It goes without saying that commercial video games from both eras reflect these sentiments, whether it’s the paranoid xenophobia of Geisha and Shadow Warrior or the self-deprecating and nihilistic consumerism of Doki Doki Literature Club and Yandere Simulator. The former overtly construes the Other as the dominating force the latter subtly reverses and justifies that dynamic, reducing Japan to a simplified existence that both mitigates the previous existential threat and, by rendering Japanese culture not only safe for Western consumption but conducive to it, affirms Western primacy. In neither case are both Japan and the West construed as equals between whom peaceful coexistence is possible, and in both cases we assume some form of domination. The 80s and 90s saw the birth of cyberpunk ( a genre notoriously steeped in Orientalism) and the rise of a new Yellow Peril the turn of the century saw Japanese presence in foreign cultures normalized through the voluminous export of pop culture artifacts (anime, manga, video games, etc.).Īlthough it may not look it, there is continuity between these two periods. However, a look at the culture surrounding video games complicates that. At first glance, this would appear to suggest a disinterest in Japanese culture. Where we could name several examples of games in the former category, outside games that very briefly visit the country, games in the latter category are comparatively rare. More relevant to that discussion are the non-Japanese games that deal with Japanese culture. Although worthy of interest in its own right, this set of games won’t be conducive to our present discussion. However, a cursory glance shows that all of these games are Japanese games dealing with their own history and philosophical/religious/cultural traditions. Far from it video games have proven eager to engage with many areas of Japanese history, from myth to Taisho to pre-boom Japan to more aesthetic and philosophical thought.
This isn’t to say the games themselves neglect the topic. With the country having maintained a monumental presence in video games for several decades, many have taken that presence for granted and so don’t stop to think about how video games approach Japanese history and culture. There’s value to be had in contemplating how video games both reflect popular perceptions of Japan and how they’ve shaped those perceptions.
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