A Short History of Table-Talk and Live-Action Role-Playing in Japan: Replays and the Horror Genre as Drivers of Popularity

[Background] The history of larp, live-action role-play, in Japan may be rather short but documents exponential growth in the entertainment sector as well as in educational gaming. Following trends of related forms of analog role-playing games, the horror genre functions as a motor of increasing popularity. [Aim] This article explores the development of non-digital role-playing games in the Japanese context in light of the online video platform niconico popularizing horror role-playing and practical considerations of adopting the genre to live-action play. [Method] Cyberethnographic fieldwork including participant observation at larps between 2015 and 2018 forms the data basis for this article, followed by qualitative interviews with larp organizers, larp writers, and designers of analog games as well as observations online in respective webforums. [Results] Replays, novelized transcripts of play sessions, have been an entry point into analog role-playing in Japan since the 1980s. With the advent of video sharing sites, replays moved from the book to audio-visual records and a focus on horror games. Creating a fertile ground for this genre, the first indigenous Japanese larp rulebook built on this interest and the ease of access, namely that players do not need elaborate costumes or equipment to participate in modern horror. [Discussion] The dominant form of larps in Japan are one-room games, that work well with horror mysteries and function as a low threshold of accessibility. Furthermore, the emotional impact of horror larps, the affective interaction between players and their characters, allows for memorable experiences and so continues to draw in new players and organizers

ロールプレイングによる支援と理解啓発

京都大学アカデミックデイ2018開催日時: 2018年9月22日（土）10:00-16:00会場: 京都大学吉田キャンパス 百周年時計台記念館主催: 学術研究支援室（URA室）, 研究推進部研究推進課, 国民との科学・技術対話ワーキンググループ京都大学の学術研究成果発信の一環として包括的に登

Adapting Live-Action Role-Play in Japan --How German Roots Do Not Destine Japanese Routes

[Replaying Japan 2019] 日時: 2019 年8月9日(金)-11日(日), 場所: 立命館大学衣笠キャンパス(創思館、存心館、以学館), 主催: 立命館大学ゲーム研究センターLive-action role-play (larp), a mixture of improv-theatre and role-playing game where participants interact physically as characters in a shared story, draws thousands of participants in Europe but gained interest in Japan only since 2012 ̶ with an exponentially increasing popularity. This young practice still faces various material constraints, one of which is the actual or perceived limited accessibility of space, another the availability of larp paraphernalia. Japan’s larpers, however, have access to resources less known in Europe: 100-Yen-Shops. These shops offer a broad variety of products for just 100 yen, useful for larp as outlined by Japan’s first “how-to-larp” publications. This paper discusses the development and current state of larp in Japan: How did “European-style” fantasy larp come to Japan? How was this practice adapted to local circumstances? How is it related to sibling practices, such as cosplay (masquerading) and pen & paper role-playing? Based on text-analysis, interviews, and participant observations, the paper analyses the ways of appropriation including the discursive and material constraints practitioners are entangled with. Conceptualizing larp as a network of heterogeneous human and non-human elements, the practice in Japan is hardly defined by a somewhat essential “Japaneseness” but produced through the tracing of these various elements. Fantasy larp as it is actualized in Japan combines “global” elements of larping with “local” materials so that the practice is (continuously) reassembled

Rotten use patterns: What entertainment theories can do for the study of boys' love

Focusing on the often neglected individual modes of consumption and ascriptions of meaning, I propose a theoretical and conceptual framework for the analysis of the diversity of the use and appropriation of the boys' love (BL) genre. Within the framework of theories of media gratification, I bring together key elements of BL fandom, such as playing with masculinities, and central concepts of entertainment research. To assess these concepts' appropriateness and to do justice to the transnational phenomenon that BL has become, I also consider qualitative interviews conducted in Japan and Germany. The gratifications sought and gained by BL fans (fujoshi and fudanshi, rotten girls and boys) vary, including the physiological (arousal), the social (exchange, belonging), the cognitive (parasocial interaction), and the aesthetic (immersion). My empirical findings highlight the diversity of BL use, while my conceptual framework additionally works as a reference for a comparison of these use patterns and other media preferences as well as global trends of media consumption. (ORCID: 0000-0002-8585-9177