How to Navigate Japanese Text

Don’t be scared by a Japanese text explosion – here’s how to get through it.

Sengoku Taisen’s Japanese text is seriously unforgiving. The trading card starter pack includes 8 pages of instructions, dripping in vocabulary specific to the military structures of 17th-century feudal Japan.

In-game, it’s worse: comic-book olde Japanese. “Forthwith, my liege, lest thy wit be confounded”, etc. etc.…

The marquee is a swirl of heavy-brushstroke kanji for the absurd title, “Sengoku Taisen: 1477–1615 Hi no Moto Ittou he no Gunki”. Or: “Warring States Battles: 1477–1615: Origin of the Sun: War Tale of a Unified Island”. Catchy.

But don’t worry: Here’s One Surprising Trick Japanese Game Designers DON’T Want You to Know!

All these complicated Japanese games are complicated for Japanese people too. So there’s a tutorial, and it’s super hand-holdy with loads of animated graphical instructions.

And getting to the tutorial is easy.

Method No. 1: The Japanese for tutorial is “chu–toriaru”. It’s basically the same, so point at a game and say “tutorial” loudly and clearly. An arcade attendant will set you up.

Method No. 2: “Tutorial” is written “チュートリアル”. Look for that; select it, poke it, whatever and you’re away.

Now you can play all those weird games that fill the arcade in place of the lightguns and racers you were expecting!