Exploring as a Child in Japan

Japanese videogames have a running theme about a little boy exploring the world around him. It’s sort of shocking how many games are about a 10 year old putting on armor and saving the world. It’s been staring at us this entire time, but we haven’t thought about it. Japanese kids are allowed to explore. Not just around the neighborhood, but as far as they want, as long as they want.

My little brother returned home from his mission and talked about finding kids just exploring stuff miles away from their homes. Suddenly the understanding of Zelda is made. Pokemon makes sense. Animal Crossing becomes even greater than it already was. Not only that, it explains tons of shows like My Neighbor Totoro.

The Legend of Zelda is based off of Shigeru Miyamoto’s time as a child in the mountains. He sparked the idea of a child leaving home, and becoming an adult through exploring his world. The story of the mountains is well told among Zelda fans. What we don’t realize is how it would resonate with a common Japanese. This was many people’s lives. Instead of the exploration of a dream to us, it was a thing most Japanese remember with fondness.

Pokemon is about a ten year old boy leaving his home, and catching various animals to fight. The reality is that the game itself is based on the creator’s childhood hobby of collecting bugs. Many kids would admit to catching various animals. As a kid who desperately wanted a pet, I took care of random cats, bats, a snake, a crow, and one skunk. We caught insects, and had them fight it out with others. I can’t compare to several miles away from home though. The entire idea that a little boy could do this sounds like Child Neglect here in the US, and is common in Japan.

The creator for Animal Crossing admits that the game was designed from him moving to a new town. The creator used his experience moving several hundred miles away to a new city as his inspiration. His loneliness of leaving his family, and places he explored became the idea behind exploring a new town, and doing whatever you wanted in this town.

While looking around this subject, my brother mentioned that Japanese Playgrounds are amazing. Check this one out. Actually, I found a ton more than that. There is one that was Crocheted together. Then an artistic sculpture.  Then we have an amazing article on a landscape/playground designer. The entire idea of safety is secondary to the idea of fun, and exploration.

In fact the creator of Katamari Damacy wants to design playgrounds. This brings up another part of video game design. The look and feel of many of the great Japanese videogames follow the same ideas as that of Japanese Playgrounds.

If you look at Splatoon, you see designs of common modern buildings with a playground feel to them. The bright colors, and different areas to explore show new strategies. The same works with Mario 64 and many others. It is an exploration, that takes the character miles to explore and find, while also feeling like a playground.

But this goes even further than videogames. Let’s take an example of a film from Japan. In My Neighbor Totoro, two girls explore their new house, and world. The entire theme of the story is how far away they travel from home to do things. Much of the story revolves around their desires to explore as their father deals with their mother’s illness.

I could go on, but I think the point has been made. The Japanese culture allows their kids to go explore for long distances. Videogames like Zelda, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing has this as part of their themes. Playground equipment is a small sized version of that same idea. Videogames also mimic this idea. Not only that, movies use the theme to show childhood in Japan.

When we play videogames, we see the imagination and ideas of the game creator. Sometimes we see something, and think its just part of the design. Instead, things like exploration, and finding new things can be a very cultural thing instead.