Club Joule in Osaka, Japan is not a likely place to meet a game developer. However, Tetsuya Mizuguchi is not your average game developer. Critically lauded for creating everything from pure arcade racers to the music-game hybrids that have become his trademark, Mizuguchi is basking in the independence of his new company and the creative freedom it affords him. JP Kellams sits down for a conversation with Mizuguchi-san to discuss everything from Pong and Rez to karaoke bars and beatniks.

Congratulations on finding the new, sleeker, more accessible Tokyopia.

The main change, which might not be immediately obvious, is that the site has been entirely rebuilt for the moveable type blog system. While speeding things up in general, it also allows cross-posting from the blogs of various site founders (including John Ricciardi, Andrew Vestal, et al). Most importantly, it takes the content focus off big, cornerstone articles and allows us to more easily post smaller tidbits, photos, and info on a more regular basis.

Tokyopia has been fortunate enough to blossom into a huge weekly Tokyo social gathering, complete with celebrity guests and an intimidatingly busy mailing list. We hope the new system will help us reflect this active community in the online space.

Dig around -- the forum is faster, and we're also happy to feature headlines from David and Jonny's fantastic Game-Science. It's not all finished, and there are bound to be some issues. Let us know your thoughts. And enjoy the new site.

Originally published in the Winter edition of ZD's Xbox Nation Magazine, you can now read the full, unedited and uncensored interview conducted with Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki here. Caution: some madness ensues.

The third and final piece in our look of the problems facing the Japanese games industry takes the historian's view, and is provided by our own Chris Kohler. Somewhat more light hearted, don't also miss the amusing interview with the professor of Japan's first four year degree course in video game production. Click here.

In the second in a series of articles examining the Japanese video game industry, animator Jake Kazdal -- a Tokyopia founder who spent four years at Sega's UGA studio working with industry legend Tetsuya Mizuguchi -- gives his own perspective on the problems facing the Japan market. Go here.

With a recession sweeping over Japan and the country's games business facing two years of simultaneous decline, observers are starting to wonder what happened to the industry's traditional base of power. Dylan Cuthbert has been working in the Japanese games industry for over a decade, with everyone from Nintendo on the original Star Fox to Sony on the first PS2 tech demos. He gives his perspective on the issue in the first in a series of editorials from seasoned industry professionals, starting here.

A new contributor in the form of Chris (Wired, Shonen Jump) Kohler joins us, weighing in with his take on the never-ending Nintendo 'kiddy' saga. Agree or disagree? After you're done reading, join the debate in the Article Discussion forum.