JPN400: Pre-Capstone
In this course, we selected the topic and research questions we would focus on for our Capstone presentation. We also began looking for research materials necessary for an audience to understand the history relevant to our topics. I wanted to study the difference in defining "gambling" between Japan and the US, since I was amazed to see pachinko machines and slot machines in the arcades of Japan. As an American, slot machines are obviously gambling machines, so how had Japan been able to see them differently?
This topic proved too difficult to try and direct to university students, who generally would not care to spend money on gambling, so I switched topics to cover the popularity of game centers, or video game arcades in Japan. Research proved challenging due to the non-academic nature of my topic, but I eventually found a handful of quality sources that helped me understand how arcades came to be and later fell from popularity in the US.
In this course, we selected the topic and research questions we would focus on for our Capstone presentation. We also began looking for research materials necessary for an audience to understand the history relevant to our topics. I wanted to study the difference in defining "gambling" between Japan and the US, since I was amazed to see pachinko machines and slot machines in the arcades of Japan. As an American, slot machines are obviously gambling machines, so how had Japan been able to see them differently?
This topic proved too difficult to try and direct to university students, who generally would not care to spend money on gambling, so I switched topics to cover the popularity of game centers, or video game arcades in Japan. Research proved challenging due to the non-academic nature of my topic, but I eventually found a handful of quality sources that helped me understand how arcades came to be and later fell from popularity in the US.