From August 21st to 23rd Replaying Japan's 5th International Japan Game Studies Conference was held at the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York. The theme of this year’s conference was “Transmedia and Story in Japanese Games.” My presentation focused on a Sherlockian video game called Great Turnabout Trial: The Adventures of Ryūnosuke Naruhodō, which is exclusively sold to the Japanese market. I specifically explored the representation of Sherlock Holmes (as a clumsy detective) within the historical and political context of the Meiji Period, in which the game is set, to address how contentious questions of nation and identity are mediated in the game. These questions are not new, but can be traced to classic works of Japanese detective fiction such as by Edogawa Rampo and Okamoto Kido who expressed ambivalent attitudes towards the Western encroachment of Japan through the role of their detectives, but in different ways. Why questions of cultural authenticity and identity re-emerge in the 21st century in Japanese pop-culture (anime, manga, video games) is a topic that I take up in my thesis! Contact me if you'd like to discuss more about this!
Q & A session.
I hope next year’s conference will be just as great! #replayingjapan
This year’s conference was a success thanks to all those at the Strong Museum and RIT, to those on the Organizing Committee, and to everyone who attended. It was so nice to reconnect with old faces and meet new ones. It’s so rewarding to see the conference grow each year and appeal to a global community of scholars. If you’re interested in doing research on Japanese video games (in all its variety) stay tuned & consider submitting an abstract to the 2018 conference. Some of the highlights of this year’s conference included the keynote speakers: Tom Kalinske and Rachael Hutchinson, the demos and poster sessions, the special tour of the Strong Museum’s collection of arcade games (see photos), and the panel on “Gender Issues,” which explored contentious questions of gender representation in video games. In addition, a very promising initiative to “document the role of women in the game industry,” is being undertaken by Shannon Symonds at the Strong Museum.