I do put off buying moves until Ryo drains his savings account pre and post Asia Travel, the most expensive one or two after getting the harbour gig. Focus maxing out every single other move beforehand (love the training grind much better than the capsules).
Toys collecting: I highly suspected holidays seemed like better yield, though I admit never knowing there really were specific dates. As the old adage goes; you learn somethign new everyday--especially Shenmue, haha. I'm actually pretty good at getting most, even including the Yukawa's much easier than Dural Gold. If i've every toy/item, especially those you can bring to Hong Kong, except Gold, then I won't wait until the Feb or March 14 prize spikes, in order to try for the Famgei sidequest. Gold Dural is much easier to come by in Shenmue 2, which leaves only X-Wing and Kids Dural C for rare grinding.* Honestly, though, I like grinding and burning very slow, so usually the Famgei birthday is a rare treat only on XBOX or before I owned a PAL Shenmue: Yokosuka on Dreamcast.
*Finally got Kids Dural C early in Kowloon, didn't think to save, but then got hit by NPC -30 disc error. First time ever with my current copy
Have a sneaking suspcion not only is this glitch exclusive to importers playing on other regions, but
and/or a sign of laser potentiometers suffering from degrading volatge readings...? Not gonna take risk--need the drive to last at least until I can BBA rip all my near 200 games. Gonna need to hawk the GDemu blog constantly rather than only casually curious.
EDIT
Another decision to make for finishing by February would be having all items except Dural Gold, while still failing the old warehouse sneaking enough to get all tips from Shozo. Not only to see every scene, but just be in there more. Although, not very realistic timing, so usually I stay on course for playing as slow as possible. Absolutely adore the old district. Even after the two scroll translations by Gui Zhang I'll call him for granting access to explore during lunch or after work. Again, Famgei birthday best fits a non-save transfer or 2x play-thru. Besides, love seeing March or even April in Yokosuka--feels nice for whatever reason.