Japan Labs at UT Austin
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Ross Bender
Mar 14, 2023, 6:16:57 PM3/14/23
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I just discovered this amazing site.
Thus far I have just played the "Ready, Set, Yokohama" game, based on Toyokuni IV's "Catalogue of the Trip to Yokohama in Suguroku." It features amazing Ukiyoe, with detailed text descriptions of each square in English, and a pretty, although repetitive soundtrack.
As far as I can tell, this amazing game was designed by students at UT. Having made two unpleasant trips from Tokyo to Yokohama back in the 1970s, I found this one much more pleasurable. Even included an overnight stop at Yoshiwara.
Ross Bender
Megan Gilbert
Mar 24, 2023, 9:47:24 PM3/24/23
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Dear Dr. Bender,
Thank you (belatedly) for your kind words about the UT JapanLab site (https://www.utjapanlab.com/). We're delighted that you enjoyed the "Ready, Set, Yokohama" sugoroku game. As you noted, these projects are indeed built by undergraduate students at the University of Texas at Austin. This is the essence of JapanLab: to produce Japan-focused educational video games and other Digital Humanities content designed by undergraduates. They work in semester long internships with dedicated faculty. So far we have built:
Ready, Set, Yokohama - a digital recreation of an 1872 sugoroku, racing from Tokyo to Yokohama and back, with historical notes (faculty advisor: Jessa Dahl)
https://www.utjapanlab.com/ready-set-yokohama
Ghosts over the Water - a fully functional video game with around 130,000 words of text that takes students into the complex negotiations within Japan that followed the Perry expedition (faculty advisor : Adam Clulow):
https://www.utjapanlab.com/ghosts
Mapping Violence in Medieval Japan - a digital exhibit using online tools to "map" sites of authorized violence in late medieval (Sengoku) Japan in both time and space (faculty advisor: Megan Gilbert)
https://mapping-medieval-japan.squarespace.com/
The Meiji-era game is currently our latest in time. With the generous support of the Japan Foundation, we plan to produce around twenty games, exhibitions, and other resources spanning different periods of Japanese history. If anyone in the wider PMJS community would like to use these resources in the classroom, "Ghosts" has an Instructor guide, Jessa has used "Yokohama," and I've used both in class. Dr. Bender, I also have a student using your Shoku Nihongi translation ebooks to write a history capstone essay, so three cheers for using digital tools to make Japanese history more accessible in English.
Best,
Thank you (belatedly) for your kind words about the UT JapanLab site (https://www.utjapanlab.com/). We're delighted that you enjoyed the "Ready, Set, Yokohama" sugoroku game. As you noted, these projects are indeed built by undergraduate students at the University of Texas at Austin. This is the essence of JapanLab: to produce Japan-focused educational video games and other Digital Humanities content designed by undergraduates. They work in semester long internships with dedicated faculty. So far we have built:
Ready, Set, Yokohama - a digital recreation of an 1872 sugoroku, racing from Tokyo to Yokohama and back, with historical notes (faculty advisor: Jessa Dahl)
https://www.utjapanlab.com/ready-set-yokohama
Ghosts over the Water - a fully functional video game with around 130,000 words of text that takes students into the complex negotiations within Japan that followed the Perry expedition (faculty advisor : Adam Clulow):
https://www.utjapanlab.com/ghosts
Mapping Violence in Medieval Japan - a digital exhibit using online tools to "map" sites of authorized violence in late medieval (Sengoku) Japan in both time and space (faculty advisor: Megan Gilbert)
https://mapping-medieval-japan.squarespace.com/
The Meiji-era game is currently our latest in time. With the generous support of the Japan Foundation, we plan to produce around twenty games, exhibitions, and other resources spanning different periods of Japanese history. If anyone in the wider PMJS community would like to use these resources in the classroom, "Ghosts" has an Instructor guide, Jessa has used "Yokohama," and I've used both in class. Dr. Bender, I also have a student using your Shoku Nihongi translation ebooks to write a history capstone essay, so three cheers for using digital tools to make Japanese history more accessible in English.
Best,
Megan
Megan Gilbert, PhD (she/her)
Postdoctoral Fellow, JapanLab
Department of History, GAR 2.114
University of Texas at Austin
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