Forza Horizon 6 Culture Advisor Details Two Years of Japan Authenticity Work
The session reveals how a major studio built a culturally accurate Japan setting without any Japanese staff, relying on a single advisor and a research trip.
Reporting from 1 source: 4Gamer.net.
At CEDEC 2026, culture advisor Kyoko Yamashita explained how Playground Games, a UK studio with no Japanese staff among its roughly 100-person Forza Horizon 6 team, achieved a realistic Japan. She described her role, the team's early lack of Japan knowledge, and the decision to send leads to Japan.
Kyoko Yamashita joined the Forza Horizon 6 project after a friend at Turn 10 Studios introduced her to Playground Games about three years ago. At the time, none of the roughly 100 team members were Japanese or spoke Japanese, and only about five had ever visited Japan.
Her first task was a Japan introduction session for about 110 staff from both Forza Horizon 6 and Fable. She prepared statistics on land area, population, the eight regions and 47 prefectures, and even the Japanese writing systems and levels of keigo.
She pushed the studio leadership to take key members to Japan, warning that quality would suffer otherwise. About three weeks later, the team adjusted schedules to make the trip happen.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.