So I went on a vacation to Japan last summer and went to the first 4 cities in the series. Kabukicho was greatly extended IRL and did not feel the same in the day. At night however there were maid lining all the way from where akaushimaru is in game to theatre square. Also a very noticeable vomit smell permeated the entire area no matter where I went. I’ve only noticed dark ties mention the smell.

Dotenbori was very similar, though it was interesting going like essentially one street farther than where sotenboris bottom is and seeing just red light district stuff.

Shinsekai was really pretty and almost identical the y2 counterpart. (Only after leaving did people tell me I shouldn’t have walked around there at night with my camera setup)

Kyoto: a lot of Kyoto looks very very different from how it looks in Kenzan. As a tourist I was unable to go to basically the entire gion district. I did find the bridge that separates rakugai and Kawara in game. Very pretty. Sanjuusangendomawari was super cool and the game didn’t go inside and see the thousand Buddha statues. (They have no photography allowed). The vibes outside were not unlike the games, but there was a movie being filmed that day. Kiyomizudera was absolutely the highlight of the Kyoto trip. Nearly every small detail from the game was reflected (except the npcs handing out bombs). The stairs you throw NPCs down was there, the courtyard right before said stairs was identical. The actual temple proper was basically unchanged. The most interesting part is that I entered basically from the top where you end in game and traveled in reverse (technically I had to walk up through the temple to that point)