Andriasang, being ever the liaison between the United States and whatever craziness is happening in Japan, has gradually revealed some kickass details on Yakuza 5.
As suspected from the varied cast in Yakuza 4, this fifth installment will feature most of the protagonists from Yakuza 4 as well as Haruka, who has finally grown up as controllable character. Each of them will start off in a separate region: Taiga Saejima in prison, Shun Akiyama in Osaka, and Kazuma Kiryu in Fukuoka (and probably the Ryukyu Islands for Haruka at the Sunshine Orphanage).
I'm not sure what Kazuma is doing as a cab driver, but whatever it is, he'll likely be sucked back into Kamurocho to solve everyone's problems once again. Guy just can't get a break.
Developed using a new engine that transitions between game to cut-scene more seamlessly, Yakuza 5 is planned for release in December of this year in Japan. (I'll just be playing Japanese mahjong, anyway. I'm Asian like that.)
[Source]
