The Iwakura Mission: Investigating Empire

In 1868, a group of young samurai overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate to form a new government modeled on the centralized governments of Europe and the United States. Such a thing was easier said than done, however, and the stakes were high. In an era of imperial expansion, countries that were not seen as civilized and modern risked colonization. In 1872, Iwakura Tomomi was tasked with leading a diplomatic mission with three goals: to improve the reputation of the new Meiji government among the dominant world powers, to renegotiate the unequal treaties left over from the previous government, and to learn more about how contemporary European and American empires worked. This team will create a resource-management role-playing game based on the mechanics of the Oregon Trail that puts the player in Iwakura’s shoes. During its two-year expedition, the 100-person Iwakura Mission took part in balls, congressional sessions, industrial tours, school inspections, meetings with powerful industrialists, and more. Some members of the mission became media darlings, celebrated in the press. Others were left behind in foreign cities to further their education and bring that knowledge back to Japan. Everyone suffered from some degree of culture shock. In translating the mission’s activities into game form, the team will engage with international power dynamics, the mechanics of modern development, and the weight of strategic choices in a world entering the height of the colonial era.

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Apply by Friday 21st November, using this short survey

The application process is competitive. No prior experience is required, but an ideal team will include students with a combination of:

  • UI/UX design

  • Traditional and/or digital art

  • Computer Science / coding experience

  • Coding for video games (Godot, Unity, Unreal)

  • Japanese literature, culture, history research and/or language skills

  • Experience in background music and/or sound design

  • Strong creative and/or analytical writing skills

Students with any of the above are encouraged to apply.

Digital Humanities Intern Responsibilities

  1. Familiarize yourself with the historical background

  2. Take the lead on your portion of the game, and assist on others

  3. Find historical artwork, develop original artwork, or a combination thereof

  4. Write text and integrate it into the game

  5. Design and code the game

  6. Create an engaging user interface.

  7. Participate in testing and refining the game created by the group.

  8. Attend weekly meetings on Wednesdays from 4:00-5:30.

Learning outcomes

  • Interdisciplinary research experience focused on Japanese history and culture

  • Gain familiarity working with and interpreting textual and visual sources for a public audience

  • Experience working as part of a team to complete a real, useable project

  • Coding experience

Course Credit

Successful applicants will work around 10 hours per week on the project, including group meetings. We will work with students to register for course credit through the internship courses available at their college (for COLA students, this is LA 320wb, 3 hours of credit). See the Internships page for more information.

I’m a Bridging Disciplines Programs student. What do I do?

Digital Arts & Media BDP students may count their JapanLab internship as their required BDP creative project. To do this, you must submit a Connecting Experience proposal through your MyBDP dashboard by the proposal deadline for the semester when you will be working with the JapanLab. Once your proposal is approved by the BDP office, you will be enrolled in BDP 320L credit for this experience to count as your creative project. See the BDP Advising Canvas site for more details or reach out to your BDP advisor with any questions. If you are a Digital Arts & Media BDP student and you prefer to propose this experience as an optional internship rather than as your required creative project, you have the option to propose the experience to be enrolled in BDP 325K internship credit, but please reach out to your BDP advisor to ensure that this will fit with your BDP requirements. If you are in a BDP certificate other than Digital Arts & Media and you would like to propose this as an internship experience, please reach out to your BDP advisor to ensure that the experience is an appropriate fit with your BDP topic.