Japanese Video Games, 5 op

This course offers critical engagement with the role of Japanese video games in our contemporary Western-centric media culture. It addresses the complexities of studying Japanese cultural products within a persisting historical practice to dichotomize entire fields of cultural production between Japanese and Western products. Reflecting on this practice, the course looks into the role of Japanese video games in a larger media ecology, known as ‘the media mix’, and explores how the Japanese game industry sells their products overseas as part of the government’s Cool Japan campaign.