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: 怪猫)

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: 怪猫)

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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Tough Shenmue Quiz from the Recent Fan Meeting in Yokosuka | Translation

A special Shenmue quiz was held at last month's Shenmue Fan Meeting that was held on Christmas Eve in Yokosuka. The quiz was entitled "How About Trying a Mega-Tough Quiz?" (naturally, spoken in the vein of the owner of a Lucky Hit game trying to attract customers!).

In this post we present the translated quiz questions so you can try for yourselves (answers are hidden in spoiler tags).

• To read more about the fan meeting event, see our post Shenmue Fan Meeting in Yokosuka: Summary & Highlights

The quiz was devised by the MC for the event, Esra Krabbe of IGN Japan (who in fact organized the entire event together with Yokosuka City), with the promise that all the questions, while not easy, are potentially all answerable if you are familiar with through the games.

Give it a try, noting down your answers as you go. The answers follow the end of the questions, of which there are 6 in total.

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Shenmue Fan Meeting in Yokosuka: Summary & Highlights

Earlier this week, on December 24th, a group of Shenmue fans packed into a venue in Yokosuka, Japan for a Shenmue fan meeting, organized by Yokosuka City and IGN Japan.

Interest shown during the pre-registration period was so high that the originally-planned 80 places was increased by 50% to a total of 120, with attendees being selected by a draw.

The MC of the event was Esra Krabbe from IGN Japan, with on-stage guests including Masaya Matsukaze (the voice and motion-capture actor for Ryo Hazuki in the Japanese versions) as well as guests Eigo Kasahara and Hiroshi Noguchi.

Various Shenmue themed stand-up cut-outs (Ryo, Nozomi, Kurita-san, and a forklift truck) were set up at the venue. They are also part of the Shenmue Sacred Spot campaign and on other days are stationed at shops around Dobuita.

The talk show was also live-streamed to IGN Japan's YouTube channel (link to video). The chat took place in Japanese - and happily, English captions are being prepared.

In this post, we will summarize the live-stream footage from the event, with some highlights.

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