The brand-new crime drama on Netflix is all about the fast-paced story of the thieves or swindlers who happened to be burgeoning in Tokyo, a less well known case. This story takes everyone on a roller coaster ride into the world of crime. This seven-part series in detail talks about how much time and money is spent fooling people into believing they are purchasing a property. Tokyo Swindlers is a Netflix Japan original based on the novel of the same name.
Spoilers Ahead
Where was Harrison?
This seven-part show began with Harrison with a group of American hunters in a forest, helping them find a kill. Harrison and the other American hunter were witnesses to their friend getting mauled by a large bear. The beast was close to doing the same to him, but he shot the animal with his gun from very close range. This encounter does have a deeper meaning, which would be explained at the end of the article. Meanwhile, Harrison was asked about his real profession, and he revealed that he was a land swindler.
How do the Tokyo Swindlers operate?
Tokyo Swindlers began by explaining the process of committing the fraud in a detailed manner. There was a leader, a negotiator, an informer, a legal advisor, a document forger, and an impostor recruiter: Goto, Reiko, Takumi-San, Takeshita, and their leader Harrison. Their job was to collect money off high-priced land by hyping up a property and selling it to prospective buyers or companies by forging the documents and convincingly presenting the case. It was after the sale that the fraud was revealed, and by that time the money and the group had disappeared. The leader, Harrison Yamanaka, was a conman, and his team would help him beat the highly digitized system to carry out the fraud. The first episode was all about explaining how they planted an impostor, coached him/her, and used them to get the land deal. Once the money for the sale of the faux land was transferred, it was distributed amongst everyone.
Who was investigating the land swindling case?
The cases of land fraud were increasing; the police had found the skeletal remains of a lady in her apartment, a suspected case of an impostor being killed. This led to Tatsu-San being assigned the case, and was joined by Kuramochi, a rookie detective.
What happened to Tsujimoto Takumi’s family?
Through the photographs that the team had, Kuramochi learned of Tsujimoto Takumi, the negotiator of Harrison’s team, and the history of his family. Tsujimoto Takumi used to be a married man with a child from a well-off family. His family was killed in an arson committed by his father as he was swindled by a man named Nishitani over a property, and as a result, a huge chunk of their money was lost. His father was in prison, but the actual swindler was never caught, which led to Takumi entering the world of land swindling to catch Nishitani.
What was the Tokyo Swindlers’ next target?
Harrison and his team’s next target was Sekiyo House Group, and the team decided to impersonate a Priestess who was keen to sell her land, which also sheltered a Buddhist temple. Harrison and his team had to build a narrative around the property for the Aoyagi of Sekiyo House Group to consider it as a part of their diverse real estate portfolio. The team also had to bribe and threaten Kawai Natsumi’s boyfriend to manipulate her. Kawai Natsumi, in no way, was aware of her land being eyed by Harrison and his team.
How did Tatsu San learn of Abiru Holding?
Tatsu San and Kuramochi began their investigation into the mysterious death of a land shark, Hayashi. Tatsu San during investigation came across Abiru Holdings. His investigation led him to the coffee shop next to the office of Abiru Holdings, and he overheard Goto and Takumi discussing the death of Hayashi. Goto suspected Harrison had killed Hayashi. To Tatsu San’s shock, Harrison caught on to his investigation, kidnapped the man, and killed him—not before revealing it was his colleague Haba who was the mole in the department.
Was Tatsu San’s death dubbed suicide?
With Tatsu San gone, his death was passed off as suicide, but Kuramochi was unwilling to believe it and suspected Harrison was involved in his death. Kuramochi’s conversation with Tatsu San’s bereaved wife directed her towards Kubota, a journalist who had previously helped the police officer dig up dirt on Harrison and other fraud-related deaths. Kubota was willing to help Kuramochi and informed her about Nishitani, whose real name was Saeki Kazuma. This man, as mentioned above, swindled Tsujimoto Takumi’s father, which led to a tragedy. Kubota also revealed that Nishitani had fled to the Philippines to avoid being killed by someone.
Was Aoyagi warned about land fraud?
Aoyagi, a high-profile real estate executive with Sekiyo House Group, was excited about the land that was owned by Priestess Kawai. He had agreed to get the approval of the chairman and the board, and in return, the contract expected Harrison and his team to get Sekiyo House Group acquainted with the owner of the property, which was Kawai Natsumi, and meet her face-to-face. However, the deal was too good to be true for Aoyagi’s colleague, and he was warned about the increasing land fraud in Tokyo, saying this deal felt off to him. Aoyagi, however, was unwilling to hear them out, went ahead and gave the chairman a tour of the property and approved the property for purchase despite the warnings.
Who betrayed Harrison?
Harrison was only the leader who masterminded the whole fraud, and he never once sat in a meeting exposing his face to the people they were swindling. The plan was to keep Kawai Natsumi away from Tokyo for a few days so that the impostor could be placed to fool Aoyagi and his team. Harrison was betrayed by Takeshita, who had issues in regards to the payments for the work. He was aware Harrison had killed people in the past for demanding a higher fee. Takeshita sabotaged the plan of the team by killing Kawai’s boyfriend and threatening her to head back to Tokyo. Takeshita was caught by Harrison, and the leader killed him for betraying the team. Harrison killed Takeshita because the man was aware of way too many details as he wanted the team to be kept in the dark about.
Who helped Tsujimoto Takumi?
Kuramochi had to meet Tsujimoto Takumi to let him know there was a way out of the life of crime, but the man was relentless. She learned of his plan to exact revenge, but the man was deep in the nexus with Harrison, and there was no coming out. Kuramochi placed a GPS device on his vehicle to follow him and find out about their regular place of meeting.
Was Aoyagi dead or alive?
Harrison’s team had placed Reiko as the Priestess’ impostor. Reiko was not sure, but the emergency had them look for her and her expertise in helping them close the deal. They were also informed about Kawai’s return to Tokyo, which was why it was necessary to close the site visit and face-to-face meeting as soon as possible. This was the test of the team on how intelligently they could maneuver through the situation without creating any suspicion. To everyone’s surprise, the work was completed to prove to Aoyagi and the Sekiyo House group that the deal was legitimate and right on schedule. Since Tsujimoto Takumi was leading this mission, he made sure there were no overlooked details that could incriminate them. Their lives would be at stake if this deal had not pulled through because they were set to receive 106 billion yen.
Once the money was received, Sekiyo House Group was soon made aware of the fraud as their ownership transfer was stopped by the government authorities. This was bound to happen, as Aoyagi was informed way in advance about this seeming like a fraud. Aoyagi was in shock upon meeting the actual priestess, Kawai Natsumi. Aoyagi, in a state of shock, walked in front of a tram and was instantly killed. The man had cost his company a huge amount, and he was sure he would be thrown in jail or be asked to pay the money back. Since he could not afford either, death was the only way out. His death and the scale of the fraud sent shockwaves around the country, and nobody from the fraud team was caught by the police.
Was Harrison Yamanaka caught by the police?
Tsujimoto Takumi was informed by Kuramochi about Harrison being the mastermind behind his father being swindled years ago. The man could not believe he was helped and groomed by the same person, which essentially caused him an existential crisis. This made him confront Harrison, who’d manipulated him. He made Tsujimoto Takumi believe that he was Harrison’s best discovery and the young man should be grateful to him. Harrison probably wanted to make Tsujimoto Takumi believe the events of the past should not affect the young man’s decisions right now as he was set to receive a huge chunk of money. This was a lie, as Harrison wanted to kill Tsujimoto Takumi since his role in his father’s death was out in the open. Since Harrison had always succeeded in one-upping everyone, he was in no mood to be killed or, worse, be sent to prison.
As expected, the confrontation between Harrison and Tsujimoto Takumi led to the former attempting to kill his prodigy. The man also revealed he planned to kill Reiko and Goto for asking for a bigger share after this fraud. This was his way of keeping a large portion of the money to himself. Kuramochi made it there in no time to help Tsujimoto Takumi. It was assumed Tsujimoto Takumi may have informed her of Harrison’s location. Takumi wanted to kill Harrison and surrender to the police, but the latter could not let that happen. As a last resort, he bombed the place with a grenade, which gravely injured Takumi and Kuramochi, while Harrison appeared to have died in the blast too.
In the Tokyo Swindlers finale, we saw a severely injured Takumi in the hospital willing to talk about his role in the fraud and his plan to surrender. He spoke in detail about how it all started as a plan to reach Nishitani, but he soon began to love the job. Takumi probably got addicted and only got better at his job. Kuramochi had to correct and remind him that he committed a crime and was complicit in the murders as well. Tsujimoto Takumi finally came to terms with his mistakes, and he was informed that Harrison had disappeared after bombing the place. The closing shot of the series finally revealed what actually happened to Harrison. He was seen sitting on After acknowledging his mistakes, Tsujimoto Takumi learned that Harrison had vanished following the bombing. with his gun pointed towards the plains. Most likely Harrison had been on another hunting expedition, killing innocent creatures in the wilderness while the police had been looking for him in Tokyo. The ending shot implies that Harrison will return to the city when things have cooled down, and as soon as he is back, he will surely go after the people who betrayed his trust, and that includes his former partner-in-crime, Takumi.
