• Japanese publishers have tended to release small, quick-playing games, but some publishers have been working on more involved designs, such as Hisashi Hayashi of OKAZU Brand with Yokohama and Emperor's Choice. New Games Order released the 75-minute Stone Garden in 2014 to wild success, then the two-hour-long Mandara in 2015. In mid-2017, New Games Order released a title that would sound familiar coming from Lookout Spiele: the village management game 六次化農村 (Sixth Rural Village) from 神田 恒太郎 (Kanda Kotaro). Here's an overview:
This is a heavyweight game that asks you to consider various elements such as product trends, field and building positions, and voting in parliament, but each element is well intertwined, making it an enjoyable game.
At the start, each player has a "small axe" made of one stone card and one wood card. In the play area are item cards — wood, stone, iron, and fire — and treasure cards. As players collect item cards in their hand, they can assemble various tools, such as a "big axe", "small pickaxe", "spear", and "wood bomb".
Each tool is assembled by placing the item cards in the shape of the tool. With the "small axe", a player can draw one card from the play area. With the "big axe", a player can draw two cards. With the "small pickaxe", players choose and take one card from the discard pile. With the "spear", a player can draw one card from another player's hand and snatch it if it's a treasure card. With the powerful "wood bomb", players choose to draw four cards from the play area or draw one card from each player's hand and snatch the cards if they're treasure cards.
The active player can have only up to seven items in total of the cards in their hand and their tools. Because of this, the player may have to discard some tools or treasure cards in their hand. The game ends when a player gains 10 points through treasure cards.
• I don't have details on the gameplay, but here's an overview of のチャイニーズ・レストラン (Chinese Restaurant) from designer Canzume Honpo, who publishes under that name (缶詰本舗):