Kugane might not have any outside zones.

[DamianFatale]

The description for the city reads as the following. "Kugane is a port town of Hingashi in Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood. It is the only port open to foreign trade vessels, and violence is strictly prohibited within the city walls." Second evidence, is that if you look at Kugane, it appears to be a larger country, with another city sitting on the other side. This city is apparently known as "Bukyo". It's very likely that Hingashi a mini version of old Japan, and not completely open to foreigners in 4.0. Third piece of evidence, is the revealed zone map in the media tour. Of course, other zones could be hidden from the media event, but unless it's essential to the Stormblood story, it seems unlikely that Kugane will have any. The focus appears to be on Othard, and Ala Mhigo. There is no exit, except for by ship. I don't think we're actually going to be anywhere else in Hingashi. Why am I concerned? Other city states let you explore. This one might not, as as a result, will feel unfinished. It won't give you the same vast explorable feeling as other city states. You might only get a city, and a housing ward, which are barely connected. Roleplayers will suffer even more, if they decide to make their characters Hingashin. How can they be natives, within their own country, if they can't even visit the rest of their home? Kugane might not be all we hoped it to be. Here's to hoping that in the event Kugane is cut off, we'll get to explore it later.

[DracotheDragon]

For now we don't know if the rest of the island is in lockdown from strangers or could be like o ghomero on limsa's island where the surrounding land for there is both uninhabitable and the spots that are lovable are ran by the kolbolds

My money is the rest of the island kugane is on is mainly covers in residential housing and one other island is probably the residential district for us since it is the only land accepting forgin adventures

But we won't know for 6 ish days

[XiXiQ]

I might be the SB equivalent of Mor Dhona and Idyllshire. We'll see soon enough.

[Freyt]

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at, but perhaps a video of the actual place will clarify things, either for you or for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgaE893QRMY

[ColorOfSakura]

Kugane is the only explorable area in Hingashi as of Stormblood, this is correct. (Outside of Shirogane, the housing district.)

There's nothing wrong with this - its clear our character is foreign to the country and given how Japan was during its years of sakoku (National Isolation Period) - there was only one port open to traders. Originally this was the port of Hirano, but eventually was moved to an artificial island known as Dejima off the coast of Nagasaki. Traders could come and go from the port itself but they were not allowed into the country beyond the boundaries of the port city. Dutch traders broke these rules in Hirano (which was connected to the larger landmass of Kyushu island), and that's why Dejima was constructed and used as a later port.

Its likely Kugane is similar to Hirano in that it is connected to the larger area of Shishu Island (itself part of Hingashi) but that the gates that lead outside the city are closed to foreign travelers to limit interactions with the outside world. Hingashi is likely under a similar period of "sakoku" and so Kugane is LITERALLY the only place where foreigners are allowed in and out of the country. Our exploits in Othard and Doma may have an effect on this policy in the future of the game world though, and we'll likely eventually get to visit more of Hingashi.

[Riardon]

Think lore description already made it clear that we are not allowed to go outside of Kugane.

[Theodric]

There's nothing stopping them from potentially letting us explore the rest of Hingashi at a later date. With that said, though, given how much chaos the Warrior of Light and his allies brings with him it's pretty realistic that some doors will remain closed to them. Just look at how many have canonically been slain by them over the years - some of them deserved it, of course, but others were killed solely for differing loyalties/beliefs. In turn, those individuals very likely had family members, friends and loved ones left behind who may not be entirely thrilled by the unceremonious way in which they were butchered.

Hopefully it becomes a plot point someday.

[Rokke]

Roleplayers will suffer even more, if they decide to make their characters Hingashin. How can they be natives, within their own country, if they can't even visit the rest of their home?

When the game drops talk to every NPC and do sidequests to find out as much lore as you can? Use what facts you can find + fill in the blanks with your best educated guesses based on said found facts. As it is people manage to rp Thavnairians/Sharlayans/Garleans, you'll be fine.

[Kotemon]

Am I the only one noticing how prominent Suzaku, Genbu, Byakko and Seiryu are depicted as guarding Koshu? Does it mean they will be fates or Stormblood's version of the triad.

[Theodric]

As an aside, the idea that role-players will 'suffer' for being unable to portray their character as being from some distant, inaccessible land is rather silly. For starters, the game does a lot of world building and there's scraps of lore to be found all over the place. Furthermore there's a wealth of possible places for a character to hail from both present in-game and covered heavily even if they're not currently available such as Garlemald and Sharlayan. It's nobody's fault but your own if you choose to play a character hailing from somewhere with very little solid lore to work with.