Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Does the Chawan Sign in Shenmue Have a Historical Basis?

Today, we will do a deep dive into an iconic communication method seen in Shenmue: the Chawan Sign, which Ryo first learns about in Shenmue II (and is reintroduced later in one of the Shenmue III DLC stories). He makes use of the Chawan Sign to discreetly communicate with allies, by arranging teacups in a certain pattern in a public place, 

Arranging four teacups

Ryo is warned that placing them at the wrong location, or carelessly arranging them in the wrong pattern, can result in unwanted attention...

Trying at the wrong location may attract trouble

But was the concept of the Chawan Sign something that Yu Suzuki and team created purely for Shenmue, or did it have some kind of historical basis?

In this post, we will try to answer this question by looking at a possible sources of inspiration.

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Monday, March 4, 2024

Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for March 2024

Every month, Phantom River Stone holds a poll among our patrons to choose a topic for the blog in the coming month. After tallying the votes (including accumulated votes from previous months), the winning topic that has been voted for this time is:

"Shenmue II Special: a Message from Yu Suzuki - DoriMaga Interview May 2001"

This interview with Yu Suzuki about the upcoming release of Shenmue II for Dreamcast was published in the May 2001 edition of Japan's DoriMaga magazine. As noted in the introduction to the interview,  it fell in the period shortly after Sega's decision to cease production of the Dreamcast a couple of months earlier, in March.


DoriMaga: There was a huge turnout at SEGA's recent event, Game Jam, reaffirming the great anticipation for Shenmue II. What plans are there for the Dreamcast in future, and what is the significance of Shenmue II? Let's hear a message from Yu Suzuki to the readers of the new-look DoriMaga magazine and users of the Dreamcast.
Suzuki: Game Jam was fantastic. While we apologize for any inconvenience caused due to the crowded space, we are delighted that so many people attended. Seeing such a large number of attendees makes us very happy. Seeing so many attendees on that day made me think, "It's a shame we're giving up on the Dreamcast..."
DoriMaga: The event featured the first-ever demonstration using actual hardware, but how far along is the development of Shenmue II at this point?
Suzuki: Well, as of the end of March, it's mostly been bug fixes. That means we've essentially locked in the program code, and from there, it's mostly about replacing data and focusing on debugging. Since April, we've been diving into that work, and at the moment, we're at a stage where it's nearing the finalization process. At this stage, if we are able to iron out any critical bugs, we'll be looking at finalization in just a few weeks.

Watch for the translation of the rest of the interview in a future post!
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Friday, February 23, 2024

(Part 3/3) Concept Art From the 2022 Shenmue The Animation Promotional Event

Today is Part Three, the final part, of our exploration of the art from Yokosuka City's Shenmue anime celebration! 

Links to the previous parts:

Special thanks: thanks again to ă‚‚_ăȘお Mo_Nao for kindly providing the source photos from the event, to which cropping & straightening has been applied. Be sure to follow her on X (Twitter) at @greed_air for a heap of original Shenmue content!


Hong Kong Locations


"Come Over Guest House, Wan Chai (night)"


"Wan Chai (morning)"

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Monday, February 5, 2024

Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for February 2024

Every month, Phantom River Stone holds a poll among our patrons to choose a topic for the blog in the coming month. After tallying the votes (including accumulated votes from previous months), the winning topic that has been voted for this time is:

"Influences & parallels of the 1980s manga Kenji on Shenmue"

Kenji is a popular martial-arts based manga series in which several similar elements to those in Shenmue can be recognized.

Published in the years prior to the development of Shenmue, from 1988 to 1992, it follows the journey of a boy named Kenji, a teenager passionate about the Chinese martial art Bajiquan. The series encompasses a wide array of martial arts styles, drawing inspiration from the author's own expertise.

Kenji explores other martial arts to enhance his skills, and his journey takes him to Hong Kong and China, where he encounters various martial arts masters, forms friendships, and faces challenges.


Given the overlap in the subject matter with Shenmue and the period in which it was published, it would not be surprising to find its influence within the game. However, mention of Kenji is not readily found among past interviews with Yu Suzuki.

In this post, we will be examining parallels and similarities between this popular manga and Shenmue, and tracking down any interviews available with development staff in which its influence may have been mentioned.

Coming in a future post on the blog.


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Wednesday, January 31, 2024

(Part 2/3) Concept Art From the 2022 Shenmue The Animation Promotional Event


Welcome back to our exploration of Yokosuka City's Shenmue anime celebration! In Part One, we delved into some intriguing concept art and sketches from the game's early days and the anime's creation. 

Now, in Part Two of this mini-series, we'll uncover more captivating art from the streets of Dobuita that were on display during the event.

Let's continue our visual journey through Shenmue's world.

Special thanks to ă‚‚_ăȘお Mo_Nao for kindly providing her photos taken at the event, to which cropping & straightening has been applied. Be sure to follow her on X (Twitter) at @greed_air for a heap of original Shenmue content!


Hazuki Residence


"At the Hazuki Residence gate"


"At the Hazuki Residence gate (night)"

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Friday, January 26, 2024

(Part 1/3) Concept Art from the 2022 Shenmue The Animation Promotional Event

Concept art displayed at the entrance of the Honey Bee restaurant

In April to June 2022, Yokosuka City ran a promotional event in celebration of the Shenmue's adaption anime form, which was run in collaboration with IGN Japan. There were various activities arranged including give-aways of Shenmue The Animation themed postcards at participating stores and an online gacha-gacha game.
During the event, exhibits of concept art and sketches from both the early days of the game's development as well as during the anime's creation were put on display inside a number of stores around the Dobuita Street area.

The event was divided into three periods or "phases" that lasted 3 weeks each. The artwork selection was completely refreshed at the start of each period, rewarding those visitors lucky enough to be able to visit Dobuita St multiple times across the event period.

As only a limited number of fortunate fans would have been able to attend the event in person, we have gathered together as many photos of these art pieces as possible, with adjustments applied for perspective and/or contrast. There was a mixture of sketches and art from Shenmue The Animation, as well as from development of the first Shenmue game.

This first post focuses on images displayed during the Phase One of the event.

Special thanks to ă‚‚_ăȘお Mo_Naomi (@greed_air on Twitter / X) for providing her photos for the art displayed during Phase Two and Phase Three. The Phase One photos were sourced from my own visit. 
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Monday, January 15, 2024

Muecas Dan: Sega's Official Shenmue Fan Club

Muecas Dan logo and slogan ("We are the Muecas Club!! ~We Deeply Love Shenmue~")

What Was "Muecas Dan"?


"Muecas Dan" (ăƒ ăƒŒă‚­ăƒŁă‚č曣) was a Shenmue fan club that regularly published Japanese-language Shenmue content online. It ran from early 2001 to 2004, and its founding members consisted of staff from the official Shenmue project team.

Shenmue Cast FAN


Muecas Dan was formed by the official Shenmue team to communicate with fans. Fans who made contributions to their web magazine were recognized as Muecas Dan members.

Muecas Dan was introduced in the January 2001 (Vol. 60) edition of the Weekly AM2 online magazine, in a section initially called 'Shenmue Cast Fan' - here 'cast' referred to members from the Shenmue project team.

"Yes! We are Shenmue's Cast Fans!" - the logo for the Shenmue Cast FAN page


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Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Unofficial Fan Meet-Up in Yokosuka, January 2024 | Photo Report

Last weekend, an adventure with fellow Shenmue enthusiasts took us on a journey through Ryo's stomping grounds in Yokosuka. Our mission was to uncover the secrets behind Ryo's father's demise, help children name any stray kitten found... and generally have a fun day out exploring the setting of the first game in Yu Suzuki's epic series with other fans.

Grab your leather jacket and join us as we dive into a report on the day's escapades of this unofficial Shenmue fan meet-up!

Harbor Vista


The initial gathering point on this sunny afternoon was outside JR Yokosuka station, at one end of Verny Park. This was a perfect place to wait and soak up the atmosphere, as the park stretches along the harbor and provides magnificent views of ships and submarines belonging to the bases of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force on one side and the US Navy on the other.

Verny Park, Yokosuka (image credit: æ€Ș猫)

It was fun to see all the Shenmue and Sega themed items being worn or carried - replicas of Ryo's leather jacket (including one with exquisite hand-stitched patches), Ryo's Timex watch, jeans and white sneakers, custom-made Ryo and Ren figurines, official and unofficial Shenmue T-shirts, and even a complete "black suit" cosplay that would fool Lan Di himself. Other items included Shenmue guide books and photos of prized Shenmue merchandise and items signed by Yu Suzuki and other Sega legends. The copies of SkillJim's Shenmue World magazines that I brought along also received a lot of interest from those who had not seen them before (Issue One is available for viewing online).

Two special guests (image credit: æ€Ș猫)

A wonderful memento from EREN(echo) Small treats and gifts were shared out, and one of the group had kindly visited the tourist office beforehand to gather Shenmue guide maps. The generosity of Shenmue fans knows no bounds!
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