After World War II, Japan was at low point in its history. Destroyed from war, it took a lot of time to pick their economy up and rebuild. From 1945-1952, there was American occupation in Japan and increasing tension between the Japanese people and American soldiers. This racialized tension affected the nation as a whole. After the war, Japan was in a period of great transition with no military, only a self defense force and it wasn’t until 1964 where Japan’s economy starts to stabilize. In this year, Japan holds the olympics in Tokyo. Jobs are created, there is stability, nationalism, and Japan enters the global stage. As the economy is growing, censorship on media is lifted and Japan becomes the second largest economy in the world by 1968.

    The first video game in Japan is released in 1975 and it was Epoch’s TV Tennis Electrotennis, a simple version of pong. It is then followed by the first successful gaming console, Nintendo’s Color TV game. Street Fighter is released in Japan in 1987 when the leisure culture is growing. Leisure culture refers to the time people spend outside of working, education, chores, and necessary actions. It is the free time people have and it is a time where people can afford to spend money. However, in 1989, Japan’s economic bubble burst but this did not stop video games from gaining popularity. Though there was a drop in leisure time, people still played video games and their popularity continued to grow.

    As the economy was growing more unstable, video games were still popular because people used this as a form of escapism. Video games give the player a virtual reality to focus on and they are able to ignore their own reality. The way video games are set up and how there are manageable challenges to overcome makes them popular during a time of uncertainty. There are new tasks or levels within video games and a clear goal of what the player is to do. In addition, the exportability of video games makes them easy to spread and be played by a wider audience. The power that video games has is significant. Though it is soft power, it does shape a culture. Soft power refers to a cultural influence while hard power refers to the military and other clear or brute forces. The medium of video games became the message in Japanese culture during this time and it was not far from martial arts. Martial arts was an embodiment of discipline. Though different ways, both video games and martial arts had this in common. Video games required practice just like martial arts did though martial arts had more to do with the body.

    Through everything and Japan’s historical hardships, video games emerged and was able to become popular because people used it as a form of escapism. Themes of discipline and accomplishment within these video games were crucial to making it an effective form of escapism as well.