Any fan of the Like A Dragon (Formally “Yakuza”) series will know that these games’ stories have never sugarcoated the mortality of its entire cast. Many characters, some loved and some loathed, have met grim fates in virtually every game ever released bearing the names Like A Dragon and Yakuza. Now, Sega, in collaboration with Parco shopping centers, is giving fans in Japan the chance to pay their respects to many of these characters with the Like a Dragon: The Men Who Perished Exhibition, a series of funeral events for every character in this series that has died up to this point.
At three separate events planned for Tokyo, Nagoya, and Sapporo in the next two months, you can attend traditional Japanese funeral services for these characters to offer flowers and prayers and to purchase exclusive merchandise. Some merch you can purchase fits right in with a funeral service, like incense sticks, mini-headstones, and handkerchiefs. Others are more fun, typical merch, like t-shirts, handbags, bookmarks, and acrylic standees. You can also use your smartphone to see images of the deceased characters with AR on site.
The first exhibition will be in the Parco center in Ikebukuro, Tokyo from December 30th, 2023 to January 13th, 2024. Next is the Nagoya Parco from January 20th to February 4th. Finally, there’s the Sapporo Parco from February 16th to February 25th. If you happen to be in Japan during January or February 2024, be sure to stop by one of these sites to pay your respects to your favorite Like A Dragon characters.
That’s the most important info out of the way. Now check in after the break for details that include spoilers for the Like A Dragon series. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Here are the dearly departed characters highlighted that will be honored at this event, among many others.
- Akira Nishikiyama (Died at the end of Yakuza (Kiwami))
- Shintaro Kazama (Killed during Yakuza (Kiwami))
- Yukio Terada (Killed near the end of Yakuza (Kiwami) 2)
- Jun Oda (Killed during Yakuza 0)
- Homare Nishitani (Killed during Yakuza 0)
- Yoshitaka Mine (Takes his own life at the end of Yakuza 3)
- Rikiya Shimabukuro (Killed during Yakuza 3)
- Joon-Gi Han (Killed during Yakuza 6)
- Ryuhei Hoshino (Killed during Yakuza: Like A Dragon)
- Ryo Aoki (Killed at the end of Yakuza: Like A Dragon)
So do you plan on attending this event? Are there any Like A Dragon characters you like that you were sad to see die? Any villains so abhorrent that you’re glad they’re dead? Take a moment of silence for the fallen, then tell us all about it in the comments below.
(All this info comes to us from an article by Siliconera.)
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If we can get a complete list of every character that will be part of the exhibits, we can use that information to predict who is still alive. Right now, my money is on Ryuji Goda and Masumi Arakawa. Again, we don’t have a comprehensive list of everyone who is a part of the exhibits, but we do have a list of arguably the most prolific characters that have already been confirmed to be a part of the exhibits. Both Ryuji and Masumi played major roles in their respective games, so isn’t it a bit odd that they haven’t been confirmed to be part of the exhibits yet? Kashiwagi, Lau Ka Long, and potentially Andre Richardson aren’t part of the exhibits for obvious reasons, so it’s safe to say that these exhibits are the final word on the status of these characters, so there won’t be any more surprises in the future.