Phantom River Stone Blog

Switch

Shenmue analysis at www.phantomriverstone.com
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Location
Japan
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Phantom River Stone is a Shenmue blog which specializes in analysis posts about the game and translations of Japanese interviews and magazine articles.

Here's a little background about how the blog came about, from the Community intro page on the Dojo (thank you for the nice write-up, Peter!).

August 2016 saw long term community member and translator, “Switch”, launch his own blog entitled, “Phantom River Stone”. With living in Japan and also speaking the language with fluent proficiency, Switch was no better placed to dive deep into the world of Shenmue, exploring every aspect of the games conceivably possible! When we say deep, we mean DEEP! Starting off with general analysis, Switch quickly moved to providing translations for interviews with Yu Suzuki, and other Japanese media outlets.
His expertise became invaluable as more and more information came out about Shenmue 3, from Kickstarter updates to community interviews at major gaming events across the globe. Alongside his excellent translations, Switch and Phantom River Stone has went from strength to strength, including Japanese culture into his blogs, covering all sorts of direct and indirect Shenmue topics such as; Japanese culture and phrases, Shenmue Muecas insights, various takes on anyone and everyone involved with Shenmue down the years, and insights into the Shenmue games themselves. In December 2017, the site was hosted on Patreon, offering exclusive content for donors.

New articles are generally posted to the blog every few days. Follow Phantom River Stone on Facebook & Twitter (buttons above) to keep abreast of our latest material, as well as smaller pieces of news and information that may not qualify for a blog post on their own.

If you're new to the blog, why not dip your toe in with the blog's most popular post of all time, the "Especially since you bought merchandise" analysis, or see if you caught all the little details in the July 2018 Shenmue III image of a Warehouse Battle Scene from Kickstarter Update #85.

With over 230 articles published so far, there's sure to be a topic or two there that will capture your interest!

www.phantomriverstone.com
 
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New post! The newly-announced Japan-exclusive Limited Edition of Shenmue I & II and how to order it from Amazon Japan.

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The post also includes an English translation of the soundtrack title names in English (Miles Prower of the Dojo has made some predictions here in the forums about which ones these are in the games):

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Link to the article:

Shenmue I & II Japan-Exclusive Limited Edition: Details & How To Order
 
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Hah, thanks for the mention there :p Just wish I could work out what the heck track 'HK Dance 2' is...
I ended up ordering the LE from PlayAsia, at any rate - will be great to have an S2 soundtrack of sorts, even if it is a limited selection :)
 
Hah, thanks for the mention there :p Just wish I could work out what the heck track 'HK Dance 2' is...
You did well to identify almost all of them! I can't think what that track might be either (it's one that didn't need translation, as that's its original name).

I ended up ordering the LE from PlayAsia, at any rate - will be great to have an S2 soundtrack of sorts, even if it is a limited selection :)
Nice! Yes, with all the good tracks in Shenmue, a double-CD only scratches the surface.

Switch you’ve always done a fantastic job. I really enjoy your blog. Please keep it up.
Thank you!! Feedback on the blog means a lot and is much appreciated.
 
Hah, thanks for the mention there :p Just wish I could work out what the heck track 'HK Dance 2' is...

What baffles me more than anything else is the "2". That suggests there are multiple "HK Dance" tracks.
 
What baffles me more than anything else is the "2". That suggests there are multiple "HK Dance" tracks.
Right? Obviously we'll find out in November anyway but its a very strange track title, with no obvious clue to its use :S
 
As always, nice work !
Thanks to you too for our chat on translating some of those title names, there were some rather obscure ones!

By the way, something that may be of interest to mention in this thread is that the original name of the song "Good Luck Song for Travellers" consists of several kanji characters placed together: 天雲旅望歌. These mean: the sky/nature, clouds, journey, hope and song. Perhaps @yuc02 or others who know Chinese may be able to comment more about this one.
 
That's surprising that a blog on せっかく is your most popular. Keep up the good work スイッちゃん ^_^
頑張るぞ! Yes I bet 99% of people seeking to learn about merchandise are surprised to find a Japanese lesson waiting there...
 
I've really enjoyed some articles from this site. Good job man!
Thanks Kodama! Watch out for the new series starting about Yu Suzuki's trip to China that he did back in 1993 (while working on Virtua Fighter) with a lot of new material to be translated.
 
Love the blog, I really will send you those old Weekly Am2 links one of these days!
 
Really enjoy the blog, always nice to learn more about the game we all love! Keep it up!
Love the blog, I really will send you those old Weekly Am2 links one of these days!
Great blog. Very informative and helpful.

Thank you to everyone for all the positive vibes!

@24Nathan - haha, no worries, whenever you get the time is fine. I've got a list of blog topic ideas for future posts here, and it keeps growing!
 
I love the work you are doing @Switch, always enjoy every single post. And I'm in awe how you can make a post about something like the tea-kettle at the Alpha Trading office interesting and fun to read! Well done mate! ???
 
I'm in awe how you can make a post about something like the tea-kettle at the Alpha Trading office interesting and fun to read! Well done mate! ???
Hey, thanks Mattis. I love looking at the little customs that might otherwise go unremarked upon. I'm pleased you found them fun to read! P.S. Great work on the site revamp by the way, it's a huge improvement.

Thanks again for doing that blog entry on our podcast. It really helped us get some traction!

You're most welcome. It seems ages since those early days, your podcast has really taken off now. Thanks for the mentions too!
 
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