From Destructoid:

"Sega has revealed that Haruka has her own battle system where she'll go up against other rivals in a rhythm action game. Andriasang says that she'll work to build up a gauge while shaking her thang in five music genres: hip hop, idol, rock, jazz and house. Once this gauge is full she'll be able to bust out Dance Heat moves, which have parallels to the Heat moves of the standard Yakuza battle system.

At the end, if spectators decide that she was victorious in the dance off, her expression power will rise, giving her more power as an idol in the Princess League idol tournament."

http://www.destructoid.com/yakuza-5-haruka-s-dance-off-battle-system-233582.phtml

I can't actually express how happy this makes me.

I was just browsing the Japanese site when I came across this too. Looks like fun.

Glad to see they are really varying up the gameplay. Everything I read about Yakuza 5 just sounds great.

Especially if they really are fixing the load times.

Sounds very similar to the karaoke minigame, but then I love the karaoke minigame. So if it'll be just as extravagant with all sorts of crazy nonsense happening in the background (which with this series I think is assured), then I'm game.

Also there's apparently going to be a HD re-release for Yakuza 1 & 2??

HAHAHA I was going to make a joke about a battle system that involved Japanese idol singers instead of symbolistic crafted figures and it turns out that's actually what they're doing.

So Haruka isn't going to be judo flipping and beating massive yakuza dudes with mopeds and traffic cones? 
This is just in addition to her regular battles. Right?
 
 Guys?

You mean this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZURNR3uuHGA

Define "thang".

I wish I didn't know this, I find Yakuza is best when it's constantly surprising me with things I have zero cultural context for.