Makoto travels Japan from the west to the east over 50 years
Just something I noticed after watching the livestream because I'm a huge Japan travel nut, but I found it cool that the locations revealed ingame are in the actual sequence of a man making his way to the big city after landing in the west:
Kokura, Fukuoka - It makes sense that Makoto would land here as his first stop in Japan as it was one of the main ports of international trade back then. 1915 would have been the peak of Japan's industrialization back then as well, the perfect setting for a strong stowaway to build a new life for himself from his bootstraps.
Kure, Hiroshima - My guess is that along the way Makoto gets picked up by a Yakuza outfit and moved to Kure by boat. Kure is also where the Battleship Yamato was built IRL, so it's near guaranteed that we're gonna get some backstory or link to that absurd plot twist from Yakuza 6.
Sotenbori, Osaka - Dotonbori IRL has historically always been an entertainment district, so I bet Makoto sort of reaches his peak as a "Showman" whilst he is here. I'm also morbidly curious on how they're gonna depict this specific era of Japan, with WWII happening in the background.
Atami, Shizuoka - I've been here IRL before! The imagery is on-point, as Atami is one of the few places in Japan that has lots of cherry blossoms that bloom early throughout February. This is also the only location that RGG has yet to explore in past games - A touristy onsen resort town with showa-era charm.
Kamurocho, Tokyo - Everyone's favourite home away from home. We're all expecting the "Big Secret" of this final stage to have something to do with Kiryu or the founding of the Tojo, but I'm hoping that they pull the rug on us and legit reveal something unexpected, like a reveal that STH is legitimately a separate universe and has nothing to do with the main timeline