Japanese History Explorer With Nozomi-chan for Elementary School Children.

In July 1853 Commodore William Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay (then called Edo Bay) determined to end Japan's 220 years of isolation. Recognizing the power of Perry's 'gunboat diplomacy' the Tokugawa Shogunate finally relented and in 1854 opened the ports of Shimoda, south of Tokyo, and Hakodate, in the northernmost island of Hokkaido, to American ships. Disaffected lords in Japan rallied around the Emperor in opposition to the Shogunate's capitulation. This led to civil war, called The Boshin War, between 1868 and 1869. The Emperor's modernized military forces prevailed. Forces loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate retreated to Hakodate in Hokkaido but were finally defeated in June 1869. Britain's role in subjugating China in late 19th century also had a profound impact on the region. The Japanese rulers, under Emperor Meiji, came to realize that modernization at that time was leaving Japan vulnerable. Subsequently, Japan began to modernize through rapid industrialization informed by western engineers, particularly from Britain, France and USA. What was Japan like in the late 19th century? How did the Japanese citizens react to seeing Perry's gunboats in Edo Bay? What was the relevance of the wars in China? What impact did Britain have on the region at that time? These are questions Japanese children at Elementary school must answer. Therefore, students at Future University Hakodate designed, programmed and delivered a Unity3D educational game aimed at contextualizing the aforementioned events. Following the guidance of Nozomi-chan, a female Japanese avatar, users are tasked with locating information about Edo life, Britain's industrial heritage, China's battle with Britain, and Perry's visit to Hakodate. Users are then tasked to piece together the events as a form of assessment of understanding. The paper details the development of the 3D virtual game, its utilization by Elementary school students, and the observations of the student developers for informed design of future serious educational games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]