
Brad Pitt and Fried Chicken: How Yakuza’s Localization Team Brought 19th-Century Japan to Modern Americans
Believe it or not, Brad Pitt played a part in bringing the latest Yakuza game to American audiences. Well, sort of.
The Yakuza games are known for their specific (and sometimes absurd) depictions of life in modern Japan, expertly translated for American audiences by the studio’s localization team. But the crime-drama franchise faced a new challenge when it transposed its story to the 19th century in the 2014 title Like a Dragon: Ishin! Parts of the game take place in Kōchi, a region located on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan, but explaining the local Tosa dialect to foreign audiences proved difficult. Then, the team had a breakthrough.