Hi all,
Just been checking on the Chinese Shenmue BBS today, and found out that WorldBox has permission from Sega to make Shenmue figures. They're currently working on Ryo, not sure who else they'll be making.
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4203584564
The forum homepage is here:
http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kw=%E8%8E%8E%E6%9C%A8&ie=utf-8
Edit: a quick summary of the thread, basically one of the company's employees made the announcement that WorldBox got permission from Sega, and he/she gave the forum members a few WIP images (see near bottom of page) to gain their feedback. It looks like it will be a doll-like figure, so you can move the limbs and body.
Let me know your thoughts on it and I can also post them on the thread.