We are pleased to announce the Historical Archives Research Center (HARC) was established on September 30, 2023.

Our mission of HARC is twofold: firstly, to create comprehensive archives that collect primary resources related to key people, things, and events that have shaped the history of the content industry; and secondly, to make these archival materials available for use by social resources in fields such as research, education, and business creation.

To learn more about the members of the research center, please click here.

On January 28, 2024, we co-hosted "The Present and Future of Japan's Game Archives" online. The forum’s organizers were following:  the Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studie (host), the provisional ZEN University Historical Archives Research Center (co-host), and the Consortium for Game Archives (supported organization). 

This forum aimed at strengthening the importance of game preservation and collaboration between industry, government and academia. The forum began with an introduction by Koichi Hosoi, director of the Historical Archive Research Center, followed by a keynote speech on "The Practice of Archives Philosophy" by Ken Akamatsu (member of the House of Representatives).

The latter part featured discussions from industry key figures on the current state and challenges of game preservation from the perspectives of the nation, industry, and academia.

On November 22, 2023, we conducted an oral history interview with Dr. Jun Murai, a computer scientist who is known as the "father of the Internet in Japan.” The interview mainly focused on the technology and communities that existed during the early days of the Internet.

Interviewer: BAN Ryuichiro (Researcher)