Shenmue Dojo

You can also meet that old woman who was lost at the beginning of the game in
Sakuragaoka and she will lead you to Xia-san.

Has anyone ever done this before and can tell me how to meet the old lady? I tried this in my recent playthrough twice and I never found her... I have never seen this anywhere either so I'm very interested to take that route.

MiTT3NZ wrote: I thought she only appeared during that sequence on Disc One.

My thoughts exactly. That's why I'm so curious about that dialouge because I always assumed that NPC was exclusive to that "hidden tutorial on reading house signs to find Yamagishi " scene.

According to her bio:

She also happens to be an acquaintance of Xia Xiu Yu and drops by Dobuita once in a while to visit her.

I did not know about that either and thus never encountered that too.

By the way, should be not: "hidden tutorial on reading house signs to find Yamamoto"?

Well that bio surely matches with the whole thing. The fact that she's an acquaintance of Xia-san really makes this seem plausible. Now if only we get some info if she actually is out in the open anywhere at all...
The quote in the OP is from the secrets guide on GameFAQs by the way.

Giorgio wrote: By the way, should be not: "hidden tutorial on reading house signs to find Yamamoto"?

Well, not how I meant it. You see, during that part the player has learned that Yamagishi saw the black car and thus has to search for his house. It's the first thing that you have to do for yourself in the game basically because everything before that were unavoidable, triggered scenes. To me the search for the Yamamoto's house always seemed like some sort of tutorial on how to find out who lives in those houses and that you can lock on to the signs to read them closely. In the Japanese version this is even more apparent because it doesn't have the yellow subtitle of what store or house you're looking at that even works from a distance.
But well, that's the way I kinda see it.

Yes, she can lead you to Xia China Shop too. She rarely goes outside, aside from that one occasion in the story where she can help you out; she is wandering around just between the Yamamoto house and the capsule toy shop in Sakuragaoka around midday (2PM onwards, I think). I think she only appears when it's sunny, or something along those lines [and only at that point in the story]. Just ignore Xia's grandson and instead head for Sakuragaoka. I can't recall if it's specific days that she appears there also.

There's a Notebook guide somewhere outlining it exactly, but, I think those are the markers for it.

Well that's some usefull information right there! I'll definately try to go there during that specific time and look out what the weather conditions are. I'm currently playing the Japanese version and this time I'll definately try really hard to trigger that conversation (even though I will only understand fractions of the dialogue then).

It really is amazing how after a these years we can learn something new and exciting about this game. It just keeps on giving. Unfortunately, it hasn't given Shenmue 3. :/

Giorgio wrote: According to her bio:

She also happens to be an acquaintance of Xia Xiu Yu and drops by Dobuita once in a while to visit her.

I did not know about that either and thus never encountered that too.

By the way, should be not: "hidden tutorial on reading house signs to find Yamamoto"?

She's 44?....I thought she was at least in her 60s....

Finally got her to appear after I looked at the notebook guide for some hints. You have to go to the Ajiichi first, get the hint that Guangji could help and when you find him at the vending machine don't buy him a drink. When you walk back to Sakuragaoka the old lady will be there and you have to talk to her twice to get the hint about Xia.
I was a sunny day and close to 3 p.m. just as a side note.



By the way, the bio is waaay off on the age. I've look in the official guide and she's actually 78.
Makes a lot more sense then 44...

Yeah I did this. Nice that the game had various way of letting the player progress even with small stuff.

Amazing stuff. I believed she only appeared at the cut-scene at the beginning of the game.

Wow, truly the game that keeps giving.

Now also in English!



It's still really strange to meet her roaming around freely. What's funny is that she is voiced by the same actress as Xia-san and in that dialog she doesn't try to sound much different. Strange coincedence that she leads you to another old lady with the same voice.

By the way, she's still roaming around in Sakuragaoka the next day early in the morning, while it's snowing.
So I guess the time and weather don't have much to do with it. It seems to just be the failed route with Guangji that makes her appear.

Giorgio wrote: According to her bio:

She also happens to be an acquaintance of Xia Xiu Yu and drops by Dobuita once in a while to visit her.

I did not know about that either and thus never encountered that too.

By the way, should be not: "hidden tutorial on reading house signs to find Yamamoto"?

she is 44? lol!