handoff: first JP main-menu capture -- initial focus 新規, layout identical, dialog question still open

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Wuu56cE8vJGTBtn1ppsk8v

docs/port/HANDOFF.md

@@ -22,6 +22,34 @@ delivered.
 
 
 
+
+## 🟡 2026-08-31 — first JP main-menu capture: initial focus is 新規, layout identical
+
+Went for a `ja` capture of `DIFFICULTY` to settle whether `GP_DIALOG` 2/3 are
+specifically English and Japanese. **It did not reach that screen** — the round trip
+failed at the final Ⓐ and the sweep timed out off-menu. That question is exactly
+where it was.
+
+✅ **What the run does establish**, and it is the first JP menu capture we have:
+
+* **JP initial focus is 新規** — `NEW GAME`, the top item, ring y **225.5**: the
+  same item and the same row as six English boots. **Initial focus is not
+  locale-dependent** (one JP boot).
+* **The menu layout is identical across locales** — ring rows 225.5 and 385.5 match
+  English exactly, so the JP build places its buttons where the English one does and
+  differs only in glyphs.
+
+⚠️ **That is language-pair structure at the MENU (`GP_TITLE` 5/8), which is *not*
+the dialog pair the question is about**, and it does not transfer to `GP_DIALOG` 2/3
+on its own. If you were waiting on the dialog question, keep waiting.
+
+📌 The locale was restored and verified back at `language = 1` on a **failing** exit,
+by a trap that runs on any exit.
+
+[data](../re/data/jp-difficulty-not-reached.txt) ·
+[capture](../re/captures/menu-nav/live-jp-main-menu.png)
+
+
 ## 🟡 2026-08-31 — `GP_DIALOG` 0/1 is a **duplicate**; 2/3 is a structural pair
 
 Closing the item I left open when I withdrew "an EN/JP pair". The two cases split,