Conference theme:

Japanese Games: Past, Present and Future

Since 2012, the Replaying Japan conference series hosted researchers from various fields conducting research on “Japanese Game”. However, for the upcoming edition of the conference, we would like to address a fundamental question.

What are “Japanese games”?

For example, when we talk about our first play experience of “Super Mario Bros.” or “Pokémon” with researchers all over the world, what we mention is a mysterious “shared experience” rather than the “Japaneseness” of these games.

In other words, these games have surpassed domestic circumstances and cultural differences to deliver common surprises and excitement to players all over the world. This universal nature can be said to be the specificity of games as media.

In this conference held in Kyoto this summer, let us again re-think the past and present of “Japanese Game” and examine “Japanese games” and the future of research on the subject.