over the years i have been to yokosuka on several occasions, once in 2017 with some friends who were super into shenmue and several other times inbetween then and 2019 and it had always stayed pretty static, it felt like something from a game, a slice of old japan just outside of tokyo, but this time when i went this year it felt different, it felt kind of wrong, the charm that i'd once felt was gone and it felt almost like a homogynous tourist trap, it hurt to see, sure the place felt more alive than it ever did back then, but at the cost of what made the place feel special and it made me not want to go back to what was always a must-see spot for me when i was in the country which isn't even to say about how much less *shenmue* the place feels now.

back in 2017 the main attractions were the quaint shopping streets and the sea views, a battleship you could go onboard and a park to relax at, sure, these things are still there albiet dobuta street has became a tourist trap trying to sell you gimmicky stuff and many of the cool stores from years past are gone in favour of burger joints and cheap reference jacket stores, the CD store for example was seemingly gone and replaced by a burger joint where i remember it being the the skyline of the whole town is now taken up by a huge eyesore mall in the middle of it, impacting what used to be some very nice seaviews from the main street. the mall is the biggest overall change to the area, it takes up so much of it and you have to walk passed it to get to both dobuta street and the seaside, its covered in ads for its stores and its just so, ugly, sure i'm sure its conveniant, but it really destroys the atmosphere of the area and i can't imagine it was good for the non-tourist trap small buisnesses, which is a safe bet considering that that seems to be all that's there now beyond chain stores and resteraunts, what caused this change i'm not totally sure, the place does seem bustling now, maybe it appeared in a movie or maybe yokosuka jackets just got popular, i can't imagine everyone coming here are big shenmue fans but clearly it happened because of a change in the kinds of people coming here, i just wish i knew why, if i had to guess i'd say it was the mall, it does seem to be the biggest in the area and that plus the seaside would be an attractive combo for a lot of people, plus the jackets are really cute, it's just a shame this popularity came at such a cost for the atmosphere, it feels so much less friendly and chill, more bustling and strangely hostile.

it was very different back in 2017 overall, the place was dead-ish like i said, but it also had a much better vibe, dobuta street was calm and nice to shop in, you didn't have to worry about being overcharged or swindled and crowds weren't bad at all and the things you were buying were genuine and quality (where now many of the yokosuka jackets on sale on the street tend to be gimmicky fakes with things like anime characters on them), there was a ton of vintage signage and storefronts dating back decades, maybe even to the time shenmue took place in and the place just had that feel to it, you could feel why the team chose this area, it had a real presance to it and it was just, nice to be there, it had a distinct look and vibe that felt different to almost anywhere else i'd been in japan, it felt special and touring it even if just for reasons of shenmue, you'd still have a great time seeing where things lined up to the game and experiancing an area with a very similar atmosphere, an atmosphere that you wouldn't really get now, if you did come here now for shenmue, you'd likely be very dissapointed as the area doesn't have the right vibe to it anymore and many areas are downright unrecognisable, back in 2017 you could easily get around from game knowledge alone, now you can't really do that at all, visiting the place as a shenmue fan is honestly something i can't even reccomend now, in the past you could have gotten a lot out of it, between the docks and dobuta street, seeing where stores would be and lining things up, but even the layout of the city has changed and you just can't anymore. at one point there was even some shenmue merch you could get, but now it feels like that's all but forgotten as time has moved on from the yokosuka that once was, much like how much of the world has forgotten about shenmue itself as its popularity has faded.

i had originally planned to have this be a big celebration of both shenmue and yokosuka as i remember it, i'd hoped to bring back those memories as i went back to the city this year but that's just not how it felt and i don't feel i even could write a happy article like that anymore, it's just too differet, gentrification has became an overall issue in the country i feel, maybe it's for the best but a lot of what i loved about certain areas has faded in the face of growth, an area i always stay in has had many of my favourite places replaced by a skyscraper that was still in construction when i was there this year and its location replaced my favourite curry place and a bakery i liked, the local thrift store was long gone and even a cute ramen place opposite the hotel i stay in was gone too, much like how yokosuka has moved on from the vibes of shenmue, these also moved on, it was a sad trip this year, both because i was alone for the whole of it and for seeing all the changes, i've never adapted well to change and this was no exception to that, it hurt and it still hurts a little, but that's the way the world is, you know, it has to happen eventually, especially in a place as sprawling as tokyo and its outskirts, you can't really stop the march of progress, no matter what gets lost in the shuffle.

thank you to corvy for the 2017 yokosuka pics