During Yu Suzuki’s latest trip to China, China’s Shenmue fan club wanted to show their appreciation through an assortment of gifts. One particular gift was a beautiful letter to Yu Suzuki, which described the joy that they felt when Shenmue III was announced.
The following letter was translated from Chinese to English by a member of the Shenmue Dojo:
Hello Master Suzuki,
We are big fans of the Shenmue series. You have come to Shanghai this time to tell the young people of China about your experience with game development. On behalf of everyone, I would like to welcome you and express our thanks.
Most of us were part of the Dreamcast era, and so we have deep feelings for your creation, Shenmue. We experienced this wonderful game and Ryo’s adventures. It would not be going far to say this was a part of our life experience. In Shenmue we have seen many experiences of loneliness, growth, love and strength, and they won’t be forgotten as long as we live. It was such a shame that the story of Shenmue did not continue at that time. We felt as sad as if we had lost part of our family, or a girlfriend/boyfriend. We thought this regret would stay with us for the rest of our lives.
In the 14 years that followed, we avidly followed all news about Shenmue. Although occasionally we could not bear to see the reports, as our raised hopes would always be dashed. Little by little, we tucked Shenmue away deep in our hearts. As the Chinese poet Guo Moruo once wrote, “Disappointed year after year, Year after year, my hope’s still fierce”.
At last, there was a turning point. At the 2015 E3 conference, you announced the Shenmue III Kickstarter project. At that moment, tears overflowed from everyone’s eyes, and we smiled with joy. We have a saying in China, “A man cannot cry easily. But when he can, it is true sadness”. Actually we have already turned 30, and have not cried for many years – some of us probably have not cried for 10 years. However this time we cried plainly. Tears of emotion, tears of happiness. We are really grateful to you for your efforts. Without these we would not believe we would ever cry so much again.
From the time of the Kickstarter project announcement, we have gathered together again and have continued to support Shenmue III. Everyone is putting in maximum effort, I am happy to say. The funds gathered in China may not be great compared to elsewhere, but it represents the hearts of the Shenmue fans across China. We will never leave the Number 1 Shenmue club. Thanks to Shenmue, we have all become friends, which has made us happy. We are grateful to you for this also.
We have one request for you, which is that we would like Shenmue III in Chinese. Naturally this will require budget but please consider it. It will please all the players who speak Chinese. We are also hoping for HD versions of Shenmue I and II.
Finally, we celebrate the smooth development of Shenmue III, and pray that it will be a big hit. We pray for great happiness and health to you, your staff and families from the bottom of our hearts.
Shenmue China Fan Club
The other gifts included beautiful illustrations of various Shenmue characters and dolls of Ryo, Ren, Shenhua, and others. You can check them out in our gallery below.
Via Shenmue Dojo, Baidu
