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Book Cover
E-book
Author Hutchinson, Rachael, author

Title Japanese culture through videogames / Rachael Hutchinson
Edition First edition
Published London ; New York : Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, [2019]

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Description 1 online resource
Series Contemporary japan series ; 80
Routledge contemporary Japan series ; 80.
Contents Introduction -- Japanese culture as playable object -- Katamari damacy : nostalgia and kitsch -- Packaging the past in Okami -- Japan and its others in fighting games -- Ideology and critique in Japanese games -- Absentee parents in the JRPG -- Nuclear discourse in final fantasy -- Bioethics meets nuclear crisis -- History, memory, and re-imagining war -- An uncomfortable genre : the Japanese war game -- Hiroshima and violence in metal gear solid -- The colonial legacy -- Conclusions
Summary "Examining a wide range of Japanese videogames, including arcade fighting games, PC-based strategy games and console JRPGs, this book assesses their cultural significance and shows how gameplay and context can be analyzed together to understand videogames as a dynamic mode of artistic expression. Well-known titles such as Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter and Katamari Damacy are evaluated in detail, showing how ideology and critique are conveyed through game narrative and character design as well as user interface, cabinet art, and peripherals. This book also considers how Japan' has been packaged for domestic and overseas consumers, and how Japanese designers have used the medium to express ideas about home and nation, nuclear energy, war and historical memory, social breakdown and bioethics. Placing each title in its historical context, Hutchinson ultimately shows that videogames are a relatively recent but significant site where cultural identity is played out in modern Japan. Comparing Japanese videogames with their American counterparts, as well as other media forms, such as film, manga and anime, Japanese Culture Through Videogames will be useful to students and scholars of Japanese culture and society, as well as Game Studies, Media Studies and Japanese Studies more generally."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher
Subject Video games -- Social aspects -- Japan
Japan -- In popular culture
GAMES -- Video & Electronic.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Ethnic Studies -- Asian American Studies.
Civilization
Video games -- Social aspects
SUBJECT Japan -- Civilization -- 21st century
Subject Japan
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2019021748
ISBN 9780429025006
0429025009
9780429658389
0429658389
9780429655944
0429655940
9780429653506
0429653506