something that was unacceptable to the Yakuza community. Tozawa ended his own life in the end, and finally, the long and tiring pursuit of Katagari and Jake came to an end.