Welcome to JULLY WOOD JAPAN! Today, we’re diving into the cast of Netflix’s Japanese crime thriller Tokyo Swindlers.

Who plays Takumi? Who is the actor behind the terrifying Harrison Yamanaka? And where might you have seen the rest of the cast before?

Here’s your guide to the Tokyo Swindlers cast, including their ages, heights, Instagram accounts, notable movies and TV shows, and some surprisingly fun facts about the actors behind the characters.

Profiles and ages updated for 2026.

Tokyo Swindlers Cast: Profiles & Surprising Facts

Takumi Tsujimoto — Go Ayano

The negotiator at the heart of the land-swindling team.

この投稿をInstagramで見る

yoko(@ayano5no405)がシェアした投稿

ー

Surprising Facts About Go Ayano

• Before becoming an actor, Ayano was a serious track-and-field athlete.
• In middle school, he won a prefectural championship in the 800 meters. He continued competing in high school and finished second at the prefectural level.
• After graduating from high school, he moved to Tokyo.
• He worked as a model and played in bands before making his acting debut in Kamen Rider 555 in 2003.
• Despite the intense and sometimes intimidating characters he plays on screen, co-stars often describe Ayano as gentle and soft-spoken in real life.
• Ayano himself has described his personality as “timid.”
• He’s also a huge fan of the Hakone Ekiden, Japan’s famous New Year university relay race, and has admitted that he sometimes ends up crying while watching it on television.
• Video games are another major obsession. He loves the SaGa, Mana and Final Fantasy series and once revealed that he had a childhood crush on Terra from Final Fantasy VI.
• His music taste runs considerably heavier: he enjoys heavy metal and death metal and plays guitar.
• Ayano also performed in the band THE XXXXXX alongside actors Takayuki Yamada and Asahi Uchida.
• One of his more unusual acting skills? When a scene requires him to look sweaty, he has said he can sometimes make himself sweat without relying on a spray bottle.
• As a child, one of his favorite dishes was chicken wings simmered in cola.
• These days, his favorite foods include gizzard shad sushi, strawberry tart and pork tenderloin cutlets.
• Spicy foods, however, are not his thing. Cilantro, kimchi and spicy tantanmen are among the foods he avoids.
• Long before becoming one of Japan’s most recognizable actors, Ayano also went through periods of serious financial hardship and has spoken about having only a few hundred yen left to his name.
• And here’s a very Japanese bit of internet trivia: an intersection called Ayano 5 in Ogaki, Gifu, once attracted attention online because its name reminded people of the actor.
• Ayano married actress Yu Sakuma on New Year’s Eve in 2022. The couple welcomed their first child in 2024.

---

Harrison Yamanaka — Etsushi Toyokawa

The cold-blooded mastermind who leads the swindling operation.

ー

Surprising Facts About Etsushi Toyokawa

• Toyokawa is so famous in Japan that he has long been known by the nickname “Toyoetsu.”
• While studying literature at Kwansei Gakuin University, he happened to watch a theater club rehearsal. The experience sparked his interest in acting.
• He eventually dropped out of university and moved to Tokyo to pursue acting professionally.
• Toyokawa has said that the thrill of standing in front of an audience during his first stage performance pulled him even deeper into the profession.
• In 1995, his performance in the beloved film Love Letter earned him recognition at the Japan Academy Film Prize, including an Outstanding Supporting Actor award.
• When portraying a real historical person, Toyokawa sometimes goes surprisingly far in his preparation—including visiting the person’s grave.
• Away from acting, he’s apparently a devoted NHK viewer.
• One of his favorite shows is Tsurube’s Salute to Families, and he has also described himself as a fan of former NHK announcer Shinichi Takeda.
• Toyokawa took up surfing after turning 40.
• Another unexpected connection: Japanese singer Serina, a member of the girl group MADEIN, is his niece.
• Toyokawa remarried in 2015 and announced the birth of a daughter that same year.

Takeshita — Kazuki Kitamura

The group’s information broker, responsible for digging up details on valuable properties and their owners.

ー

Surprising Facts About Kazuki Kitamura

• Kitamura’s real name is Yasushi Kitamura.
• His older brother, Toshihiro Kitamura, works as a director.
• He loved movies from an early age—but his first dream was much stranger than becoming an actor.
• Kitamura wanted to become a pirate.
• He enrolled in a maritime technical college, apparently imagining that a career at sea might bring him closer to that childhood dream.
• Eventually, he realized becoming an actual pirate wasn’t exactly a viable career path and turned his attention to acting instead.
• That maritime education wasn’t completely wasted: Kitamura holds a first-class small-vessel operator’s license.
• His early acting years were rough.
• At one point, while trying to sell himself to production companies, he reportedly played both roles—pretending to be his own manager while also presenting himself as the actor being represented.
• He eventually became so discouraged that he gave up acting and spent roughly four years traveling through places including Australia, South America and Southeast Asia.
• Then he decided he didn’t want his story to end with him simply running away.
• He returned to Japan and gave acting another shot.
• Kitamura later became known for extreme dedication to his roles. For one performance, he even had teeth removed or altered to change his appearance.
• His skills outside acting include traditional Japanese dance, horseback riding, karate and swimming.
• His son, Shosei Kitamura, is a professional dancer.
• Kitamura married in 1993 and later divorced in 2012. He remarried in 2019.

---

Reiko Inaba — Eiko Koike

The fixer who recruits and trains people to pose as fake landowners.

この投稿をInstagramで見る

小池栄子 / eiko koike(@eikokoike)がシェアした投稿

ー

Surprising Facts About Eiko Koike

• Her married name is Eiko Sakata, while Koike is her maiden name.
• Her family once operated a pachinko parlor founded by her grandfather.
• And apparently, that wasn’t the most unusual thing about growing up in the Koike household.
• According to Koike, her grandfather once kept a crocodile at home as a pet.
• From middle school through high school, she belonged to a creative dance club.
• Koike originally dreamed of becoming a nursery-school teacher.
• After being scouted, however, she entered the entertainment industry with hopes of becoming an actress.
• Her career initially took a different direction, and she became widely known as a gravure model.
• At first, she was uncomfortable with swimsuit work.
• Over time, she began to view it as one of the qualities that made her stand out and approached the work more positively.
• One of her early promotional catchphrases was the very memorable “the universe’s number-one melon pie.”
• Koike married former professional wrestler Wataru Sakata in 2007.
• She is left-handed.
• She has been friends with actress Shin Yazawa since high school and is also close to actress and entrepreneur MEGUMI.
• Koike is a big fan of both ASKA and BoA.

Goto — Pierre Taki

A former judicial scrivener who uses his legal expertise to handle negotiations and paperwork for the group.

ー

Surprising Facts About Pierre Taki

• His real name is Masanori Taki.
• Long before many viewers knew him as an actor, he was famous as a member of the electronic music group Denki Groove.
• In high school, he played baseball and usually batted fifth while playing first base.
• He even once tried out for the Hanshin Tigers.
• His musical life changed after Takkyu Ishino introduced him to New Order’s “Blue Monday.”
• Taki has joked that he was once kicked out of a band for trying too hard to look cool.
• His stage name “Pierre” was deliberately chosen because it sounded French.
• He also famously describes himself as a “musician who can’t play an instrument.”
• That hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of Japan’s most distinctive live performers, often appearing on stage in bizarre costumes and character outfits.
• He has also written lyrics for Japanese entertainers including Fumie Hosokawa, Tomoe Shinohara and PUFFY.
• In 2020, he launched the YouTube channel Pierre Taki YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS.
• In 2019, Taki was arrested and later indicted for cocaine use.

---

Nagai — Shota Sometani

The group’s expert forger, responsible for creating fake documents and official records.

ー

Surprising Facts About Shota Sometani

• Sometani began working as a child actor at just seven years old.
• At nine, he made his film debut in STACY.
• His international breakthrough came with Himizu.
• In 2011, Sometani and co-star Fumi Nikaido won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for emerging actors at the Venice International Film Festival.
• They became the first Japanese performers to receive the honor.
• Even while still in high school, Sometani was making independent films of his own.
• He has said that he doesn’t necessarily plan to quit acting and become a full-time director, but he does want to continue creating films.
• His hobbies include watching movies, photography and professional wrestling.
• He particularly enjoys shooting with film cameras.
• His unusual list of skills includes pantomime, magic tricks and table tennis.
• One of his favorite actors is the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
• He has also named Kazuhiko Hasegawa’s The Youth Killer as a particularly important film to him.
• Actors Taiga Nakano and Rika Adachi were among his high-school classmates.
• On January 1, 2015, Sometani announced his marriage to actress Rinko Kikuchi.
• The couple now have two children.

Natsumi Kawai — Izumi Matsuoka

A Buddhist temple priest and landowner whose valuable property becomes the swindlers’ next target.

ー

Surprising Facts About Izumi Matsuoka

• Matsuoka is a member of Bungakuza, one of Japan’s best-known theater companies.
• She studied acting and directing at Osaka University of Arts.
• After graduating, she entered the Bungakuza Institute of Dramatic Arts.
• She worked her way through the company’s training system before becoming a full member.
• Even during her training years, she reportedly stood out for the stability and control of her performances.
• Comedian Shinji Saito of Jungle Pocket trained in the same Bungakuza class.
• Her hobbies include visiting temples and singing.
• Her more unusual skills include identifying the changing seasons by smell.
• She also sings jazz and can play both basketball and piano.

---

Kaede — Kaito Yoshimura

The host-club worker who becomes the object of Natsumi Kawai’s affection.

ー

Surprising Facts About Kaito Yoshimura

• Yoshimura grew up in an artistic household.
• His father was a former boxer, while his mother painted in oils.
• As a child, he learned both piano and blues harmonica.
• After high school, he attended university at night.
• During that period, he spent a lot of time browsing used bookstores and reading novels.
• The more films he watched, the more fascinated he became by acting.
• He eventually joined a talent agency after being selected from more than 500 applicants.
• His work on Mori, The Artist’s Habitat also attracted attention because of his connection with legendary actress Kirin Kiki, who was described in the Japanese media as having taken him under her wing late in her career.
• Yoshimura says people sometimes assume he is in a bad mood when they first meet him.
• His favorite food is peanut butter.
• His favorite books include Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro, Takehiro Higuchi’s Farewell, Zoshigaya and Hiroyuki Itsuki’s Youth Heads for the Wilderness.
• His hobbies are movies and reading.
• He’s also extremely good at table tennis—in middle school, he reportedly won an individual Tokyo metropolitan tournament.

Orochi — Anthony

The rough-edged thug working under Takeshita.

この投稿をInstagramで見る

アントニー(@anthonymatenroudayo)がシェアした投稿

ー

Surprising Facts About Anthony

• Anthony is best known in Japan as one half of the comedy duo Matenrou.
• His full legal name is Anthony Seiki Hotta.
• He has joked that the unusual order of his given names happened because his mother accidentally got the naming order mixed up.
• His father was an African American former professional boxer, while his mother is Japanese.
• His father died when Anthony was three.
• Anthony grew up around a sushi restaurant run by his family.
• He once joked that when someone ordered omakase there, they were served a California roll.
• Because of his appearance, he has also been mistaken for an English teacher at language schools—even though he grew up in Japan.
• As an elementary-school student, he was a talented baseball player and earned the nickname “The Monster of Itabashi.”
• His mother strongly taught him never to hit people, and Anthony says he has never been in a fight.
• Before his entertainment career took off, he struggled to get even ordinary part-time jobs and was repeatedly rejected at interviews.
• He has also talked about receiving a complaint simply for riding his bicycle to school as a teenager.
• Anthony is a passionate Hanshin Tigers fan.
• He loves sneakers and won an entertainer-category award at Japan’s Sneaker Best Dresser Awards in 2020.
• He’s also a serious poker fan and plays Texas Hold’em.
• He has been part of a celebrity social group known informally as the “Hafu-kai” alongside personalities including Yukio Ueno, JOY and Mandy Sekiguchi.
• Anthony is also a major fan of the Japanese combat-sports event BreakingDown.
• According to him, Mikuru Asakura once approached him about fighting Shibatar in the very first BreakingDown event—but Anthony turned the offer down.

---

Sunaga — Satoru Matsuo

A senior executive at Sekiyo House who clashes with Aoyagi over the company’s development plans.

ー

Surprising Facts About Satoru Matsuo

• Matsuo decided he wanted to become an actor after seeing a stage performance at a school event during his second year of high school.
• While attending university, he worked part-time for a newspaper company.
• He was eventually offered a full-time position but turned it down because he wanted to pursue acting.
• Then came one of the strangest “how I got discovered” stories in Japanese entertainment.
• After moving to Tokyo, Matsuo found an envelope containing an airline ticket outside his home.
• He took it to the police.
• The owner turned out to be the president of a talent agency—and the chance encounter eventually helped Matsuo enter show business.
• During his early career, he also worked as an assistant to actress Haruka Igawa.
• His hobbies include mixed martial arts, rugby and drawing.
• He is allergic to buckwheat, so while many Japanese people eat soba noodles on New Year’s Eve, Matsuo opts for udon or ramen instead.
• Actor Issei Takahashi has been a longtime friend.
• Matsuo is also frequently mistaken for actor Hiromasa Taguchi.
• And yes—he is another member of the Tokyo Swindlers cast who supports the Hanshin Tigers.

Yusuke Maki — Taro Suruga

The president of real-estate company Mike Homes, another business caught in the swindlers’ orbit.

この投稿をInstagramで見る

Taro Suruga(@tarosleepydog)がシェアした投稿

ー

Surprising Facts About Taro Suruga

• Suruga is the son of one of Japan’s most famous comedians and television personalities, Shofukutei Tsurube.
• Before acting, however, Suruga built a career in music.
• He performed under the name taro and spent two years studying music in the United Kingdom.
• He has worked as a vocalist and guitarist in bands including sleepydog and Human Note.
• Suruga didn’t switch his main focus to acting until around the age of 30.
• In 2011, he appeared in a commercial alongside his father.
• The two were later cast in the hit drama Hanzawa Naoki, although Suruga has said their characters never actually brought them together on set.
• Suruga is married and has two children.
• Comedian Kaoru Yahata is a cousin of his wife.

---

Toshikatsu Hayashi — Makita Sports

A land speculator with connections inside Sekiyo House.

この投稿をInstagramで見る

マキタスポーツ(@makisupo)がシェアした投稿

ー

Surprising Facts About Makita Sports

• His real name is Yuji Makita.
• His stage name comes from the name of the sporting-goods store run by his family.
• After graduating from university, he returned to his hometown and worked as an assistant manager at MOS Burger.
• He quit after about six months.
• Makita eventually made his debut as a comedian at the relatively late age of 28.
• He describes himself as a “musician who can do comedy.”
• He also sings and plays guitar in the rock band Makita Gakkyu.
• Impressions are one of his specialties.
• Ironically, he has even been described as a comedian whose impressions were “too good” for him to become famous through impersonation alone.
• Makita is married and is a father of four.

Rei Kuramochi — Elaiza Ikeda

A rookie detective in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Second Investigation Division who works alongside Tatsu.4

この投稿をInstagramで見る

ELAIZA IKEDA(@elaiza_ikd)がシェアした投稿

ー

Surprising Facts About Elaiza Ikeda

• Her full legal name and former stage name is Elaiza Ikeda, written in Japanese with the kanji form 池田依來沙.
• She also releases music professionally under the name ELAIZA.
• Ikeda was born in the Philippines and raised in Fukuoka, Japan.
• Her mother is Filipino and previously worked as both a singer and a model.
• Ikeda is one of four siblings, with two older brothers and a younger brother.
• Her entertainment career began in 2009 when she won the grand prize in an audition for the Japanese teen fashion magazine nicola.
• Even though she originally wanted to become an actress, she has said that she repeatedly failed acting auditions early in her career.
• Her film debut eventually came in High School Debut in 2011.
• By 2020, she had expanded behind the camera and made her debut as a film director.
• Ikeda is an avid reader.
• As a student, she served on both her school library committee and broadcasting committee, and at one point even considered becoming a writer.
• She has named Japanese poet and writer Shuji Terayama among her favorite authors.
• She is close friends with actress and singer Mone Kamishiraishi, and the two have spent time cooking and singing together.
• Ikeda also owns a pet yellow-collared lovebird named Pigeon.
• Japanese social media users once nicknamed her the “selfie goddess.”
• A pose in which she pushed the corners of her mouth upward became widely known as the “Elaiza Pose.”

---

Tatsu — Lily Franky

A veteran detective pursuing the land swindlers.

ー

Surprising Facts About Lily Franky

• Lily Franky has also worked under the name Elvis Woodstock.
• Calling him simply an actor doesn’t really cover it.
• He has worked as a writer, illustrator, musician and visual artist in addition to acting.
• Franky began living on his own while still in high school.
• He later studied at Musashino Art University.
• His college career took five years rather than four after his obsession with the Nintendo Famicom contributed to him repeating a year.
• Even more appropriately, his graduation project reportedly involved footage of himself playing video games.
• Franky began writing essay columns when he was around 24 or 25.
• He has said that both his writing and illustrations are often created quickly, without much revision.
• His semi-autobiographical novel Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad was serialized over roughly four years.
• When it was published as a book in 2005, it became a blockbuster bestseller with more than two million copies sold.
• In 2008, he formed the rock band TOKYO MOOD PUNKS.
• His performance in All Around Us earned him a Blue Ribbon Award for Best Newcomer—at the unusually late age of 45.
• He later received major Japan Academy Film Prize recognition for his performances in The Devil’s Path and Like Father, Like Son.
• The name “Lily” began as a college nickname, while “Franky” was a name he later added himself.
• He has jokingly described singer and former AKB48 member Minami Takahashi as his ideal daughter.
• Franky has supported the Yomiuri Giants since childhood.
• One of his hobbies is simply sleeping.
• He’s also famously known for being late.
• The person he has said he respects most is legendary Japanese actor Yusaku Matsuda.
• Franky is close friends with actor and singer Masaharu Fukuyama—close enough that the two have even gone strawberry picking together.

Takashi Aoyagi — Koji Yamamoto

The ambitious Sekiyo House development executive who becomes one of the swindlers’ principal targets.

ー

Surprising Facts About Koji Yamamoto

• Yamamoto has essentially been in show business his entire life.
• He began working as a baby model before his first birthday.
• At age 10, he made his stage debut as Gavroche in Les Misérables.
• By his mid-teens, he had already become widely recognized through television dramas.
• Yamamoto began playing guitar in middle school and was writing his own music by high school.
• A major turning point came in 1998 when he played Mark in the original Japanese production of RENT.
• The experience reportedly encouraged him to look beyond Japan.
• He even studied English with American-born Japanese TV personality Patrick Harlan, better known in Japan as “Pakkun.”
• At 23, Yamamoto spent about three months living in New York.
• In 2004, he gained enormous popularity playing historical figure Toshizo Hijikata in the NHK historical drama Shinsengumi!
• Screenwriter Koki Mitani personally saw him as a strong fit for the role.
• Yamamoto is also a massive Dragon Ball fan.
• He has even used Dragon Ball characters as inspiration when developing roles.
• Yamamoto married actress Maki Horikita in 2015, and the couple have two children.
• Japanese entertainment media famously described theirs as a “zero-day courtship marriage,” although Yamamoto later explained that they had actually been dating for around two months.
• Weight training is one of his hobbies.
• He is especially close to former SMAP member Shingo Katori, who has described Yamamoto as one of his very few close friends.
• Yamamoto is also close with actress sisters Mone and Moka Kamishiraishi and their family.
• He has joked that he is particularly friendly with their father and that the two sometimes go drinking together.

---

Otani — Shin Shimizu

One of Aoyagi’s direct subordinates at Sekiyo House.

ー

Surprising Facts About Shin Shimizu

• Shimizu serves as vice leader of the theater company Fukufukuya.
• Around the time he dropped out of university, he spotted an advertisement for an audition for comedian Kinichi Hagimoto’s theater group.
• He applied—and that experience helped spark his desire to become an actor.
• Ironically, he never actually joined Hagimoto’s theater company.
• Shimizu later landed the role of Kikkawa Mototsugu in the NHK historical drama Mori Motonari.
• From there, he built a long career as a supporting actor across Japanese film and television.
• His skills include boxing, action choreography, sword fighting, soccer and guitar.

Yashiki — Shishimaru Matsumoto

An employee in Sekiyo House’s development division.

ー

Surprising Facts About Shishimaru Matsumoto

• His real name is Kota Matsumoto.
• He is the oldest of three siblings.
• After graduating from high school, Matsumoto initially took a regular corporate job.
• He eventually quit to pursue the entertainment career he had dreamed about since childhood.
• He learned acting through workshops and small-theater productions.
• For a period, he also worked as an action performer.
• Matsumoto has written scripts for the theatrical comedy unit GRahAMBox.
• For one role, he gained an astonishing 40 kilograms—about 88 pounds.
• His skills include sword fighting, action performance, creative cooking and illustration.
• His hobbies include movies, songwriting, video editing and collage art.
• Favorite foods include sushi, yakiniku, pasta and coffee.
• He dislikes cilantro and fruit.
• Matsumoto also played soccer for 11 years and supports Tokyo Verdy.

---

Kodai Ishiguro — Ikuma Nagatomo

A judicial scrivener working at Tajima General Office.

ー

Surprising Facts About Ikuma Nagatomo

• Nagatomo is represented by the Japanese talent agency Jungle.
• His special skills include baseball, swimming and playing the trumpet.

Takeo Sasaki — Takeo Gozu

An elderly man recruited to impersonate a landowner as part of the swindlers’ scheme.

この投稿をInstagramで見る

『プロフェッショナル～保険調査員・天音蓮～』1月期木10ドラマ【公式】(@professionalcx8)がシェアした投稿

ー

Surprising Facts About Takeo Gozu

• Gozu first became interested in acting after joining his high-school drama club.
• As a young man, however, he spent time working as an automobile mechanic.
• At 23, he entered the training program of the theater company Seinen Gekijo and spent roughly two decades working primarily on stage.
• Then his life changed dramatically.
• At 42, Gozu was diagnosed with stomach cancer and underwent surgery to have his entire stomach removed.
• The experience led him to leave his theater company.
• Rather than simply picking up where he had left off, he effectively started again from the bottom—working as an extra as he tried to establish himself in film and television.
• His stage name Gozu comes from the Gozu mountain range near his home region.
• During the early years of his screen career, he was frequently cast as homeless men.
• Even when given a role lasting only a single scene, Gozu says he thinks deeply about the character’s entire life and background.
• His performance as the elderly fake landowner Takeo Sasaki in Tokyo Swindlers eventually brought him a new wave of attention.
• One seemingly ordinary line became especially memorable among Japanese viewers:
• “Life is cheaper.”
• The line refers to the Japanese supermarket chain Life.
• It became such a fan favorite that some viewers affectionately began referring to Gozu’s character as “the Life Grandpa.”

Final Thoughts on the Tokyo Swindlers Cast

And there you have it!

From veteran stars like Etsushi Toyokawa and Lily Franky to internationally recognized actors such as Go Ayano, Shota Sometani and Elaiza Ikeda, Tokyo Swindlers brings together an unusually eclectic Japanese cast.

Knowing a little about the actors behind the characters makes the already colorful world of Tokyo Swindlers even more fun to watch.

Thanks for reading!

If another face in the series caught your attention, check out their movies and TV shows—you may be surprised by just how many familiar Japanese films and dramas this cast has appeared in.