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Björn-Ole Kamm
  • Kyoto University, Graduate School of Letters
    Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501
    Japan
  • +81 75-753-2426

Björn-Ole Kamm

Live-action role-play (larp) has been named a “new performative art,” an immersive experience, and an educational tool, but it is much more: A playground of intermingling social and cultural realities, a door to new worlds. This paper... more
Live-action role-play (larp) has been named a “new performative art,” an immersive experience, and an educational tool, but it is much more: A playground of intermingling social and cultural realities, a door to new worlds. This paper offers an introduction to larp, its transcultural history, and its disruptive and creative possibilities, as well as key aspects, such as immersion. It sets the theoretical frame for the game “Staying Alive,” in which the researchers and also the audience engage in a shared “mimetic evocation of ‘real-life experience.’” Many aspects of “everydayness” can be called “collateral realities,” realities that are done implicitly, unintentionally, such as nations, cultures, time, or distinctions of subject and object, or of presenter and audience; realities that could be different. Taking performativity seriously, larp can be a tool to step outside of a Euro-American commonsense ontology and its singular reality “out there” by playing with collateral realities...
Focusing on the often neglected individual modes of consumption and ascriptions of meaning, I propose a theoretical and conceptual framework for the analysis of the diversity of the use and appropriation of the boys' love (BL) genre.... more
Focusing on the often neglected individual modes of consumption and ascriptions of meaning, I propose a theoretical and conceptual framework for the analysis of the diversity of the use and appropriation of the boys' love (BL) genre. Within the framework of theories of media gratification, I bring together key elements of BL fandom, such as playing with masculinities, and central concepts of entertainment research. To assess these concepts' appropriateness and to do justice to the transnational phenomenon that BL has become, I also consider qualitative interviews conducted in Japan and Germany. The gratifications sought and gained by BL fans (fujoshi and fudanshi, rotten girls and boys) vary, including the physiological (arousal), the social (exchange, belonging), the cognitive (parasocial interaction), and the aesthetic (immersion). My empirical findings highlight the diversity of BL use, while my conceptual framework additionally works as a reference for a comparison of th...
With the spread of manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese cartoons) around the world, many have adopted the Japanese term 'otaku' to identify fans of such media. The connection to manga and anime may seem straightforward,... more
With the spread of manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese cartoons) around the world, many have adopted the Japanese term 'otaku' to identify fans of such media. The connection to manga and anime may seem straightforward, but, when taken for granted, often serves to obscure the debates within and around media fandom in Japan since the term 'otaku' appeared in the niche publication Manga Burikko in 1983. Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan disrupts the naturalization and trivialization of 'otaku' by examining the historical contingency of the term as a way to identify and contain problematic youth, consumers and fan cultures in Japan. Its chapters, many translated from Japanese and available in English for the first time – and with a foreword by Otsuka Eiji, former editor of Manga Burikko – explore key moments in the evolving discourse of 'otaku' in Japan. Rather than presenting a smooth, triumphant narrative of the transition of a subculture to the mainstream, the edited volume repositions 'otaku' in specific historical, social and economic contexts, providing new insights into the significance of the 'otaku' phenomenon in Japan and the world. By going back to original Japanese documents, translating key contributions by Japanese scholars and offering sustained analysis of these documents and scholars, Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan provides alternative histories of and approaches to 'otaku'. For all students and scholars of contemporary Japan and the history of Japanese fan and consumer cultures, this volume will be a foundation for understanding how 'otaku', at different places and times and to different people, is meaningful.
In Tischrollenspielen ubernehmen Spielerinnen und Spieler fiktionale Charaktere, um gemeinsam eine diegetische Wirklichkeit zu erschaffen, in der sie Abenteuer bestehen, Geschichten erzahlen oder andere Sichtweisen und Personlichkeiten... more
In Tischrollenspielen ubernehmen Spielerinnen und Spieler fiktionale Charaktere, um gemeinsam eine diegetische Wirklichkeit zu erschaffen, in der sie Abenteuer bestehen, Geschichten erzahlen oder andere Sichtweisen und Personlichkeiten ausprobieren. Wahrend in Computerrollenspielen Avatare durch CGI-Umgebungen gesteuert werden, vollzieht sich die Handlung hier durch Beschreibung und ein Improvisationstheater-ahnliches Darstellen. Die diegetischen Wirklichkeiten sind dabei nicht nur inspiriert von verschiedensten Medien, Genres, und Epochen – sei es der »Herr der Ringe« oder die Heian-Zeit (794 – 1185) – sondern stehen in einem Spannungsverhaltnis zu Praktiken und Kategorien, die entscheidend fur die Herstellung und Aufrechterhaltung der ›normalen‹ Realitat auserhalb des Spiels sind. Geschlecht und die Unterscheidung in Mann und Frau gehoren zu derartigen Kategorien und damit verbundenen Praktiken. Wie verhalt sich das doing gender am Spieltisch zu Geschlechterkategorien und -handlungen auserhalb des Spiels? Ist eine solche Trennung uberhaupt moglich und sinnvoll ?
Background. The history of larp, live-action role-play, in Japan may be rather short but documents exponential growth in the entertainment sector as well as in educational gaming. Following trends of related forms of analog role-playing... more
Background. The history of larp, live-action role-play, in Japan may be rather short but documents exponential growth in the entertainment sector as well as in educational gaming. Following trends of related forms of analog role-playing games, the horror genre functions as a motor of increasing popularity.Aim. This article explores the development of non-digital role-playing games in the Japanese context in light of the online video platform niconico popularizing horror role-playing and practical considerations of adopting the genre to live-action play.Method. Cyberethnographic fieldwork including participant observation at larps between 2015 and 2018 forms the data basis for this article, followed by qualitative interviews with larp organizers, larp writers, and designers of analog games as well as observations online in respective webforums.Results. Replays, novelized transcripts of play sessions, have been an entry point into analog role-playing in Japan since the 1980s. With the...
Related to connectedness and leading towards “global” group formations, the Internet and “new” communication technologies form the third avenue of uncertainty. The Internet’s uncertainty of interest in the third Act is its ability to... more
Related to connectedness and leading towards “global” group formations, the Internet and “new” communication technologies form the third avenue of uncertainty. The Internet’s uncertainty of interest in the third Act is its ability to connect. Until very recently Japan was believed to know only computer RPGs. The plethora of Japanese non-digital games was unknown in the US or Europe until a small number of English-speaking insider-scholars and translators made their knowledge public on websites around 2010. The Internet might conflate space and time. How does this work in the case of role-players in Japan, Europe, and the US? Who bridges barriers and goes beyond borders? I encountered a number of gatekeepers, translators, and insider-scholars who play at being spokespersons for the collective of role-playing. Some of them want to promote not only elements of the practice of role-playing but seek to carve a space for themselves at the same time.
EXTENDED ABSTRACT How can we achieve affective closeness and connectedness with marginalized people who are absent? This question guides an ongoing investigation into larp, live-action role-play, for the purpose of transcultural learning... more
EXTENDED ABSTRACT How can we achieve affective closeness and connectedness with marginalized people who are absent? This question guides an ongoing investigation into larp, live-action role-play, for the purpose of transcultural learning in the Japanese educational context. Larp is a mixture of improv-theatre-like player interaction and game-like challenges aiming for the creation of meaningful, shared stories. Larp organizers specify a setting, players take on characters (as in a theatrical play) and improvise a narrative about a conflict in this setting, for example. Much larp is played for entertainment purposes but artistic, educational and political larps increasingly gain attention worldwide (Pettersson 2014, Stenros 2014). Guided by the organizers of such serious games, the participants will afterwards reflect on the collaboratively created story and the emotions it affected, what they learned about the setting and about themselves by making decisions from their characters’ p...
The first conflict is informed by the uncertainty of a distinction between reality and fiction. The loci of dispute are bad influences on youth, cultivation processes through media, escapism into media, or game induced violence as well as... more
The first conflict is informed by the uncertainty of a distinction between reality and fiction. The loci of dispute are bad influences on youth, cultivation processes through media, escapism into media, or game induced violence as well as positively evaluated learning effects. All share shifting boundaries of what is meant by invoking reality. Based on the main argument of this study with its emphasis on multiplicity and uncertainty of practices, the book’s first chapter or “Act” traces the path of various practices that would at one point be referred to as RPGs, only to diversify again, warranting the concept of assemblage of practices to sum them up. This chapter deals with different modes of ordering this practice, with a focus on its trajectory to and from Japan, followed by a literature review on the specialist discourse of game design as well as governmental concerns about escapism, the flight from “reality.”
2000年頃から、「ノルディック・ラープ(Nordic Larp)」という考え方が世界中で発展してきている.「ノルディック・ラープ」とは,芸術的なヴィジョン,政治的なメッセージ,または教育的な目的を有する、高度で複雑なLARP経験を目指すフレームワークである.「ノルディック(Nordic)」という語に象徴されるように、元来は北欧に由来する考え方であるが,現在は南アメリカからシリアまで,世界各地で共通して適用しうる考え方になっている.... more
2000年頃から、「ノルディック・ラープ(Nordic Larp)」という考え方が世界中で発展してきている.「ノルディック・ラープ」とは,芸術的なヴィジョン,政治的なメッセージ,または教育的な目的を有する、高度で複雑なLARP経験を目指すフレームワークである.「ノルディック(Nordic)」という語に象徴されるように、元来は北欧に由来する考え方であるが,現在は南アメリカからシリアまで,世界各地で共通して適用しうる考え方になっている. 本稿では,「ノルディック・ラープ」の背景と基本的な説明に加え,主に成人向けのLARPの実践例に基づき,「娯楽+α」を目指すLARPのデザインや理論を紹介する.
In Japanese: The ideas of “Nordic Larp” are spreading throughout the world since the early 2000s. “Nordic Larp” refers to a framework that aims for cutting-edge larp experiences by employing artistic vision, political messages, or... more
In Japanese: The ideas of “Nordic Larp” are spreading throughout the world since the early 2000s. “Nordic Larp” refers to a framework that aims for cutting-edge larp experiences by employing artistic vision, political messages, or educational agendas. The descriptor of “Nordic” may have its origins in northern Europe, but today, larps following this framework are organized worldwide, from South America to Syria.
Based on a larp example targeting adults, this article explains the background and basics of “Nordic Larp” to introduce the possibilities of larp that goes beyond just having fun.
In Japanese: Larp (live-action role-play) makes it possible to experience life worlds different from one ' s own. Larps combine improv-theatre with gaming elements (e.g., rules, challenges) to allow participants an immersive experience,... more
In Japanese: Larp (live-action role-play) makes it possible to experience life worlds different from one ' s own. Larps combine improv-theatre with gaming elements (e.g., rules, challenges) to allow participants an immersive experience, as a way of changing perspectives. Larps particularly designed for an educational or political purpose, seek to give their participants insights into other realities or to make them think about a given issue. Because learning does not just happen through larping alone, such educational larps rely on workshops before and after the experi- ence itself. Larps provide first-hand experiences and are thus considered a tool for raising awareness and building empathy. This paper introduces a larp with such an educational purpose, "Village, Shelter, Comfort,"which was co-designed based on interviews with people who had been in social withdrawal (hikikomori in Japanese). Par- ticipants could experience how it can be to live in withdrawal and this paper discusses the learning effects of the larp.
Background. The history of larp, live-action role-play, in Japan may be rather short but documents exponential growth in the entertainment sector as well as in educational gaming. Following trends of related forms of analog role-playing... more
Background. The history of larp, live-action role-play, in Japan may be rather short but documents exponential growth in the entertainment sector as well as in educational gaming. Following trends of related forms of analog role-playing games, the horror genre functions as a motor of increasing popularity.
Aim. This article explores the development of non-digital role-playing games in the Japanese context in light of the online video platform niconico popularizing horror role-playing and practical considerations of adopting the genre to liveaction play.
Method. Cyberethnographic fieldwork including participant observation at larps between 2015 and 2018 forms the data basis for this article, followed by qualitative interviews with larp organizers, larp writers, and designers of analog
games as well as observations online in respective webforums.
Results. Replays, novelized transcripts of play sessions, have been an entry point into analog role-playing in Japan since the 1980s. With the advent of video sharing sites, replays moved from the book to audio-visual records and a focus on horror games. Creating a fertile ground for this genre, the first indigenous Japanese larp rulebook built on this interest and the ease of access, namely that players do not need elaborate costumes or equipment to participate in modern horror.
Live-action role-play (larp), a mixture of improv-theatre and role-playing game where participants interact physically as characters in a shared story, draws thousands of participants in Europe but gained interest in Japan only since 2012... more
Live-action role-play (larp), a mixture of improv-theatre and role-playing game where participants interact physically as characters in a shared story, draws thousands of participants in Europe but gained interest in Japan only since 2012 ̶ with an exponentially increasing popularity. This young practice still faces various material constraints, one of which is the actual or perceived limited accessibility of space, another the availability of larp paraphernalia. Japan’s larpers, however, have access to resources less known in Europe: 100-Yen-Shops. These shops offer a broad variety of products for just 100 yen, useful for larp as outlined by Japan’s first “how-to-larp” publications. This paper discusses the development and current state of larp in Japan: How did “European-style” fantasy larp come to Japan? How was this practice adapted to local circumstances? How is it related to sibling practices, such as cosplay (masquerading) and pen & paper role-playing? Based on text-analysis, interviews, and participant observations, the paper analyses the ways of appropriation including the discursive and material constraints practitioners are entangled with. Conceptualizing larp as a network of heterogeneous human and non-human elements, the practice in Japan is hardly defined by a somewhat essential “Japaneseness” but produced through the tracing of these various elements. Fantasy larp as it is actualized in Japan combines “global” elements of larping with “local” materials so that the practice is (continuously) reassembled.
The history of larp in Japan does not reach further back than the late 2000s, and its practice only started to awake broader interest in 2012 through the abridged and commented Japanese translation of DragonSys by Nico Stahlberg and... more
The history of larp in Japan does not reach further back than the late 2000s, and its practice only started to awake broader interest in 2012 through the abridged and commented Japanese translation of DragonSys by Nico Stahlberg and Sugiura Nobutaka.
As young as fantasy and sci-fi larp is in Japan, it faces a number of material constraints, one of which is the actual or perceived limited accessibility of space – Japan’s largest larp group meets in a community center instead of in the woods, on camping grounds or in a castle.  Also limited is the availability of larp paraphernalia common in Europe, fore and foremost boffer weapons, but also medieval clothes.
Japan’s larpers do have access to an extraordinary source for equipment, though: 100-Yen-Shops (hyaku-en-kinitsu-ten, hyakkin for short*). These shops offer a broad variety of products, ranging from kitchen utensils and stationary, clothes and toiletries, to food and drinks – most goods sold for 100 yen (approx. 0.80€) with a reasonable to good quality. Amongst these products larpers may also find a plethora of “stuff” befitting their trade: metal pendants, medieval looking jewelry, steampunky watches, apothecary’s glass containers, masks, candles, incenses and more. Taking its cue from Japan’s first “how-to-larp” publication (LARP no susume, “LARP for you,” Hinasaki 2013), this paper discusses the development and current state of larp in Japan: How did “European-style” fantasy larp come to Japan? How was this practice adapted to local circumstances? How is it related to sibling practices, such as cosplay (masquerading) and pen & paper role-playing? How “big” is larp in Japan? The paper analyzes the ways of appropriation including the discursive and material constraints practitioners are entangled with.
However, it also contrasts these subjective or actually faced limitations with possibilities. The paper shows the differences small (and big) items bought for only 100 yen can make in the practice network called live-action roleplay. Conceptualizing larp as a network of heterogeneous human and non-human elements, the practice in Japan is hardly defined by a somewhat special “Japaneseness” but produced through the tracing of connections between these various elements. “Japanese-style” fantasy larp combines the “global” elements of larping with “local” materials so that the practice is (continuously) reassembled.
Live-action role-play (larp) has been named a “new performative art,” an immersive experience, and an educational tool, but it is much more: A playground of intermingling social and cultural realities, a door to new worlds. This paper... more
Live-action role-play (larp) has been named a “new performative art,” an immersive experience, and an educational tool, but it is much more: A playground of intermingling social and cultural realities, a door to new worlds. This paper offers an introduction to larp, its transcultural history, and its disruptive and creative possibilities, as well as key aspects, such as immersion. It sets the theoretical frame for the game “Staying Alive,” in which the researchers and also the audience engage in a shared “mimetic evocation of ‘real-life experience.’” Many aspects of “everydayness” can be called “collateral realities,” realities that are done implicitly, unintentionally, such as nations, cultures, time, or distinctions of subject and object, or of presenter and audience; realities that could be different. Taking performativity seriously, larp can be a tool to step outside of a Euro-American commonsense ontology and its singular reality “out there” by playing with collateral realities and making their production explicit. During a larp, players (“larpers”) consciously undo objects and meanings, space, and even their very bodies to creatively weave new material-semiotic fabrics. They become cultural mediators between a world-that-supposedly-just-is and its partially connected others, in which Japaneseness or Chineseness may fade and Elvishness is translated into a reality. With a global player base, larping is not only a practice of intersubjective or cultural negotiations but also of intra-subjective mediation of cultural realities.
In Tischrollenspielen übernehmen Spielerinnen und Spieler fiktionale Charaktere, um gemeinsam eine diegetische Wirklichkeit zu erschaffen, in der sie Abenteuer bestehen, Geschichten erzählen oder andere Sichtweisen und Persönlichkeiten... more
In Tischrollenspielen übernehmen Spielerinnen und Spieler fiktionale Charaktere, um gemeinsam eine diegetische Wirklichkeit zu erschaffen, in der sie Abenteuer bestehen, Geschichten erzählen oder andere Sichtweisen und Persönlichkeiten ausprobieren. Während in Computerrollenspielen Avatare durch CGI-Umgebungen gesteuert werden, vollzieht sich die Handlung hier durch Beschreibung und ein Improvisationstheater-ähnliches Darstellen. Die diegetischen Wirklichkeiten sind dabei nicht nur inspiriert von verschiedensten Medien, Genres, und Epochen – sei es der »Herr der Ringe« oder die Heian-Zeit (794–1185) – sondern stehen in einem Spannungsverhältnis zu Praktiken und Kategorien, die entscheidend für die Herstellung und Aufrechterhaltung der ›normalen‹ Realität außerhalb des Spiels sind. Geschlecht und die Unterscheidung in Mann und Frau gehören zu derartigen Kategorien und damit verbundenen Praktiken. Wie verhält sich das doing gender am Spieltisch zu Geschlechterkategorien und -handlungen außerhalb des Spiels? Ist eine solche Trennung überhaupt möglich und sinnvoll?"
"Mit Fokus auf Tischrollenspiele in Japan und basierend auf der Analyse von qualitativen Interviews und teilnehmender Beobachtung untersucht der vor- liegende Beitrag Geschlecht als ›beiläufige Realität‹ (collateral reality), die in teilweise verbundenen, alltäglichen und spielerischen Kontexten ›getan‹ wird. Das Cross-Gender-Spiel von Rollenspielerinnen und -spielern eröffnet Ein- blicke in die Stabilisierung von Geschlechtergrenzen – beispielsweise durch geschlechtskonnotierte Sprache, die außerhalb des Spiels als überholt gelten mag, im Spiel jedoch Authentizität schafft – und macht dabei deutlich, dass keine singuläre Größe wie ›die japanische Gesellschaft‹ als Explanans fungieren kann, sondern dass Geschlecht in einem vernetzten und interdependenten Wechselverhältnis von Spiel und Wirklichkeit produziert wird.
Focusing on the often neglected individual modes of consumption and ascriptions of meaning, I propose a theoretical and conceptual framework for the analysis of the diversity of the use and appropriation of the boys' love (BL) genre.... more
Focusing on the often neglected individual modes of consumption and ascriptions of meaning, I propose a theoretical and conceptual framework for the analysis of the diversity of the use and appropriation of the boys' love (BL) genre. Within the framework of theories of media gratification, I bring together key elements of BL fandom, such as playing with masculinities, and central concepts of entertainment research. To assess these concepts' appropriateness and to do justice to the transnational phenomenon that BL has become, I also consider qualitative interviews conducted in Japan and Germany. The gratifications sought and gained by BL fans (fujoshi and fudanshi, "rotten" girls and boys) vary, including the physiological (arousal), the social (exchange, belonging), the cognitive (parasocial interaction), and the aesthetic (immersion). My empirical findings highlight the diversity of BL use, while my conceptual framework additionally works as a reference for a comparison of these use patterns and other media preferences as well as global trends of media consumption.
DISCLAIMER: There have been many developments in Japan since 2012, making parts of this article no longer reflecting the current state of affairs. There is larp now in Japan. Please see my new article about adapting larp in Japan at:... more
DISCLAIMER: There have been many developments in Japan since 2012, making parts of this article no longer reflecting the current state of affairs. There is larp now in Japan.
Please see my new article about adapting larp in Japan at: http://hdl.handle.net/10367/11682

Even though similar practices like cosplay (masquerading as media characters) exist in Japan, larp is quite unheard of. The aim of this study is to understand why Japanese roleplayers do not see larp as an activity they can easily adopt. Instead of following a common, Western research perspective on Japan that repeats notions of Japanese uniqueness, an interactionist approach is adopted. This is done by engaging in actual exchange with the researched subjects, and through the introduction of a theoretical model for the process of experience evaluation in order to understand how former experiences form expectations. It shows the importance of individual ascriptions of meaning and their connection to the historical, discursive, societal and personal contexts that frame these meanings. Fieldwork and qualitative interviews were conducted and analyzed in respect to larp in Japan. The interviews were later contrasted with the interviewees‘ experience of a mini-larp. Most players expressed a desire to learn about larps and try them but felt uneasy regarding the space and time restrictions they experienced in Japan. These restrictions have influenced roleplaying tremendously and have formed the expectations towards what roleplaying encompasses — and what people deem possible. Especially the perceived non-availability of knowledge about larp and of space is of importance.
The Internet may still be counted among the “new” communication technologies. By today, however, many people’s everyday experiences are almost inconceivable without it. The number of users worldwide has quadrupled over the past decade and... more
The Internet may still be counted among the “new” communication technologies. By today, however, many people’s everyday experiences are almost inconceivable without it. The number of users worldwide has quadrupled over the past decade and 70% of the population in the “first world” uses the Internet habitually, with an annual growth of 2-3%. The first generation of digital natives –born after the Internet’s creation and not knowing a world without it – has already reached adulthood. Broadband connections and mobile devices, such as smartphones, are ubiquitous and thus do their part in conflating the “virtual” and the “real” into one augmented reality. Especially, “social networks” and corresponding services like facebook and mixi.jp, Internet forums, or the mini-blogging platform Twitter increasingly outpace “traditional” Internet service such as e-mail or search engines.
The Internet and its use have attracted the attention of the social sciences, media and cultural studies, resulting in ever-growing (digital) libraries of case studies as well as large-scale surveys. At the same time, the Internet opens up many possibilities to be used as a tool for research, whether for the collaboration between scholars or data collection itself. Collecting personal or private data from the Internet for the purpose of social scientific research, however, is not unproblematic. My paper focuses therefore on the technical and ethical (im-) possibilities of Internet-based research, with a focus on issues pertaining to research on Japanese subcultures.
It has never been easier to quickly access “subcultural” groups such as fujoshi (female fans of male homoeroticism) or cosplayers and their “Western” counterparts respectively. When logged into mixi.jp, you are only a few clicks away from finding willing subjects for interviews who you do not even have to meet in person because of (video) chat technologies. It is furthermore possible to download whole threads of forum discussions on your own computer and immediately begin with coding and analysis. A stay in Japan too does not appear necessary any longer, even for social or ethnographic research. The pseudonymity of the Internet additionally allows the researcher to “disguise” him- or herself as one of those examined, to camouflage national origins or gender if he or she sees the necessity.
My presentation covers a number of technological obstacles to such procedures (e.g., identification verification, language limitations, sites hidden from search engines) as well as methodological concerns (e.g., systematic errors in the sample, social desirability) but its focus lies on the ethical aspects of Internet-based research. Does the pursuit of scientific knowledge justify the means? What problems exist in comparison to the ethics of ethnographic methods in general? The Internet offers public spaces – is all data therein thus free for the taking? Being a foreign researcher in another country, in this case Japan, increases the possibility of provoking certain responses among respondents (cf. nihonjin-ron). It makes therefore sense to disguise one’s national identity by a pseudonym, does it not? I will discuss these questions, using examples and results from my ongoing PhD research project on Internet-facilitated transcultural communication and community building processes.
Represents one of the first book-length scholarly studies of non-digital role-playing games (RPGs) in Japan Takes a transcultural approach that extends beyond the national borders of Japan and challenges prevailing stereotypes of... more
Represents one of the first book-length scholarly studies of non-digital role-playing games (RPGs) in Japan

Takes a transcultural approach that extends beyond the national borders of Japan and challenges prevailing stereotypes of "Japaneseness" in RPGs

Employs cyber-ethnographic methods to theorize non-digital RPGs as constituting fluid networks of practice rather than fixed and static entities
With the spread of manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese cartoons) around the world, many have adopted the Japanese term 'otaku' to identify fans of such media. The connection to manga and anime may seem straightforward, but, when... more
With the spread of manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese cartoons) around the world, many have adopted the Japanese term 'otaku' to identify fans of such media. The connection to manga and anime may seem straightforward, but, when taken for granted, often serves to obscure the debates within and around media fandom in Japan since the term 'otaku' appeared in the niche publication Manga Burikko in 1983.

Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan disrupts the naturalization and trivialization of 'otaku' by examining the historical contingency of the term as a way to identify and contain problematic youth, consumers and fan cultures in Japan. Its chapters, many translated from Japanese and available in English for the first time – and with a foreword by Otsuka Eiji, former editor of Manga Burikko – explore key moments in the evolving discourse of 'otaku' in Japan. Rather than presenting a smooth, triumphant narrative of the transition of a subculture to the mainstream, the edited volume repositions 'otaku' in specific historical, social and economic contexts, providing new insights into the significance of the 'otaku' phenomenon in Japan and the world.

By going back to original Japanese documents, translating key contributions by Japanese scholars and offering sustained analysis of these documents and scholars, Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan provides alternative histories of and approaches to 'otaku'. For all students and scholars of contemporary Japan and the history of Japanese fan and consumer cultures, this volume will be a foundation for understanding how 'otaku', at different places and times and to different people, is meaningful.
Research Interests:
Fujoshi bedeutet wörtlich ‚verdorbene Mädchen‘ und ist die selbst gewählte und zugleich selbstironische Bezeichnung für die Leserinnen männlich-homosexueller Manga, die als Boys' Love (BL) oder yaoi bekannt sind. Ein Genre, das auch... more
Fujoshi bedeutet wörtlich ‚verdorbene Mädchen‘ und ist die selbst gewählte und zugleich selbstironische Bezeichnung für die Leserinnen männlich-homosexueller Manga, die als Boys' Love (BL) oder yaoi bekannt sind. Ein Genre, das auch zunehmend außerhalb Japans enormen Zuspruch findet. Seit den späten 1980er Jahren blüht in Japan der Diskurs über diese ,verdorbenen‘ Mädchen und Frauen, insbesondere wenn es um die Frage geht, warum Frauen Geschichten lesen, in denen ausschließlich Beziehungen zwischen Männern dargestellt werden und keine einzige weibliche Protagonistin auftaucht.

Anstatt sich jedoch mit den Leserinnen bzw. Nutzerinnen selbst zu beschäftigen, beschränkt man sich bei der Frage nach dem ,Warum?‘ fast ausschließlich auf die Inhalte. So werden einige wenige, oft eher bekanntere Titel analysiert, um aus dem Inhalt auf die Nutzungsmotive zu schließen. Es dominieren Essentialisierungen, pathologisierende Erklärungsansätze und ein negatives Frauenbild. Die Frau scheint nur als Partnerin eines Mannes oder nach solch einer Partnerschaft strebend denkbar. Ihre Nutzung von Boys‘ Love müsse somit auf sexuelle Probleme verweisen und könne nur als Wirklichkeitsflucht gedeutet werden. Diesen Pathologisierungen widersprechend bieten junge Wissenschaftlerinnen und BL-Praktikerinnen vermehrt eine andere Perspektive, die die Vielfalt betont — sie zeigten vor allem die inhaltliche Vielfalt des Genres auf.

Jedoch auch die Nutzung gestaltet sich vielfältig, was nur durch eine Konzeption von Manga als Medium ersichtlich werden kann — etwas, das die japanische Mangaforschung zwar angedeutet, aber bisher noch nicht umgesetzt hat. Die eher am nordatlantischen Kulturkreis orientierte Mediennutzungsforschung andererseits fokussiert auf das Fernsehen als den großen Symbolproduzenten. Dies sollte bei der wachsenden Bedeutung von Manga auch außerhalb Japans hinterfragt werden. Die Studie stellt einen Dialog zwischen beiden Feldern dar. Von einem im Sinne des symbolischen Interaktionismus aktiven Rezipienten ausgehend, wurden mehrere qualitative Interviews in Japan und Deutschland durchgeführt, um gegen die Kernprobleme bisheriger Erklärungsansätze, vor allem gegen die homogenisierende Charakterisierung der Leserinnen vorzugehen. Darüber hinaus sollte ein sprachlicher Referenzrahmen geschaffen werden, der es ermöglicht, über den Tellerrand von Boys‘ Love hinauszublicken und die BL-Nutzung mit der Nutzung anderer Medien in Bezug zu setzen.
This talk introduces a mixed-method strategy named Personal Attitude Construct (PAC) analysis, originally developed by psychologist Naitō Tetsuo (2003) for the purpose of evaluating the climate of classrooms and how it is experienced.... more
This talk introduces a mixed-method strategy named Personal Attitude Construct (PAC) analysis, originally developed by psychologist Naitō Tetsuo (2003) for the purpose of evaluating the climate of classrooms and how it is experienced. Used in various fields in Japan today, ranging from psychology, sociology, language education to counselling, PAC analysis combines in-depth interviews with statistical clustering and visualisations in order to communicate individual experiences. Participants and organisers of larps know (and feel), for example through debriefing, what they have gained. Might PAC analysis help in translating these individual and at times difficult to verbalise assessments to an un-involved audience? In what way would this framework need adjustment to be useful for larps? Could it be incorporated into debriefs directly after a larp or does it need a broader timeframe?
Research Interests:
Das Internet wird zwar bis heute zu den „neuen“ Kommunikationstechnologien gezählt, ist aber kaum noch aus den Alltagserfahrungen der Menschen wegzudenken. Die Nutzerzahlen haben sich innerhalb der vergangenen Dekade weltweit vervierfacht... more
Das Internet wird zwar bis heute zu den „neuen“ Kommunikationstechnologien gezählt, ist aber kaum noch aus den Alltagserfahrungen der Menschen wegzudenken. Die Nutzerzahlen haben sich innerhalb der vergangenen Dekade weltweit vervierfacht und 70% der Bevölkerung in der „ersten Welt“ nutzen regelmäßig das Internet bei einem jährlichen Zuwachs von 2-3%. Die erste Generation der digital natives, die nach der Entwicklung des Internets geboren wurden und somit eine Welt ohne Internet nicht kennen, darf bereits legal Auto fahren, Alkohol trinken und (in Demokratien) wählen. Die weite Verbreitung von Breitbandanschlüssen und mobilen Endgeräten wie Smartphones trägt ihren Teil dazu bei, dass Internetnutzung keine „außer-gewöhnliche“ Praktik mehr darstellt, sondern die „virtuelle“ Realität zur augmented reality geworden ist. Hier sind es insbesondere die „sozialen Netzwerke“ bzw. entsprechende Services wie facebook und mixi, Internetforen oder die Mini-Blogging Plattform twitter, die den „traditionellen“ Internetangeboten wie E-Mail und Suchmaschinen weltweit zunehmend den Rang ablaufen.
Das Internet und seine Nutzung selbst ziehen medien-, sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Aufmerksamkeit auf sich und haben eine wachsende (digitale) Bibliothek an Fallstudien und groß angelegten Erhebungen hervorgebracht. Gleichzeitig eröffnet das Internet zahlreiche Möglichkeiten, als Werkzeug für die Wissenschaft eingesetzt zu werden – sei es zur Kolaboration oder zur Datenerhebung selbst. Das Potential für letztgenanntes und die mangelnde media literacy für den Umgang mit persönlichen Daten haben Firmen wie Google schnell erkannt.
Genau hier sitzt das Problem für die Sozialforschung und setzt dieser Vortrag an: Die technischen und ethischen (Un-) Möglichkeiten des Internets. Nie war es einfacher, schnell Zugang zu „subkulturellen“ Gruppen wie den japanischen otaku („obsessive Fans“) oder fujoshi (weibliche Fans maskuliner Homoerotik) und ihren „westlichen“ Pendants zu erhalten. Bei mixi eingeloggt lassen sich einerseits über ein paar wenige Klicks willige Probanden für Interviews finden, zu denen man sich nicht einmal mehr treffen muss, dank Chatfunktion. Andererseits kann man sich ganze Diskussionen auf den eigenen Rechner laden und sogleich mit der Kodierung und Analyse beginnen. Für den in Deutschland lebenden Japanologen kann dies besonders interessant sein, da man selbst für sozialwissenschaftliche Studien nicht mehr die Kosten eines Japanaufenthalts aufbringen muss. Die Pseudonymität des Internets erlaubt es dem Forscher sogar, sich als einer der Untersuchten zu „tarnen“ oder seine Herkunft zu verschleiern.
Die technologischen Hürden für derartige Vorgehensweisen (z.B. Identifikationsverifikation, Sprachgrenzen des Internets, vor Suchmaschinen versteckte Seiten) sowie methodologische Bedenken (z.B. systematische Fehler bei der Stichprobe, soziale Erwünschtheit) werden zwar ebenfalls behandelt, der Fokus des Vortrags liegt jedoch gerade auf den ethischen Fragen der internetbasierten Sozialforschung. Rechtfertigt der Zweck die Mittel? Das Internet gilt als öffentlicher Raum, also könnte man schlussfolgern, alle Daten gehören allen. Was ist jedoch, wenn man erst Mitglied in einer „geschlossen“ community werden muss? Muss man hier die eigene Forscheridentität offenbaren? Tritt man als ausländischer Forscher auf, so provoziert man mitunter einen nihonjin-ron in den Antworten der Befragten. Ist es also nicht sinnvoller, die eigene nationale Identität durch ein Pseudonym zu verschleiern? Anhand von Beispielen und Ergebnissen aus einem laufenden Forschungsprojekt zur transkulturellen Internetkommunikation von otaku sollen diese Fragen diskutiert werden.
The presentation illustrates a project oriented teaching approach employed in classes on Japanese popular media from a global and transcultural perspective. Objective: Many students outside Japan are already familiar with Japanese... more
The presentation illustrates a project oriented teaching approach employed in classes on Japanese popular media from a global and transcultural perspective.
Objective: Many students outside Japan are already familiar with Japanese popular culture, lessening the importance of keeping them at the receiving-end of knowledge. Instead, the aim is to assist them in taking the leap from “insider” to a position of knowledge-production within academic discourse.
Procedure: (1) The students gain access to necessary “tools” via detailed discussions of methodological and theoretical examples taken from existing research. (2) The class decides on a shared research question, a concrete object and appropriate methods. As networks of humans and artifacts (media), popular culture often necessitates analyses of contents as well as “users”. Accordingly, the class is divided into different project groups (e.g. text analysis, ethnography, cyber-ethnography), working on the same question from different angles (triangulation). (3) Employing an e-learning environment (forums, journals) and supervised by the teacher, the groups plan and execute the research on their own. Finally, the groups present results, discuss problems and achievements in accordance with the overall research question.
Results and Conclusion: The students enjoyed the opportunity to try out methods and, thus, were willing to work “more than usual”. Although – or because – they experienced difficulty in producing “neat” results when faced with complex phenomena, the students reported the approach as very insightful. A project orientation appears most suited for students preparing a thesis as they gain new perspectives and understandings of research methodology later to be utilized in their own work.
Role-playing games and especially life-action roleplay are increasingly considered tools for learning in formal, civic and political education, but have recently gained attention as a new performing art, as well. Life-action roleplay... more
Role-playing games and especially life-action roleplay are increasingly considered tools for learning in formal, civic and political education, but have recently gained attention as a new performing art, as well.
Life-action roleplay (larp) has been compared to impro-theatre as well as cosplay, the dressing-up as media characters, which thrives in Japan. In larps players physically embody fictional characters, immerse themselves into the characters‘ minds and perform in a shared, diegetic world. Roleplaying games in general can be seen as a transcultural practice and larp specifically brings people from all over the world together. The number of larp participants in Europe (and recently the US) increases every year, especially in Scandinavia. Contrarily, Japanese roleplayers do not engage in larping.
Based on fieldwork in roleplaying communities of the Tokyo area as well as on interviews with business professionals, this paper will try to answer the question of why Japan does not larp — or more precisely, why Japanese roleplayers do not see larp as possible in Japan.
While culturally “sanctioned” practices of masquerade like historical reenactments or theatre do have their time and space — even if it is only a small, hidden location like a shōgekijō (small, off-theatre) — space for “escapist” forms of performing and immersion has been rare. Additionally, memories of being ridiculed frame Japanese roleplayers‘ subjective availability of (a public) space for their engagements. This affects styles of roleplay tremendously, leading to an emphasis of the game aspects by discouraging performance and immersion.
With the success of Japanese popular culture (animations, comics, games) and the spread of associated practices like the dressing-up as media characters (cosplay) outside of Japan since the 1990s, the vision and label of a (homogenized)... more
With the success of Japanese popular culture (animations, comics, games) and the spread of associated practices like the dressing-up as media characters (cosplay) outside of Japan since the 1990s, the vision and label of a (homogenized) global culture was discursively affixed to this so-called otaku culture. The pejorative stereotype otaku (“obsessive nerd of pop culture”) became a key term of this discourse and was linked to the idea of a transnational, internet-facilitated community.
Many members of the diverse groups associated with media or practices that are seen as part of otaku culture make heavy use of social networking software (SNS), internet forums or mini-blogging (twitter) to communicate. The word otaku itself was appropriated outside of Japan and is now being used by Americans and Europeans to distinguish themselves as fans of Japanese pop culture. Like many Asian fans they travel to “holy sites” in Tokyo‘s Akihabara, Nakano and Ikebukuro.
Despite these flows of ideas and people crossing national and cultural borders, direct exchange between Japanese otaku and their self-proclaimed North-Atlantic counterparts remains limited at best. Many Non-Japanese unquestioningly reproduce the stereotype of the 1990s when referring to Japanese otaku — reclusive, insecure, and anti-social freaks.
A major obstacle or barrier for direct exchange is language, be it Japanese or English. Additionally, Japanese SNS like mixi.jp make it impossible for persons not living in Japan and owning a contract mobile phone to participate in the communities and communication.
This opens the door for gatekeepers: “hybrid” or “cosmopolitan” individuals who have the cultural (language), economic and social capital to act as bridges in diffusion processes of otaku practices outside of Japan and vice-versa. Based on interviews and participant observations on internet platforms of cosplayers and roleplayers, the paper at hand shows that these gatekeepers share characteristics with the classical concept of the “opinion leader”. Many are male, between 20 and 30 years of age, and tend to involve themselves in pop culture not only as “fans”, but also for economic or occupational reasons, blurring the line between hobby and work, between broker and researcher.
Table of Contents

Source: Mutual Images [Online], Issue 2, Winter, 2017.
ISSN: 2496-1868.
Doi: https://doi.org/10.32926/2

Freely available at our Open Access Journal : http://www.mutualimages-journal.org