Playable Japan: Pedagogical Perspectives on Games & Gaming

Japan Past & Present (JPP) is pleased to invite paper proposals for a symposium titled "Playable Japan: Pedagogical Perspectives on Games & Gaming," to be conducted bilingually in Japanese and English at UCLA on January 30–31, 2027.

This symposium will bring together scholars, educators, game designers, and digital humanities practitioners from around the world to explore the potential games and gaming have to enhance teaching and research in the Japanese humanities. Approaching games not simply as entertainment, but as pedagogical tools and cultural systems through which knowledge is reconstructed and disseminated, we believe games and cultures of play can be productively incorporated into teaching about literature, history, religion, politics, aesthetics, and cultural memory. In connection with ongoing efforts to develop publicly accessible teaching resources on Japan and games, we invite proposals for presentations related to game-based pedagogy in three categories: Japanese game studies, gamification of Japanese studies classrooms, and Japan-focused educational game and/or interactive media development.

The symposium will consist of two interconnected components across two days. The first day will feature presentations by scholars and educators who have incorporated games into teaching and research on Japan, as well as creators developing educational or research-oriented gaming projects. We invite individual, pedagogically-oriented proposals on topics including experiential engagement with historical games and play cultures; communication of Japan-related knowledge through games; game mechanics and historical imagination; fan and streaming cultures as pedagogical models; classroom-based game pedagogy; gamification; collaborating with students in game creation; or the development of game-based digital teaching resources and tutorials. On the second day, presenters will join in a collaborative workshop focused on developing sustainable open-access teaching materials and digital resources that can support the teaching of Japan through games across a variety of institutional settings. Following the workshop, presenters may be invited to work with the symposium organizers to revise their presentations, or create new materials, for publication on the Japan Past & Present website as a part of a JPP-funded project.

The Yanai Initiative will cover the cost of travel and accommodations for accepted speakers.

Paper titles and proposal abstracts (approximately 300–400 words in English or 600–800 characters in Japanese) and a CV of no more than 2 pages should be submitted via email to admin@japanpastandpresent.org by August 24, 2026, 11:59 PM (PT). 

The languages of the symposium will be English and Japanese, and presentations will be primarily in-person with limited access for remote participation. Proposals will be reviewed, and notifications sent out, by September 25, 2026. Please address any questions to Dr. Paula R. Curtis (admin@japanpastandpresent.org).