Bushiroad released Natsume’s Book of Friends: Hazuki no Shirushi on June 5, 2025, but the game only supported Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese at launch. However, that may be about to change.

AniPlug Media discovered that, in a strange and unprecedented move, Bushiroad also released the game in its current state on the North American eShop.

After looking through every Japan-exclusive anime game release, including recent games like Rent-a-Girlfriend: The Horizon Line and Her in a Swimsuit, Entergram’s KonoSuba games, and the various yet-to-be localized The Quintessential Quintuplets games, I can confirm that this has never happened before. A Bushiroad Games representative could not be reached for comment, but I can’t think of a single reason why this game would be available to purchase on Switch outside Asia if there weren’t plans for an English translation, especially since the game has already sold through its initial shipment with over 18,000 physical copies in the first two weeks. Natsume’s Book of Friends: Hazuki no Shirushi is selling so well that Bushiroad has already shipped additional copies of the game.

Natsume’s Book of Friends: Hazuki no Shirushi is available, apparently worldwide, on Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam) for $49.99.