プロジェクト紹介PROJECTS
Oral History
Oral history is a research method of recording, collecting, and preserving the voices of past events and experiences of people through interviews. The Historical Archive Research Center conducts interviews with individuals who have played significant roles in each field of the content industry, collecting their valuable testimonies as oral histories that contribute to the understanding of the development of the content industry in Japan. After recording and collecting, the interviews will be archived as primary sources for understanding the trajectory of Japanese content history.
Areas
IT, video games, manga, anime, and the internet culture
Features
Key characteristics 1: Collecting oral history through dialogue
Drawing on the experiences of creators, developers, executives, and researchers who have contributed to the development of the content industry, we will delve behind the scenes of the creation of important works, and explore events that led to the development of the industry.
Key characteristics 2: Creating digital archives for worldwide access
Collected oral history videos and transcripts will be digitized and preserved as digital data. The system we create will allow researchers and any other users to access digital data.
Sponsor companies and organizations (listed in alphabetical order)
AKITA PUBLISHING CO., LTD., ATLUS. CO., LTD., Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., Coamix Inc., Futabasha Publishers Ltd., Hakusensha Inc., Japan Online Game Association, KODANSHA LTD., KOEI TECMO HOLDINGS CO., LTD., LEVEL-5 Inc., NIPPON ANIMATION CO., LTD., SEGA CORPORATION, Shogakukan Inc., SHONENGAHOSHA CO., LTD., Takeshobo Co., Ltd., and The Association of Japanese Animations
Realtime History
In addition to past events, we also intend to archive events currently in progress as primary documents.
Features
Key characteristic 1: working with Comiket to digitalize and preserve catalogs and make them available for academic use
Comiket is the world’s largest market for creative works, and Comiket catalogs are filled with information required to navigate the event halls. We will collect both past and future catalogs, store them in analyzable forms, and make them widely available for academic use, while ensuring that personal information is properly protected.
Key characteristic 2: working with overseas otaku events to collect event information and make it available for research and analysis
“Otaku” is now a term that is understood all over the world. Working together with the International Otaku Expo Association, a meeting-place for enthusiasts of otaku culture, we will collect the “here and now” of otaku events around the world.
The Historical Archive Research Center also intends to launch other projects aimed at collecting primary documents related to Japanese content and making it available to people around the world.