Backgrounds
Game studies have rapidly gained popularity among scholars of religion, particularly since the Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet highlighted video games (Wiemker 2014, Heidbrink et al. 2014) and the publication of Playing with Religion in Digital Games (H. Campbell, G. Grieve eds) in 2014. The situation is quite different in Japan, where game studies have largely been conducted from the perspective of the game industry, with close to zero participation by scholars of religion. One exception is the recent initiative to establish a research unit on game studies at Meiji University in Tokyo. It is led by Shinichi Nakazawa (b. 1950), a popular scholar of religion who was also harshly criticized for supporting Aum Shinrikyo after its subway sarin gas attack in 1995. Under the boom of postmodern thought in the 1980s-90s, Nakazawa gained popularity for his postmodern interpretation of Buddhist philosophy and practices, based on his Carlos Castañeda-like experience with a Tibetan Buddhist guru in Nepal. The followers of Aum used his books (particularly Niji no kaitei) as a manual for their meditation practices (Inoue 2015). Susumu Shimazono (1996) coined the term “spiritual intellectuals (reiseiteki chisikijin)” to apply to him and other influential thinkers at that time who had resonances with D. T. Suzuki and other East Asian spiritual icons for New Agers (Prohl 2000 offers a critical assessment of spiritual intellectuals, focusing on their nationalistic aspects). In 2011, Nakazawa was appointed as the director of the Institute for the Savage Science at Meiji University (“savage science” derives from the Levi-Straussian idea of the “savage mind” and has entirely positive implications), which aims to “awaken the latent potential of Japanese civilization and create a 'new learning' needed for the 21st century.” With his like-minded researchers, Nakazawa launched a research unit for game studies at the institute around 2018 and started hosting symposia and publishing books on game studies from their “savage science” perspectives.
Arguments
Based on a close analysis of those publications, I will argue that there is a strong ideology underpinning their game studies. They argue that in the coming era, games and cutting-edge technology will transform humanity from Homo sapiens into Anima ludens (the term “anima” suggests that the new species embrace human beings, animals, plants, and even AIs all together). In the early history of human hunter-gatherer societies, work and play were closely linked. However, since the agricultural revolution, work and play have been separated, and humanity has been bound by labor, with the emergence of social classes that exploit and are exploited. In contrast, today, as seen in IT companies, work and play are becoming intertwined again. With the development of AI, play is able to reclaim its position as a positive principle in human production and creation. They advocate for the creation of game studies as a “savage science” of civilization that can handle games as an expression of this fundamental principle of play.
Methods & Materials
The main materials for analysis will be the publications by Nakazawa's group, along with an analysis of their texts (Nakazawa 2018, Nakazawa & Nakagawa 2019). In doing so, comparisons will be made with the discourses of technology ideologues in current Japan, such as Yoichi Ochiai, who argues that the AI era will liberate humanity. Additionally, to illustrate the disconnect between how Japanese youth actually engage with games and these theoretical perspectives, several real-life examples will be introduced, such as the rituals children bring to the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Significance & Contributions
Previous studies analyzing the relationship between games and religion have often focused on the religious representations in game content (Thames 2015, O’Donnell 2015) or argued that playing games resembles religious rituals or immersion in religious worldviews (Geraci 2014). In contrast, there are no examples, to my knowledge, among scholars of religion where game scholars ideologically justify game culture or find and promote a form of salvation in games analogous to religious salvation. I will critically analyze such cases in Japan. Nakazawa’s case could be described as a type of game study that attempts to 'liberate' humans, akin to a theology of liberation. Given that this year's conference theme is "freedom," this presentation connects to that theme while not simply praising ideologies that purport to bring freedom, but critically analyzing their nationalistic reactiveness and issues with their view of humanity, in comparison with Nakazawa’s ideology back in the 1980-90s.
References
Campbell, H. and Grieve G. eds., 2014, Playing With Religion in Digital Games
Geraci, R. M., 2014, Virtually sacred: Myth and meaning in World of Warcraft and Second Life, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 63-100.
Heidbrink, Simone, Tobias Knoll and Jan Wysocki, 2014, “Theorizing Religion in Digital Games: Perspectives and Approaches,” Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, 5.
Inoue, Nobutaka, ed., 2015. Oum sinrikyou wo kensho suru (Examining Aum Shinrikyo), Tokyo: Shunjusha.
Nakazawa, Shinichi and Nakagawa Dachi eds., 2019, Gemugaku no shinjidai (Game studies in the new era), Tokyo: NTT Publishing.
Nakazawa, Shinichi et. al. 2018, Gemu suru jinrui (Human beings playing games), Tokyo: Meiji University Press.
O’Donnell, Jonathon, 2015, “A Digital Devil’s Saga Representation(s) of the Demon in Recent Videogames,” Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, 7.
Prohl, Inken, 2000, Die "Spirituellen Intellektuellen" und das New Age in Japan. Hamburg: Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens e.V.,.
Shimazono, Susumu. 1996. Seisin sekai no yukue (The Course of the Spiritual World), Tokyo: Tokyodo.
Thames, Ryan C, 2015, “Religion as Resource in Digital Games,” Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, 7.
Wiemker, Markus, 2014, “’When people pray, a god is born... This god is you!’ An Introduction to Religion and God in Digital Games.,” Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, 5.
Despite the developments in the game industry over the past decades, game studies remain in an embryonic stage in Japan, especially those focusing on religion. One exception is the recent initiative to establish a university-based research unit on game studies led by a scholar of religion who was once severely criticized as being an Aum Shinrikyo supporter in 1995. The scholar, Shinichi Nakazawa, known as a “spiritual intellectual” for his postmodern interpretation of Buddhist philosophy and practices, now advocates for game studies in the Anthropocene, enhanced by AI technologies. He envisions a future where Homo sapiens are liberated from labor and exploitation, transforming into Anima ludens. This paper critically examines their new ideology and also compares it with how Japanese young people actually engage with games, where the religious elements of such engagement are more ritualistic.