From 1up.com  

 Just a few days ago Sega rep Aaron Webber commented that the possibility of Yakuza 3 coming to the U.S. still exists and that it's a subject discussed quite often at Sega. Today we can do one better: we've learned that the PS3 exclusive is indeed coming west. According to sources close to the project, Yakuza 3 is currently being localized for release in the U.S. and European markets.

And while this is still not the official confirmation many are seeking, it's definitely reason to keep up hope. We anticipate more news on this front will be coming from Sega -- or another publisher, were the game shopped around -- in the coming weeks or months. It's possible we could even hear sooner: the Tokyo Game Show occurs later this week, and if you remember, Sega announced Yakuza 2 for the U.S. at the 2007 show.

In other Yakuza news, it's also only a few more days until Yakuza 4 is revealed at TGS. 

 Great news.
 
Personally, I hope the last two entries of the series get HD ports similar to what God Of War 1&2 is going to get. I think this whole series was poorly marketed and released from it's inception when it went stateside, and we need a complete do-over. 
 
It would make a great downloadable, or bonus disk for a special edition for Yakuza 3. 

 *A single tear slowly rolls down the cheek of his face.*    

I think i would rent it from gamefly to see if i liked it then possibly keep it.  I would bet that it  sells decent not anything amazing thouh,  Yakuza 3 has gained some steam with the American press. I've always been interested in this series and never bothered to try any of the older ones.

I think the only way for Sega to bring this over and try to make any sort of a profit is to just have subtitles and don't have any english voice acting. You still need a lot of localization since that game is huge but it would be an awesome idea. I loved Yakuza 2 and I am glad that this game might be coming to North America.

Though with the leaked Sega document and their suggestion to having an import spot on PSN sounds cool for some games. Big games like Yakuza 3 I would rather have a tangable, physical object. Something about putting a game on your shelf just seems way cooler to me.

you have no idea how much i want to play the first 2 games. this is great news if i ever get around to getting the first 2.