Thanks again for another translation!

I really hope the mainstream gaming media picks up on this.

Someone screenshot the supposedly hiding Ryo cause I dont see him at all.

Edit: nvm. I found em. Hardly visible at all.

Also, from my crappy phone screen the temple looks like it says 堂札社千

Tangzha Community Temple? Thousand Tangzha Building? I dunno. Haha.
That actually should be read right to left: 千社札堂 (Qian she zha tang).
However, I believe that that's actually a 扎 and not a 札, both pronounced "zha". The pic is quite small, so I'm not 100% sure, though.
So, 千社 could be translated as "Thousand offerings/sacrifices/altars" or something of the sort.
扎 most commonly means "to prick", so I don't know what to make of it. Actually, if it really is 札 and not 扎 (as I think it is), it would actually make a bit more sense, as 札 is that kind of thin wooden strips used in writing in ancient China, and I could see this building being used to house such kinds of ancient scrolls. Still, it definitely looks more like a 扎 than a 札, though.
And, finally, 堂, which is the easiest part, as it means "hall".

So (if we ignore that mysterious "zha"), Hall of a Thousand Sacrifices.

Anyway, this new character looks cute and, in fact, is the best-looking character I've seen so far, better than even Ryo and definitely better than Shenhua. I get a sort of Photoshop-y feel from it, though, so I wonder how representative this is of her final look.

As for the news about some of the work being done externally in India, that's pretty much what happens in every AAA game. Nothing to be shocked about. In fact, I see it as good news. More manpower. And they seem to have pretty good credentials at that.

EDIT: OK, now that I've seen that higher-res pic (thanks!), I changed my mind and now think that is a 札, after all, like ShenmueTree said.
So, Scroll Hall of a Thousand Sacrifices.*

*I'm sure there's a more elegant way to translate it. English isn't my mother tongue.

Also, from my crappy phone screen the temple looks like it says 堂札社千

Tangzha Community Temple? Thousand Tangzha Building? I dunno. Haha.
That actually should be read right to left: 千社札堂 (Qian she zha tang).
...
EDIT: OK, now that I've seen that higher-res pic (thanks!), I changed my mind and now think that is a 札, after all, like ShenmueTree said.
So, Scroll Hall of a Thousand Sacrifices.*

*I'm sure there's a more elegant way to translate it. English isn't my mother tongue.
Just to add to this, this word actually also exists in Japanese (as you mentioned it refers to the tags - for wont of a better word - with the names of worshippers that are put up in temples). So a more functional translation could simply be "Hall of Name Tags".
https://i.imgur.com/gswjhdZm.jpg
Of special interest is that getting your own name tag is part of the $800 reward tier. So if you have backed at that level you should be able to enter this building and find your own tag!
https://i.imgur.com/4lpZPIsm.png

Here's a link to my commentary post on this update at the Phantom River Stone blog:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/12/temple-maiden-model-lakshya-digital.html
Very interesting. It all makes sense now. Thanks!

As a matter of fact, there isn't such a word in Chinese, hence why I was trying to wrap my head around the meaning. I just figured "hey, temple names normally don't use modern vernacular Chinese, rather they have poetic names", so
I was trying to make sense as best as I could, by interpreting each character. I did find it a bit odd, though.
It all makes sense now, as the three characters 千社札 form a single Japanese word and I was reading the temple sign as Chinese (not that I know Japanese, anyway). Suddenly, everything becomes much more simple!
And, yeah, for sure that will be the place where some of the backers will find their names. Good one, dude!

This does make me think, though... Not only does that temple, which does have Chinese architecture, have Japanese writing (albeit in kanji), and seems to be dedicated to a Japanese custom, but that girl does indeed seem to be dressed as a Shinto shrine assistant...
I mentioned here in the forums before how Shenmue 2's street and shop signs would use some Japanese kanji variants not used in China, and that I hoped that Yu Suzuki would be more meticulous in that regard, in Shenmue 3. Now, we're already seeing a temple with Japanese words, Chinese architecture and a Shinto assistant... This isn't encouraging, but best to wait until we see more. Maybe I'm just missing something, or maybe there will be a good explanation for this.

I always appreciate that they do something to have these regular KS updates, and I don't want to sound like an ungrateful ass, but, to be honest, this was, once again, pretty pointless. Not to mention that this "conversation" was nothing but an obviously scripted interview. I mean, they made it look like "Look, we got Hiroaki Takeuchi (here's his bio, by the way) for a chat with Yu Suzuki. It's gonna be interesting!", but, in fact, any random person could have asked those questions.

Anyway, all this interview did was leaving me a bit worried about the battle system. Yu Suzuki has been (vaguely) talking about his ideas for the game's battle system in several interviews and it seems to me that that will be the biggest change we see in the game, when compared to Shenmue 1 and 2, so I've always been intrigued by what Suzuki-san has in mind, but, this time around, more than intrigued, I'm a bit worried, as he made it sound like the whole thing would be akin to a fight in a point-'n-click game or something...
But I'm hoping he's just having a hard time explaining it (or simply doesn't want to go into too much detail right now, as it's still too early and a lot can change).
Shenmue had a great battle system, which in my opinion, should be refined, not ditched. I mean, in a game which revolves a lot around martial arts, a proper fighting system is paramount, in my opinion. But, of course, this is Suzuki-san's work, not mine, so it's up to him. At the end of the day, I just hope it turns out to be something fun, no matter how different. And, since, so far, Suzuki-san has given me no reason not to trust him, I'll trust him.

Also, once again, I get a strong feeling that there's no way the game won't be delayed once again.

Thanks a lot for your great work, Switch!

As for the interview itself, I guess I'm just too cynical to get as hyped as some people here. I mean, Cedric Biscay is the game's producer! Of course he's gonna say the game is looking very exciting! That's part of being a producer.
Make no mistake, I'm not saying he's necessarily lying (I certainly hope he's not), but we just can't take this sort of statement at face value.

A Class A cunt indeed.