HYPERTEXT WONDERLAND

Did you know that Japan’s consumption of wool ranks among the highest in the world? Inexplicably though there are only 20,000 sheep living in the entire country. Most of Japan’s wool actually comes from imports, only made possible through cheap trade with countries such as China. That's the power of foreign trade in a nutshell if ever you wanted to know. I’m regaling this to you because I’ve been reading  A Wild Sheep Chase , Haruki Murakami’s third novel. The story focuses on a recent divorcee living in Tokyo in the mid-1970s who, after receiving an inexplicable photograph by an old friend, is visited by a mysterious secretary representing one of Japan’s hidden political elite. The secretary orders him to undertake a mission to find a sheep marked with a distinctive star shape on its back. This leads to the literal wild sheep chase of the title. Naturally the story leaves a lot to the imagination but it's largely about the mysterious forces at the heart of societ...

I never played the original Shenmue back in the day so it's been an interesting experiencing going through the remastered version in crisp, clean high definition. Of course I turned on the Japanese VA and put it in 4:3 mode straight away because momma didn't raise no fool. It's interesting to see how open-world games were envisaged back in the early 2000s; it's nothing like today's perfectly designed adventures that keep the player entertained within an inch of their lives. Shenmue is more of a cross between Animal Crossing in its rigorous appreciation of the mundane qualities of everyday life, and Yakuza  in its bloodthirsty Virtua Fighter -inspired combat. It's full of tension, excitement and fear, and that's not just when you're waiting to see which gatcha capsule you've won. Like any good lover it has plenty of infuriating moments. The harbour part towards the end is tremendously boring. It's basically five days of moving ...