Shinjo Ko’s Tokyo Swindlers is the basis for a new series from Netflix. The book, translated by Charles De Wolf for Shueisha, has an interesting premise based on an unbelievable true crime story. However, the payoff left me feeling I’d been swindled, too.
Land Swindlers
Set in 2017, the Tokyo of Tokyo Swindlers is one I know well. With its nonstop real estate developments, constant architectural changes to the downtown landscape, and gentrification of once retro cool back streets, Tokyo increasingly feels like a big city that could exist anywhere. Behind the scenes of this action are real estate developers constantly competing for prime locations in a city with shrinking space and strict building laws.
This rabid competition means many companies resort to underhanded or desperate business practices. Which is when land swindlers can exploit their vulnerabilities.
地面師 (jimenshi) are a real issue in Japan. With an aging population comes an increase in homes owned by older and less suspicious generations. If you are familiar with the ore -ore phone scams in Japan, you’ll know it’s not difficult to bewilder and defraud the trusting and tech-challenged older generation here.
The homes are in prime locations purchased during a bygone era before the rampant commercialization of Tokyo. A single-family home torn down to make way for a high rise can bring in major money for real estate developers.
That is, if you can get the owner to sell.
Land swindlers come into play one of two ways. They can directly scam the poor elderly owners into signing over the deed. Or, they impersonate and forge documents of these hapless owners and then sell their property to over-eager real estate developers.
The underworld of these charming and crooked criminals is where the drama of Tokyo Swindlers takes place.
The Sekisui case
While not explicitly stated, the events in Tokyo Swindlers are obviously inspired by a real-life case.
In 2017, a group of land swindlers defrauded real estate development company Sekisui House of 5.5 billion yen ($37,102,620). The company was scammed into purchasing a former Japanese-style inn in the Shinagawa neighborhood of Gotanda.
Using falsified documents, impersonators, and gaining access to the inn for property viewing, the land swindlers, led by office worker and career criminal Uchida Mike, persuaded the company to quickly close the deal. This despite multiple warnings that it was likely fraudulent.
When the scam came to light, it caused a media firestorm. Sekisui House’s reputation suffered, causing a boardroom coup for chairman. The police eventually traced and apprehended the nine fraudsters involved.
Where’s the action?
Marketed as a suspenseful heist novel Tokyo Swindlers lacks suspense. Plotlines are explained so thoroughly and dryly that I could see the plot points coming for miles.
As a crime, land swindling is ingenious. However, the reality is it’s bland formal meetings. Exchanging business cards, bowing, and lawyers looking at documents is a snoozefest.
Unfortunately, you don’t get much else. The narrative structure does a disservice to the reader by skipping over the juiciest tidbits and summarizing them later. Several times, I felt like I was sitting in the world’s longest meeting that could have been an email.
When we finally get to some big-time action, the plot devices feel comically unrealistic. A crime novel should either leave the reader guessing what’s going to happen next or be hard-hitting and gritty. Tokyo Swindlers falls flat on both accounts.
I wasn’t rooting for him
The story centers around protagonist Tsujimoto Takumi, if one can call a land swindler a protagonist. He has the most fleshed-out characterization in the novel. However, he’s so utterly devoid of any distinctive personality that I found it almost impossible to empathize.
Even when we get Tsujimoto’s perfunctory tragic backstory, his descent into the world of crime feels forced. His big plot twist, foreshadowed throughout the book and on the back cover, felt too neat and predictable.
The big baddie of the novel is Yamanaka Harrison. He’s despicable, sure, but lacks the charisma associated with scammers. I’d go so far as to say he was creepy. Unlike the criminal he’s based on, Yamanaka has former ties to the Yakuza. This feels like shorthand for “bad guy” and isn’t an integral addition to the narrative.
While he’s the operation’s mastermind, we rarely see him do anything but fork up the initial cash and arrange drinking parties. That may be accurate for the head of any big organization, even a criminal one. But it doesn’t make for a compelling read.
The other characters are also one-dimensional sketches of the cast expected in a heist novel. Veteran cop who can’t let go of the criminal who got away. Tech-savvy social recluse. A loose cannon who causes a stir. Everyone feels like a cliche – and not even in a fun Ocean’s 11 way.
Sexism is real – but is it necessary?
While all the characters lack depth, nowhere is this more blatant and unseemingly than in the depiction of women in the novel.
You could argue that a crime novel won’t be a bastion of feminist-friendly depictions. However, the sexualization of women was gratuitous. I’m glad all the women have spectacularly large breasts. They don’t add much to the story, though. The only women not sexualized in the book are the wives and mothers supporting the least reprehensible male characters.
There’s a Netflix adaption of the novel currently streaming. The TV adaption has made some upgrades. The characters have more dimensionality, some characters were added, and the story punched up with dramatic flare.
Still, recent articles have lamented that while the show is popular in Japan, it hasn’t reached those same heights in foreign markets. This type of show tends to work well in Japan (see, for example, the Hanzawa Naoki series). However, I have a feeling that foreign viewers are hoping for a bit more nail-biting suspense and less official seal stamping while ogling boobs.
Tokyo Swindlers promises to entertain. But in the end, this turns out to be a con, too.
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