Yakuza 3: visit the "real" Kamurocho

Kazuma visits Kabukicho
Picture uploaded by Abriael

One of the most impressive aspects of Yakuza 3, and of the Yakuza series in general, is the extremely realistic and detailed depiction of Kamurocho, the fictional Tokyo district in which most of the series is set.
Its cheap glitz, made of overlapping neon lights and alluring signs and its sprawling crowd worthy of a city that never sleeps really give the sensation of wading through a similar district of the Japanese capital.

The reason for such realism is to be found in a very simple concept, the same that Rockstar applied while creating Liberty City.
While Kamurocho is indeed a fictional district, it recreates quite faithfully a real district of Shinjuku (one of the major commercial wards in Tokyo): Kabukicho.

Of course there are differences, given that recreating a district of a city perfectly, especially in a game with this kind of theme, would be a licensing nightmare. Still, It's almost impossible to miss the similarities, starting with the map: the similarity in the layout of the streets is almost impossible to miss.

Kabukicho is a very popular red-light district in Tokyo, completely rebuilt after it was destroyed during the bombing of the city in 1945. Despite what the name would led us to believe, there's no Kabuki theater there. The one that gave the district it's name was supposed to be built after the war, but the project was canceled due to financial problems.

After the war the district grew quickly, initially due to a strong influx of Chinese workers, that soon were replaced by the Yakuza, that established one of it's most important commercial strongholds in Kabukicho, controlling a large percentage of the business establishments until a few years ago, when the police started to control the area more sternly, even due to a renewal project named Kabukicho Renaissance.

Despite this, even now Kabukicho is filled to the brim with all kind of businesses and attractions, including the most "adult oriented" ones like love hotels, night clubs, strip clubs and the infamous hostess bars and massage parlors that Sega foolishly decided to cut from the western edition of the game.

The similarities between Kamurocho and Kabukicho are obviously not limited to the streets layout. If you happen to visit Tokyo, and take a stroll through Kabukicho, you'll easily notice that the looks and the feel are very much the same.
But since going to Tokyo isn't exactly cheap, let's take a virtual tour with the help of our friendly neighborhood Google maps (luckily enough, the pictures used for Google Maps were taken in 2009, which which is the same year as the Japanese release of Yakuza 3). You can find it after the cut (click on "Read More >>>" just below). Please give the Google maps windows time to load in order to see them correctly. They'll show the map for a little bit, then a black window, and finally the correct 3D view.


One of the most iconic landmarks of Kabukicho is the torii-shaped entrance gate that can be seen at the edge of Yasukuni-dori (Renamed in the game as Showa Street). While the shape of the gate is slightly different, it's still very recognizable, alongside with the right. If you look carefully you'll even notice a (differently named, of course, loan agency to the right of the gate itself both in the game and in the real world. You can click on the Yakuza 3 pictures to see a bigger version, or on the small square on the top right of the Google maps window to see it full screen. Also, by holding your left mouse button anywhere on it and dragging around, you can move the camera. By clicking on the arrows on the street you can also walk around and explore by yourself. Nifty, isn't it?

Let's turn around for a moment and look at the view of Showa Street/Yasukuni-Dori. Notice anything familiar?

The overall looks are most definitely similar. Some details are 100% identical. The street has the same central division with trees and hedges, on the left of the street there's the same rounded building, and on the right you can easily notice the same red cube with the big "GAME" lettering (which is actually interesting, since that's the logo of Taito's game centers. You wouldn't expect it to appear in a Sega game).

Let's move on to Ichibangai-dori, renamed in the game as Tenkaichi Street. The overall look is definitely similar, and while the signs are different, the materials used with the buildings are the same.

We're still on Ichibangai-Dori/Tenkaichi Street. Notice anything? Same building, slightly different color scheme, same fishes painted all over.

As we proceed into Ichibangai-Dori/Tenkaichi Street, we reach a crossing. The buildings are very recognizable, but we have a funny discrepancy. If we look to our left in Kabukicho, there's a restaurant belonging to the Matsuya chain (the one with the orange circle with two smaller yellow and blue circles in the logo) and a McDonalds. In Yakuza 3 the Matsuya restaurant is still present, due to a tie-in deal with Sega, while the McDolands is replaced by a less iconic "Super Burger". The difference is that their position is inverted. On the left of the picture you can notice that the popular Ice Cream chain Häagen-Dazs has been replaced with a less recognizable (but virtually yummy) ice cream shop named "Gelateria Kamuro".
As a quite humorous note, the logo of the McDonalds replacement Super Burger is a burger with a crown. Burger King anyone? :D

Moving towards the end of Ichibangai-Dori we reach what's probably the most recognizable building overall. The Koma Theater, well known as a landmark of Kabukicho until last year, when it's been demolished (now it's being rebuilt). The equivalent in Yakuza 3, Kamuro Theater, is basically identical, down to the font and the general shape of the logo. It's interesting to see how the Yakuza series will remain as a testament of one of the most well known, landmarks of Shinjuku, that will never be the same.

Turning around we can notice that the CineCity Square (renamed in the game as Theater Square) is just as identical. It has the same shape and materials, the same central street light, even the same railings running around it. The similarities are even functional, as in the game you can access a Bowling alley at the back of the square, and as you can see if you squint your eyes, there's one in the same position even in real life.

Going further north we reach the crossing with Kabuki Hanamichi-Dori (renamed in the game as Shichifuku Street). Turning east at the crossing we can see that the street has the same look, with the same line of trees on the left and an absolutely identical building on the right. If we look further right and raise the camera a little, the building on this side of Ichibangai-Dori/Theater Avenue is 100% identical. The signs have exactly the same shape, same with the arch-shaped decoration over the signs, not to mention the metallic vent on the corner!

Going back into the district behind the theater (an area that in the game has been used for the Millenium tower, so it's different from the real life district), we reach another of the main streets of Kabukicho, Central Road. Nakamichi street in the game is a very close reproduction. The same trees on the side of the street, the same cube-shaped street-lights, with the same flags hung from them, the same brick benches. Both in the game and in reality the street is paved with cobblestone and the sidewalks are paved with terracotta tiles. There's even the same closed-off store on the right (with the same green and white stripes)! It's just one step short of photo-realism.

Walking down the street the feel is very, very similar, until we reach again the crossing with Yasukuni-Dori and turn around. On the left the facade of the building is covered by a fake rocky surface, and this detail is reproduced in the game. On the right, we see the Don Quijote discount store, that thanks to another tie-in deal with Sega has remained identical (and usable) in the game, signs included.

Going back into the district on Sakura-Dori (renamed in the game as Pink Street, Sakura means "Cherry Blossom", and cherry blossoms are pink), we can see that there's another gate, even if this time it has a different design, but the brick building on the right is identical. Going inside the street you notice that the feel is the same, and you can see the same green metal street lights.

Moving further west through one of the side alleys, we enter Azuma-Dori, where we can see the back of the imposing Shinjuku Ward offices. of course it's perfectly visible even in the equivalent street in Yakuza 3, Senryo Avenue.

This concludes our virtual tour between Yakuza's Kamurocho and it's real counterpart, Kabukicho. Of course there are many, many more similarities than the ones I shown on this post, but listing them all would take ages. You can have fun finding more, even thanks to the countless pictures you can find on the web. A source of really stunning pictures is this gallery on the spectacular Shibuya246 blog (since you're there, give a look to the top left of the third picture, surprise surprise!).

Looking at the comparison shots it's pretty obvious to see how much effort and passion the team led by Toshihiro Nagoshi poured into this game, that's truly a gem between the many that have been released this past month. I find Sega's representation of Kamurocho even more spectacular than Rockstar's Liberty City (while smaller). If you still didn't get Yakuza 3, despite the completely unacceptable and foolish cuts that Sega West decided to plague the game with (and a pretty shameful localization), you really should. There isn't another game like this on the market, unfortunately, and good sales will possibly encourage Sega to give us Yakuza 4 before this geological era ends, possibly uncut. If the demo is a good example of the overall quality, it's leaps and bounds better, and abundantly able to compete with anything the western industry has to offer (and completely trounce a large percentage of it, quality and content-wise).

If you ever go to Tokyo, pay a visit, but be careful, if Kazuma Kiryu comes out of a side alley, don't pick a fight with him. He'll stomp all over your face!