Popularity of Pokémon video games

Abstract. Pokémon is one of the most successful media franchises ever and is known all over the world. The idea of Pokémon was created by Satoshi Tajiri in the 1990s. Pokémon started its worldwide journey from Japan in 1996 as two video games on Nintendo’s Game Boy gaming system. Pokémon and its popularity has been researched a lot over the last 27 years as have been video games. More recently multiple researchers have focused on the more recent video game trend, Pokémon GO. However, research focusing on Pokémon video games instead of Pokémon as a whole or just Pokémon GO are scarcer. This research tries to answer what makes Pokémon video games so popular and how the video games have stayed relevant for so long. The research was conducted as a literacy review over existing literacy and research. To work towards understanding the Pokémon games better, this research first takes a look at Pokémon games overall. The concept of Japanese definition of cuteness ‘kawaii’ and its relation to Pokémon is also discussed. The second chapter focuses on Pokémon GO: its rise to popularity and the problems it faced. The third chapter discusses the psychology of video games and how they affect the human brain. A conclusion was drawn from the literacy found and used in this research. A clear reason for the popularity of the Pokémon video games could not be defined, but instead it is a result of multiple factors. Pokémon’s number one selling point are the Pokémon characters themselves. Pokémon not having similar competing products at the time of release and Pokémon video games being solid video games were other notable factors that helped Pokémon video games to gain the popularity they have

Maiden’s Fashion As Eternal Becomings: Victorian Maidens and Sugar Sweet Cuties Donning Japanese Street Fashion in Japan and North America

Lolita fashion is a youth street style originating from Japan that draws on Victorian-era children’s clothing, Rococo aesthetics, and Western Punk and Gothic subculture. It is worn by teenage girls and women of a wide range of ages, and through the flow of related media and clothing aided by the Internet, Lolita style has become a global phenomenon. Wearers of the style are known as Lolitas, and local, national, and global communities can be found around the world outside Japan from North American to Europe. This study is a cross-cultural comparison of Lolita fashion wearers in Japan and North America, examining how differences in constructions of place and space; conceptualizations about girlhood and womanhood; perceptions of beauty and aesthetics; and formation of social groups and actor-networks have bearing on how an individual experiences the fashion. This work deconstructs Lolita style by using Japanese cultural concepts like shōjo (‘girl’ as a genderless being), otome (maiden), kawaii (cuteness) to explore the underlying framework that informs Japanese Lolita’s use of the fashion as a form of subversive rebellion, creating personal spaces to celebrate their individuality and revive the affects and memories of girlhood that are distanced from gendered social expectations. English-speakers, not having the same social and cultural knowledge, attempt to recontexualize Lolita fashion along the lines of feminism, sisterhood, personal style, and escape from the ‘modern’ to give meaning and purpose to their involvement with the fashion. Lolita fashion allows wearers to travel in between the lines of becoming-girl and becoming-women by offering a way to access girl-feeling and its associated happiness objects

Selling Kawaii in Advertising: Testing Cross-Cultural Perceptions of Kawaii Appeals

Kawaii (cute) culture has become a major global consumer culture. Advertisers in Asia have adopted kawaii appeals to attract attention and promote product images. From a cultural value perspective, this literature review proposes that culture not only affects ad content and appeal, but also influences consumer attitude and ad effects. While kawaii appeals are culturally specified, the effects of those appeals across distinct cultures might be systemically predictable. Today, the concept of kawaii and its effects still remains vague to Western academia. This thesis provides a deeper understanding of kawaii examining the rich origin of kawaii culture in Japan and its expansion and globalization as a dominant consumer culture. Online surveys using specifically designed stimuli were administrated to respondents from both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. The thesis thus develops a theoretical definition for kawaii within the advertising appeal context and a measurement scheme for utilizing its multidimensional composite constructs. Based on the self-congruity hypothesis, it is argued that culturally shaped self-construals affect responses to ads employing kawaii appeals. Kawaii appeals which stress interdependence should be more persuasive among consumers with self-construals congruent with the message. Findings suggested that kawaii appeals were perceived to be friendlier in both United States and China, while consumers with domain interdependent self-construal expressed stronger self-brand connection, more favorable ad attitude and purchase intention toward the kawaii ads

Crafted, wrapped, and attracted: Love letter packaging that captured the hearts of land of the Rising Sun. Case Goodio.

The Japanese market is renowned for its uniqueness - a one-of-a-kind in the world, and Japanese consumers are known for demanding and having some of the highest product quality standards in the world. Therefore, the localization process of a brand or products has been the key feature in dictating whether the product will succeed in attracting Japanese consumers. The purpose of the research was to study the packaging as a part of product adaptation in Japanese consumer market. The objective of this study was to generate information for companies, using the perspective of the Japanese consumer market, so that they can understand Japan’s cultural requirements and consumer market expectations regarding product packaging design in the context of product adaptation. The Japanese cultural context was raised in the study for special consideration. The study also utilized a case company, a Finnish raw chocolate manufacturer, whose product packaging has aroused interest in the Japanese consumer market The qualitative data of the research was carried out mainly by qualitative methods. Empirical data were collected in two ways. First, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three expert interviewees, all of whom are connected to Goodio and the Japanese consumer market. Second, structural consumer interviews were conducted with thirty interviewees to map the consumer market perspective of the study. Based on the findings, product packaging played a pivotal role in consumer’s purchase decision. Packaging was expected to be attractive, high-quality and go hand-in-hand with the price. Product packaging was expected to contain elements such as use of colour codes, imagery, high-quality material, and functionality. Furthermore, adaptation tools in product adaptation were identified. In addition, the study provided significant new insights into cultural characteristics of the Japanese consumer market. The results of the study can be applied more extensively to different product groups that are interested in the Japanese consumer market. In addition to the practical benefits of the research will provide completely new information on the expectations of the Japanese consumer market for product packaging and product adaptation, as well as to present potential topics for further research.Japanin kuluttajamarkkinat ovat tunnettuja ainutlaatuisuudestaan, jossa tuotteiden laatustandardit ovat korkeimpia maailmassa. Lokalisointi sekä tuoteadaptaatio ovat nousseet avainasemaan, pohdittaessa, onnistuuko tuote houkuttelemaan japanilaisia kuluttajia puoleensa. Japanilaisten kuluttajien suuren maksukyvyn, sekä tuotteiden massiivisen tarjonnan vuoksi, tuotepakkauksesta on tullut merkittävä markkinointiviestinnän väline kuluttajan ostopäätöksessä. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli analysoida tuotepakkausta osana tuoteadaptaatiota Japanin kuluttajamarkkinoilla. Tutkimuksen tarkoitus jaettiin kolmeen osaongelmaan: mitkä ovat Japanin kuluttajamarkkinoiden kulttuuriset ominaisuudet, mitkä ovat Japanin markkinoiden kulttuuriset vaatimukset tuoteadaptaatiolle sekä millaisia odotuksia japanilaisilla kuluttajilla on tuotepakkauksen elementeille. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnettiin tutkimustapauksena suomalaista raakasuklaayritys Goodiota, jonka pakkaus on kerännyt kehuja Japanin kuluttajamarkkinoilla. Ilmiötä lähestyttiin ensin aikaisemman tieteellisen kirjallisuuden ja tutkimuksen avulla. Teoriakatsauksessa perehdyttiin Japanin kulttuurikontekstiin, tuoteadaptaation kilpailuvälineisiin, japanilaisten kuluttajakäyttäytymiseen ja tuotepakkauksen elementteihin. Tämän jälkeen tehtiin laadullinen tutkimus, jossa tapausyrityksenä toimi Goodio ja tämän Japanin markkinat. Aineisto kerättiin haastatteluin: kolme puolistrukturoitua asiantuntijahaastattelua sekä kolmekymmentä strukturoitua kuluttajahaastattelua 25–40-vuotiaiden japanilaisten parissa. Tutkimuksen mukaan tuotepakkaus on erittäin tärkeä osa kuluttajan ostopäätöstä. Pakkauksen oletetaan olevan korkealaatuinen ja viehättävä, sekä sen oletetaan ’kävelevän käsi kädessä’ tuotteen hinnan kanssa. Tuotepakkauksessa oletetaan olevan myös japanilaisille tärkeitä elementtejä, kuten värien ja kuvien asianmukainen käyttö, korkealaatuinen materiaali ja toiminnallisuus. Lisäksi tässä tutkimuksessa määriteltiin kulttuuristen vaatimusten ohella kilpailukykyiset työkalut. Näiden lisäksi tutkimus tarjosi merkittävää uutta tietoa kuluttajamarkkinoiden kulttuurisista ominaisuuksista. Tämä tutkimus luo uutta tutkimustietoa tulevaisuuden käyttötarkoituksia varten. Jos ulkomaalainen yritys osaa käyttää näitä kulttuurisidonnaisia pakkauselementtejä oikein tuotepakkauksessaan, tämän katsotaan olevan hyödyksi tuoteadaptaatiossa Japanin kuluttajamarkkinoilla

Cuteness as a prime to enhance emotional recognition

The ability to recognize emotional expressions has important implications for survival and cooperation. Failing to recognize emotions indicative of some form of threat (anger, fear, disgust) may be particularly costly given these emotional expressions communicate a potential source of danger in the environment. Previous studies have shown that people tend to recognize threatening emotions faster and more accurately than non-threatening emotions. Infantile characteristics (kindchenschema) readily capture the attention of adults and have been shown to influence a variety of behaviors associated with caretaking; viewing cute stimuli increases behavioral carefulness on various visual and motor tasks. The current study sought to determine if viewing cute stimuli increases sensitivity to emotional expressions, particularly those related to threat, as the ability to recognize emotional displays has important implications for caretaking. In a sample of 43 women, viewing cute stimuli enhanced sensitivity to emotional expressions generally, but was not specific to threat-relevant emotions. This effect of priming was not apparent in a sample including men (n=6) and non-binary (n=3) participants. These results suggest that priming a caretaking mentality may enhance emotional sensitivity in addition to behavioral carefulness, at least in women

A Study of Model of Kawaii Feelings for Evaluation of Products

芝浦工業大学2018年

Japanese media cultures in Japan and abroad: Transnational consumption of manga, anime, and media-mixes

Reprinted Special issue of ARTS (2018

Improvement of Kawaii-Usability Evaluation (KUE) Questionnaire with Its Validity And Reliability Testing in Smartphone Applications

In this modern era, the needs of internet and digital technology implementation constantly increases. In Indonesia itself, based on survey conducted by APJII (Asosiasi Penyedia Jasa Internet Indonesia) in 2017, the internet penetration has reach 54,7% of total population. This result in high intensity of internet and digital technology usage in daily activities, especially smartphones, which also trigger a very competitive smartphones application development market. This is where developers should really consider one of the most vital aspect in application development, which is its usability, the extent a product can be used to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use (ISO 9241:11, 1998). This study tried to combine usability aspect in designing an application with a quite similar concept from Japan called Kansei Engineering and Kawaii Design. Both of these concepts will be combined to develop a tool that able to measure the usability parameters of a product, by also considering its kawaii feature, called KUE Questionnaire. The previous research in developing the first KUE Questionnaire, done by Nugroho in 2018, had only been tested in a physical-educational game media for children about oral and dental health. However, several weaknesses were found in the questionnaire, such as an imbalance of usability-kawaii attributes in the questionnaire, and had not been tested in a more relevant case. In this research, the author will try to improve the KUE Questionnaire by reducing its weaknesses and test its validity and reliability towards a more relevant and general case, which is smartphone application. The Android applications chosen are GO-JEK and Mobile Legends. Observation result shows that the new version of KUE Questionnaire is also able to provide a valid and reliable result. By the author being able to balance the parameters, measurements, and also adjust the question items for more general application, it is concluded that the new KUE Questionnaire is also able to provide more representative and precise evaluation towards the assessed mobile applications. The smartphone applications of GO-JEK and Mobile Legends have a average KUE score of 4.03 and 3.79 respectively. It means they have a fairly good KUE score, although several improvements are also suggested

Partying with Hello Kitty: How Electronic Dance Music and Rave Culture are transforming, commercializing, and globalizing youth culture in the twenty-first century

This thesis will demonstrate how electronic dance music (EDM) has evolved from the musical underground during the second half of the twentieth century into the mainstream, commercial powerhouse it is now in the early twenty-first-century world. EDM at its core is a musical style characterized by the use of synthetic, electronic sounds. The combination of technological devices such as drum machines, repetitive bass lines, electronic builds and releases and inorganic noises in tandem with instrumental and vocal samples makes EDM an incredibly malleable style of dance music that has branched into a variety of forms over the course of its less than fifty year existence. Innovations in technology, like the tape reel, the Moog synthesizer, the vinyl mixer and the computer have led to new ways of contemplating and creating music. I argue that the innovative musical voices of late modernism and early postmodernism set the foundation for early EDM, who were not afraid to harness the new synthetic sounds at their disposal. Electronic dance music can trace its roots back to the repetitive, minimalist structures used since the 1960's by postmodern composers such as Philip Glass and the electronic instrumentation of artists like Terry Riley and John Cage. Owing to its flexibility, EDM has also been re-contextualized in different cultures. In Japan for instance, it has been stripped of its subversive association to drugs and raves and is now used as a motor to exaggerate the youthful vitality of young pop idols, whose "kawaii" ("cute") image depends on the energy for which EDM is also famous today. Another consequence of the musical globalization of EDM is the corporatization and commercialization of the music, where electronic dance music producers and DJs are now paid millions of dollars to push products and headline enormous international music festivals. EDM is now a mainstay of popular culture around urban centers of the world, and as such it is being used by different forces for creating art as well as for profit. This study aims to illuminate these forces by tracing EDM's path throughout history, using musical examples to show its evolution as well as the ways it is being re-contextualized as an increasingly globalized commodity

Konbini Konnection MQP

Konbini Konnection is a mobile social interaction game with the goal of producing an experience that encouraged communication between players in the same area as each other. In this paper, we discuss the overall design process we followed to implement a game of this nature. From a gameplay design perspective, we discuss expansive, modular elements and their use in the construction of a positive, social experience. From an artistic design perspective, we discuss the process of creating a character creation system, as well as forming a single, cohesive art style out of several disjointed ones. Lastly, from a technical design perspective, we discuss the design of databases for player data and analytics, as well as the construction of a gameplay server