A Living Map: Rebuilding Treaty Port Nagasaki

In 1871, down-on-his-luck samurai Toyama Ichiya decided to try his luck in the treaty port city of Nagasaki. The city was a world unto itself, where fortunes could be made and lost, where goods from all over the world could be found, where there was just enough confusion about who was in charge to make fraud a lucrative enterprise. Toyama chose fraud and, only a few months after arriving, fled the city with a small fortune that was meant to buy tobacco he didn’t know how to get and no intention of ever returning. Toyama’s story–and eventual trial–is one of many that unfolded in the treaty port. While he was in Nagasaki, he rubbed shoulders with merchants, diplomats, missionaries, vagrants, sailors, innkeepers, shopkeepers, and families from dozens of different nationalities who mixed, mingled, and squabbled within the city’s borders. This Nagasaki has been lost to time. Can it be rebuilt?

Building on existing technical, artistic, and research infrastructures, the team will combine GIS data, historical research, 3D modeling, and video game engines to create an interactive 3-D map of the city of Nagasaki. In addition to the map itself, the team will create a diverse array of player characters, interactive objects, and scavenger-hunt style narratives to bring the map, and the city, to life. 

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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:

  • GIS software experience

  • 3D Modeling experience (Blender, Autodesk Maya)

  • Computer Science / coding experience

  • 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 Thursdays 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).

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.