Hiroshi Kawaguchi, the composer of classic Sega titles such as Space Harrier, OutRun, and After Burner recently announced he had "retired" from Sega, causing a wave of tributes to be paid to the legendary musician from English-speaking corners of the internet.
But it appears there's some important context that has been lost in translation as the news has begun to spread to non-Japanese social media users, with Kawaguchi having also announced shortly after that he was immediately hired back to the company the following day as a new employee, meaning he will remain at Sega for the time being.
The confusion here arguably stems from a lack of awareness of Japan's "continuous employment system", which is, as we've come to understand it, one of a few methods that Japanese companies can put into practice to keep older workers on board after reaching retirement age while keeping in line with Japanese employment laws.
This typically sees Japanese workers extending their existing contract without interruption or "retiring" from the company, before immediately being rehired on different terms.
This appears to be what Kawaguchi has chosen to do, with the musician stating that he has now evolved into his "second form". Humorously, as part of this string of social media posts about the important career milestone, he shared his initial hiring letter from 41 years ago, joking that he hadn't received a similar letter as of yet for the next phase of his career.