As lucky as we have all been to enjoy Shenmue's story this far, there are many countries that have never had the joy of these games in their languages.  This is where the Lost in Translation project is stepping in.  Thanks to the huge amount of work by
ShenmueMaster, very powerful translation tools have been made available to all.  Shenmue Master says:

"Every Shenmue fan in the world is called to translate the two chapters in their own languages. We have built some powerful and complete software ( available on Sourceforge "Shenmue Translation Pack" ) to make Shenmue as multi-lingual as possible. Thanks to all, Shenmue Master".


Many projects have already been started.  Shenmue Master is leading the way with their translation of the games into french at their site http://shenmueangel.free.fr/index.php

Ryo Suzuki from Sega Saturno (http://www.segasaturno.com/portal/) is working on a better translation of the game into Spanish.


And Shenmue Brasil is hard at work getting the game converted to portugues.


For those ready to take up the challenge, the tools can be found here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/shenmuesubs/


I hope to have a link to instructions for the use of the tools soon.  I know not everyone can handle these kinds of projects :)

Let Shenmue blossom again!!!

What better way to celebrate Shenmue and it's symbolism by planting your very own Cherry Blossom tree.  The beautiful pink bloomed tree is featured prominently throughout the game.  It is also a highly respected tree in Japan and is center of attention for Midori Noni, or Greening Week in the end of April.  Many countries have some sort of Arbor day or Earth day like this to mark the coming of Spring.  We urge the fans living in proper climates (zone 5-9) to join in with the planting of their own Shenmue trees as a tribute to the game, and to our planet.  You can find when and if your country celebrates at The Arbor Day Foundation or just join in and plant during Japan's festival at the end of April. 

Please, Remember to send pictures of your planted trees to shenmueam2@gmail.com

I would also like to see if we can all chip in and send one of these trees to Yu Suzuki as thanks for the story so far.  Not only would this be very symbolic, but it would show much respect to Mr. Suzuki.  If we do this it would be very difficult and expensive to send the tree through mail, so we would need a fan located in Japan to deliver the tree to Sega headquarters themselves and take pictures of the event.  I'm afraid we may not be able to achieve this part of this project, but we will try :)

For the fans ready to head out to their local nurseries, there are many varieties of these trees to choose from.  First off, know that you are asking for a Cherry Blossom tree, not a cherry fruit tree.  The Cherry blossom tree is an ornamental tree and the nursery may only know it by it's individual names.  Here are some you can try for:

Yoshino Cherry Tree


Kwanzan Cherry Tree



Autumn Cherry tree

Official sites for Shenmue:

Shenmue.com

Official Shenmue Twitter   (Maybe Sega does care!)

Sega Japan

Sega USA/UK

Unofficial Shenmue sites:

ShenmueDojo

Shenmue-UK

Shenmue Master (French)

The Gang Entertainment (Full length Shenmue parody movies)

Shenmue Campaigners and Clubs:

ShenmueCampaign.org

Shenmue Stare   (a Daily Shenmue blogspot)

Shenmue Facebook Group      (more facebook groups)

Shenmue Bebo Group      (more bebo groups)

Shenmue Crunchyroll Group

Gamespot: Shenmue Union

1up Shenmue club


Shenmue Forums:

Shenmue Dojo Forums (English)

Hazuki Dojo Forums (English)

Shenmue-UK forums (English)

Ign Shenmue Forum (English)

Shenmue Master Forum(French)

Ryo's Notebook Forum (German)

There are a couple of ways we can show Sega we have money waiting for Shenmue.  One is to continue to buy Shenmue products that are still available. Just remember, Sega does not see when it's used or private sales.  Another great way is to show them literally.  That is why the "I see three" project was launched, showing pics of Shenmue fans with money in hand.  Unfortunately it seems the original site has been abandoned, and many of the pics have been lost... This is where I come in picking up the effort.



The rules are simple:  Take a photo of yourself dressed up as a character from Shenmue, holding the money you will use to buy the next game.  You do not have to dress up all the way, the bare minimum will be Ryo's band-aid on the cheek, but this will be way more impressive if you do dress up :)  All the pics will be put on display in the Show Sega the Money Gallery in the pics section of this Myspace page.

When you have a pic ready, please Email it with the name you want to use to:
ShenmueAm2@gmail.com

Over 7,000 Toy Capsules Mailed !!!

This mailing was set up to celebrate the 9th Anniversary of Shenmue's release in Japan. The main idea of the project was to show Sega our desire for a new Shenmue game by sending Toy capsules, like the ones Ryo can purchase in the game, to Sega of Japan.  This style of mass mailing was used by fans of the Tv show Jericho. 
They sent bags of peanuts to the network and succeeded in getting their
show put back on the air! 

We have had a great response to the project.  Fans from all over the world participated in the main mailing dates between Nov. 27th and Dec. 29th and mailed over 7,000 toy capsules to Sega! We have received donations from France, Poland, UK, USA, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, Netherlands and more.  Even better the gaming industry back us up with plenty of news reports, and even some magazine coverage...  Yet our goal to get a reply out of Sega... has unfortunately remained unanswered :(  Perhaps they are just waiting till a major game show like E3 or TGS ;)

Even though the main mailing dates have passed, many fans would like to continue send toy capsules until we succeed in breaking Sega's silence.  Some are continuing to mail a pack MONTHLY!  If you too would like to send a package of capsules to Sega, 1' capsules are a great size, and you can order them in bulk on Ebay quite easily. I made some easy fillers for you to print/cut and put
inside these size capsules: HERE




If you send a pakage please include a letter asking for the continuation of the Shenmue series with your toy capsules, and poster printed from the Shenmue Poster Project.  Make sure you mention The Shenmue Myspace Campaign.  If you are only sending a letter, please include a poster with yours as well.  Please be polite in you letters as you will be representing the entire Shenmue fan base :)  Also, make sure to take pictures of the packages you are sending and email them to ShenmueAm2@gmail.com For those that would also like to add the Chawan sign and the Heaven, Earth, Dragon, Comrade symbols to their packaging, click on the pics below for a close up:



To check how much it would cost to mail from their Country/city, Check at your local post office, fedex, or UPS store.  Here is Sega of Japan's address:

SEGA CORPORATION
1-2-12 Haneda
Ohta-ku
Tokyo 144-8531
Japan

You may send an additional pack to Yu Suzuki at the same address:

Yu Suzuki
AM Plus R&D Division
SEGA Corporation
1-2-12 Haneda,
Ohta-ku, Tokyo 144-8531
JAPAN

Please spread the word about this Mass Mailing to other game sites and forums.  I will need your help in getting this info to other languages and countries like Japan, Germany, Spain, Brazil, ect...