Watch The Benza

The Benza from Tokyo Cowboys is a Japanese-American TV series released in 2019. It is a blend of action, comedy, and drama that takes place in both Tokyo and Los Angeles. A brainchild of Kyle Card, the show features Japanese actor Masahito Kawahata and Swedish actress Janni Olsson, among others.

The show derives its name from "benza," a term used for the toilet seat in Japan. The main character, Hiroshi Matsumoto (played by Kawahata), is an avid collector of rare toilet seats. His obsession with collecting benza stems from his childhood. When he was young, his mother would punish him by forcing him to sit on a cold, hard, plastic toilet seat. She believed that this was the harshest way to discipline her child because he would hate it the most. Thus, as he grew older, Hiroshi began collecting different types of toilet seats to overcome his traumatic childhood experience.

Hiroshi is a socially awkward, introverted, and highly intelligent man. He works as a database at a software company in Tokyo. His job requires him to sit in front of a computer for hours, which gives him ample time to browse online auction sites for rare toilet seats. Despite his quirks, Hiroshi has two close friends in Tokyo; Aki and Takashi, who are also his co-workers.

However, Hiroshi's life takes a drastic turn when he receives an email from an American woman named Jillian who claims to have one of the rarest toilet seats in the world, a benza owned by Marilyn Monroe. She asks him to buy it for her as she is currently living in Los Angeles and cannot access Japanese auction sites. Hiroshi agrees to help and travels to Los Angeles, where he meets Jillian, played by Janni Olsson.

Jillian is an American woman who has come to Los Angeles to start her own business

The Benza is a series that ran for 2 seasons (11 episodes) between March 31, 2019 and on Tokyo Cowboys