The field of research on e-sports is relatively new, and research about e-sports in Japan is limited. Broadly speaking, e-sports refers to video games that are played competitively in tournaments...Show moreThe field of research on e-sports is relatively new, and research about e-sports in Japan is limited. Broadly speaking, e-sports refers to video games that are played competitively in tournaments and leagues. This study will first further elaborate on the term e-sports and explain e-sports by breaking it down into the player, organizational and spectatorship aspects. A review of the literature on Japanese e-sports, and looking at the state of e-sports in Japan reveals several aspects that will form the basis of this study. Firstly, e-sports is a global phenomenon but has had its own developmental trajectory in each country (Kato Hiroyasu, 2018b, p. 136). Japan is considered to be behind developmentally in terms of e-sports compared to countries like South Korea (Kanbe Masayuki, 2012). Further, the literature on Japanese e-sports is scarce. Scholars have argued that the literature on game related studies is Western-centric, and argue that studies are needed that use knowledge of Japanese studies to examine game culture in Japan (Picard & Pelletier-Gagnon, 2015, p. 1-2). Thirdly, Japanese scholars such as Kato Hiroyasu argue for the interpretation of e-sports as a sport rather than seeing games as play (in the sense of leisure of pastime). The scholar Taylor has also broken down the process of professionalization that players experience on their way to becoming pro gamers in e-sports. These two scholars involve themselves in the question of professionalization (transformation from someone who plays games to a pro gamer who makes their living off competing), and the question of recognition (of e.g. society seeing e-sports as a sport). Recognition is a process that can come in various forms and facilitates the process of professionalization. Recognition in the form of e-sports being (legally) recognized as a sport can offer pro gamers the benefit of being recognized as an athlete. Recognition in the form of pro gamers receiving valorization from society can improve their social status, and enable them to receive more social support (from e.g. friends or family) when they decide to professionalize. Finally, this study identifies several sources that contribute to the process of the recognition of e-sports in Japan: pro gamers, the Japan e-Sports Union (JeSU), and a discourse about e-sports as a potential Olympic event. This study sees an opportunity to contribute to the Area Studies and Game Studies literature by taking the recognition of e-sports in Japan as its focus. This opportunity lies in the fact that each country, and thus Japan as well, has had its own developmental trajectory of e-sports, and that the literature on e-sports is scarce and studies using a perspective rooted in Japanese studies are needed. In order to examine the recognition of e-sports in Japan this study will focus on pro gamers, and analyze how they contribute to the process of recognition. Thus, the main question in this study is: how do pro gamers contribute to the process of the recognition of e-sports in Japan? In order to answer the question of how these pro gamers contribute to the process of recognition this study will analyze how pro gamers in Japan represent themselves in the media and strive for recognition from society in order to be taken seriously as people who dedicate themselves to playing video games competitively. The analysis will reveal the strategies that pro players use to represent themselves in the media and personally emancipate themselves. The analysis will also reveal an interplay between elements of the (Japanese) cultural context players find themselves in and the strategies players use to push recognition of e-sports in Japanese society. This will show the nuance that using a Japanese studies perspective to study e-sports reveals, and try to address the problem of the Western centric literature on e-sports and games studies while contributing to the Area Studies literature.Show less
