Japanese corespondent Rmk, as well as Jeff Rollason of AI Factory have both come out and said that the release of 'Shotest Shogi' over the weekend in Japan was an intentional move.

First, Rmk pointed us to the official Japanese Xbox blog which updates players on new XBLA releases as well as their own top 10 releases, which officially announced that 'Shotest Shogi' was now available to the public.

Secondly, Jeff Rollason specified in a comment on Gamerbytes.com that the release was:

"...Not an accident, but we are awaiting for Microsoft to complete the process. It was scheduled for a release last Wednesday, but there was some issue that prevented that from happening then."

Interesting. A Japanese exclusive release not on a Wednesday? Either way, look forward to 'Shotest Shogi' elsewhere in the coming weeks.