Life Updates from Me :)

Hi!

It’s me

 

Ohisashiburi (Long time no see). 

It’s been a while since I wrote my latest post about my Hajj experience. 

Blogging seems to be more challenging day by day. 

I hope I don’t lose the spark of blogging, because I love blogging so much. 

 

And, it seems I am currently suffering with my default writing language. 

I don’t wanna sound that I’m showing off, but whenever I start writing in Bahasa Indonesia, my brain always shifts to English. I feel like I lost my capacity to write in my native language, but my English writing skill is not perfect as well. Even though I tried to mix both languages (like I used to do in the past), I can see the struggling there.. Dunno why, am I losing my language skills in both Indonesian and English? What kind of syndrome am I having right now? 

 

Me, being a native Indonesian doesn’t help me to write in Indonesian, my English is still broken too (as well as my Japanese and German). I am a bit embarrassed to admit this, I don’t belong to any language T_T

 

Let’s forget about language issues for a while.

I wrote this post just to share my current update about my life. As I intend to use this blog to share my thoughts and my journey as a Student Traveler, let me share what I am currently doing lately. I just migrate my blog into different hosting, so I am not sure whether this migration might impact in losing my past reader or not. I don’t write regularly, so I’m sure this blog might become a ‘spider’s web’ for not having a reader. :p

 

I am (still) living in Japan right now. Extending my study, now I am in my 4th year. Trying to finish my doctoral study and wishing to see the end of the tunnel from all the hard work I did. Now, I am currently waiting for my supervisor’s feedback on the 2nd draft of my paper. As my scholarship ended last year, I started to make a living through part-time jobs, which I can’t believe that my husband and I can live in Japan by depending on part-time jobs. We’re both doing fine with the jobs, even though it made us tired most of the time. However, this is not our first time (we had it in Germany before). I am now working as a tour guide, the job that pays me pretty well, I honestly love the job even though it makes me exhausted physically and mentally. I am no longer in my 20s so walking around for 5 hours straight is fun but physically tiring. The job gave me additional benefits in improving my English conversation skills (A lot of my guests from US keep asking me if I’ve ever lived in the US before, they keep complimenting my English that sounds like an American – I took it as a compliment 🙂 ) and getting to know about my guests and their backgrounds (I did more a hundred tour, I got lots of interesting stories which inspires me to write a blog about my life as a guide). 

 

With the better quality of life that I have here, I really enjoy my life in Kyoto. Most of the living I’m having right now is what I’ve been dreaming of. Although sometimes I miss my hometown too as well as my old life, I gain some fundamental things that I didn’t get in the past: proper healthcare services, ability to walk anywhere in convenient ways, better pay for my job, a separation between working time and resting time, solitude time, etc. Great things in life sometimes come from simple things. I sacrificed a lot in my 20s (yet I enjoy it too), now as I grow older, my perspective has changed quite a lot about life. I focus to see myself to the inside, rather than to the outside. 

 

Of course, my life is not perfect (and, who has a perfect life?). I am still worrying for something that I cannot see and predict right now, I get anxious with abstract things, I sometimes feel insecure with my capacity. In this PhD journey, I learned a lot about myself. I don’t know why but knowing myself better can make me more anxious and unconfident. I was very confident and empowered, but I am losing a bit. (It’s hard to explain, but yeah, that’s what I am feeling). 

 

My life is much simpler than it used to be. I do one thing at the time. I enjoy small things. I am still trying to believe in myself, whatever things come to me, I wish I could be strong and mature. I am practicing my self-awareness on my anger (still the hardest part). 

 

I am a 35 yrs old woman who still feels like I’m a kid who wants to do gaming all day, then all of sudden trapped into a woman’s body. I am so confused when I watch Sex and the City series, all characters are around my age (even some of them were younger than me), and their conversation is wild on men, sex, adulting, and so on. I feel like I am too old for this thing (well, I am married, but I rarely talk much about those topics with friends. I am excited to talk about games, kpop, coffee shop, funny cat videos, and lame jokes.

 

In summary, I’m OK, I am hanging in on what I am doing now, I am still hoping that people I care the most still care about me, I am happy with my married life (we just celebrated our 9 years anniversary!), I am still annoying and loud (as what my close friends think of me), I am gaining things and losing things at the same time. My hope is that I could go back to writing more often on my blog (with whatever language I wanna use). I want to keep my memory alive through my own words. Maybe I can go slowly.. Trusting the time and focus on my true intention. 

 

I hope every single one of you who read this post is doing okay, even though you’re not okay, I hope you keep hanging in there and believe that you’ll be fine.

 

Best,

@annisaa_potter

 

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Introducing Our Beloved Cats

Happy new year!

Apa kabar semua? Some of you might think this blog is dead. It’s crazy that throughout 2021, I only wrote 2 posts! :O

Gue akui gue sedang dalam fase ‘payah sekali’ dalam menulis blog, lebih tepat nya tidak ada waktu khusus yang bisa membuat gue bisa nulis dengan nyaman.

Semenjak pandemi mulai, kemudian mulai PhD di Kyoto, segala atensi beralih ke segudang hal yang harus dikerjakan dan itu membuat waktu menulis terpinggirkan. Hiks hiks.

We all experience this moment, right? Everything come at once, and you have to let go on something.

It’s funny that I didn’t write any new year resolutions karena sepertinya gue gak bisa keep up with segala resolusi yang gue buat.

Setelah mulai PhD, gue merasa unit waktu gue sangat berubah, gue seperti terjun ke dalam satu black hole yang bikin gue terjerembab di dalam situ, dan gue gak bisa keluar sampai gue bisa mendapat goal PhD yang ingin gue capai. It’s hard to explain, but on the other side, I don’t want to lose my identity as someone who loves to write anything I love 🙁

I have to make it work.. Going back writing while I’m doing tons of work in Japan. I gotta make it work.

Tahun 2022 bisa menjadi awal yang baik untuk memulai kembali menulis. Gue ingin mengawali dengan membahas sesuatu yang amat sangat gue rindukan. Dan gue baru sadar kalau gue gak pernah menulis tentang ini.. It’s about my beloved cats!

Sejak akhir 2020, gue menjalin LDR dengan kucing-kucing gue, and it is so painful buat gue berpisah dengan mereka.

Gue terhitung belum lama menjadi cat lover. Kali pertama gue resmi adopsi kucing itu di tahun 2017. Kucing yang kami temukan lahir di rumah tetangga seberang rumah, kemudian ibu nya bawa anak nya ke depan rumah kami, dan akhirnya mereka jadi permanen resident di rumah kami.

Nyeritain bagaimana kami memulai adopsi kucing dan dealing with everyone in the house bisa menjadi hal yang menarik untuk diceritakan. Before we adopt the stray cats, anggota keluarga di rumah gue gak ada yang cat lovers, dan jarang pegang-pegang kucing, bokap gue awalnya against banget liat kucing masuk rumah, dikit-dikit pasti diusir, nyokap gue juga sama, adek gue juga sempet takut ama kucing. Tahun 2017 menjadi turning point di keluarga kami yang akhirnya rumah kami menjadi semi-penampungan kucing. (gue bilang semi, karena rumah kita emang bukan tempat penampungan resmi, tapi sejak kita punya banyak kucing, banyak kucing yang datang entah dibuang orang atau mereka datang sendiri).

Adopting stray cats is the best decision I’ve ever had in my life, I’m sure my family think the same. Cats brought us joy, laugh, and even sadness. I need them more than I thought. We started with two cats, then end up with six cats, dan selama gue studi di Jepang, jumlah kucing kami menjadi 11 kucing. Bicara soal menghidupi semua kucing itu, tentu saja awalnya gue perhitungan banget, awal-awal beli makanan kucing sekilo diirit-irit banget. As time goes time, gue sadar kalau ngurus kucing gak cuma bawa kebahagiaan tapi bawa rejeki juga. Hehe.

tiga kucing ini dinamai dengan nama game-ku 🙂

Setelah satu tahun lebih tinggal di Jepang, I’m suffering homesick because of them. Gue kangen kucing gue sekangen-kangen nya. Huhuhu. Kadang gue suka iseng liat video Youtube isinya kucing-kucing, gue tiba-tiba nangis, nangis kangen. Selama gue di Jepang, gue selalu minta kirimin foto dan video kucing-kucing gue, segala gerak gerik mereka, kalau mereka bikin ulah gue selalu bilang  ke orang rumah untuk selalu direkam. Kadang-kadang gue minta video call, supaya gue bisa ‘ngobrol’ ama mereka, gue berdoa mereka gak lupa sama kehadiran gue, at least mereka bisa denger suara gue.

Huhuhuhu… I miss them so much. It’s not easy to decide whether I can go back to my country at this situation. What I can do right now is watching videos and photos of my cats.

Gue selalu include kucing-kucing gue  ke dalam percakapan bersama teman-teman gue, beberapa temen gue juga cat lover. Mereka syok, gimana bisa gue adopsi banyak kucing (Well, karena sistem adopsi kucing di Jepang ama di Indo tentu beda, in Indo we can adopt any stray cats freely, as long as the cat has no owner, but in Japan? it’s not that easy)

Mencari keributan tetangga

Untuk melepas rasa kangen ku yang membuncah, I dedicate this post for my beloved cats. Gue ingin berbagi profil kucing-kucing  yang menurut gue karakter mereka bener-bener unik satu sama lain. Gue akan sedikit berbagi opini tentang mereka dari sudut pandang babu-nya.

Semakin sering berinteraksi sama kucing, kita makin sadar kalau kucing juga punya personality, kayak manusia-lah. Mau kenalan ama kucing-kucing gue? Yuk lah lanjut baca tulisan ini 🙂

((Drum Roll)) I am .. now … Introducing … my Cats!

Brought to you by their dedicated babu~ 😀 😀

1. Eco

Nickname: Eco, Coco, Limo, si lemak, co-miuw, gembrot

Lahir : Agustus 2018

Jenis kelamin : Jantan

Tentang si kucing

Kucing yang paling bonding sama gue selama gue ada di rumah. Eco ini introvert, gak suka kenalan ama orang baru (kalau temen gue dateng, dia pasti langsung kabur). Sejauh ini, dia kucing ter-gembrot di rumah, makanya nama panggilannya banyak karena ukuran badan nya. Paling suka di-elus-elus, kalau dia lagi manja, biasanya dia langsung ngejatuhin badannya “gedebuk!”, itu tandanya minta digaruk bagian punggung nya. Suka tidur di atas rak, kulkas, lemari. Di siang hari dia suka chill di bangku taman sambil bengong. Eco ini kucing paling rumahan dibanding yang lain, jarang pergi-pergi jauh, gak kayak abangnya, Soleh dan adek nya, Oly. Dia juga hobi manjat ke paha orang yang duduk, trus duduk posisi loaf. Gue paling suka bobo bareng Eco.

2. Oly

Nickname : Oly, Ol-ol, Si-ol, Preman

Lahir : Agustus 2018

Jenis kelamin : Jantan

Tentang si kucing

Oly lahir bareng Eco, dia punya satu saudara yang meninggal pas bayi (kita namain Uno, terus nama Uno pindah ke Uno yang kita adopsi). Waktu lahir, muka dan badan nya burik banget, kalau lihat foto bayi dia mengenaskan banget deh. Gue sempet ngira hidup dia gak akan lama, karena badan nya ringkih banget. Oly juga suka sakit-sakitan waktu kecil. Eh takdir berkata lain. Oly tumbuh jadi kucing dewasa yang sehat dan kuat, saking kuat nya, dia mencoba mengambil tahta papanya, Luna sebagai King of the Jungle. Kelakuan nya cukup preman, suka cari ribut ama kucing lain. Rajin berantem, hingga pernah luka parah, sampe adek gue harus bawa dia ke RS. Berat badan Oly suka gak stabil, kadang gemuk, kadang kurusan. Suaranya cempreng, dan dia suka tidur bareng suami gue di kamar. Jam 4 pagi dia selalu bangun dan pergi keluar jendela. Beda banget dengan Eco, abangnya, Oly ini cukup berjiwa petualang. Oly punya hobi patroli keliling rumah, atap, halaman, sampe ke genteng tetangga.

3. Uno

Nickname : Uno, No-no, Si Sulung

Lahir : 31 Juli 2019

Jenis kelamin : Jantan

Tentang si kucing

Satu-satu nya kucing adopsi yang kita ketahui tanggal lahir nya secara lengkap (kucing lain kita cuma tahu bulan dan tahun nya). Uno lahir di bawah gantungan baju kamar gue pada tanggal 31 Juli 2022. Emak nya, Chika, menjadikan kamar tidur gue sebagai ruang bersalin gratis. Awal mula gue nemu Uno lahir itu pas gue lagi duduk sendiri di kamar, tiba-tiba denger suara bayi kucing, pas gue angkat baju yang digantung, eh Cika ama baby Uno lagi berbaring lemas. Emaknya insecure tingkat tinggi waktu Uno lahir. gue sempet taro mereka berdua di box depan pintu kamar. beberapa hari kemudian, Uno hilang. Gue kira mati dimakan dimakan musang, beberapa bulan kemudian, gue liat siluet kucing remaja yang gak gue kenal, ternyata Uno dipindah di loteng dan tiba-tiba udah gede aja! Awalnya dia nge-hiss kita, tapi lama lama dia melunak dan ngeong-ngeong minta makan. Uno juga cukup introvert dan gak gitu bawel. Spot tidur nya di atas lemari dapur. Uno ini anak sulung Chika, dan dia punya banyak adik.

4. Soleh

Nickname : Soleh, Oleh, Sol-sol, Syooleh, si Oleh

Lahir : Maret 2018

Jenis kelamin : Jantan

Tentang si kucing

Kucing adopsi tertua yang kita punya, Soleh. Lahir dari rahim yang sama dengan Eco dan Oly. Soleh adalah abang dari Eco dan Oly (tapi entah apakah mereka satu bapak atau bukan). Ibunya almarhum Busui. Soleh dan almarhum adiknya, Solihun lahir di rumah tetangga depan rumah. Ibu nya hobi mindah-mindahin Soleh dan Solihun waktu bayi, hingga akhirnya menetap di depan rumah kita. Sayangnya Solihun mati saat masih bayi, Soleh kehilangan adik. Niat namain Soleh itu dari nama stand-up comedian, eh ternyata nama emang doa. Soleh ini kucing yang paling punya budi pekerti, gak pernah pipis dan pup sembarangan, kalau dikasi makan engga agresif, sopan. Bersyukur kami namai Soleh. Tapi semakin beranjak dewasa, Soleh jadi gak asik, gak suka dipegang-pegang, gampang sensian. Di siang hari, dia hampir gak pernah ada di rumah, hobi nya menyendiri di makam sebelah rumah. Soleh ini juga tertib untuk urusan tidur. Jam 9 malam dia biasanya standby di ruang kerja bokap gue dengan posisi berbaring sambil nutup muka nya pake tangan. Soleh yang sekarang jutek sering kita ledekin, tapi dia nya malah makin sensi. Leh, leh kamu kenapa sih 🙁

FYI, adek gue sempet pake jasa animal communicator untuk ngobrol sama Soleh. Kata communicator nya, Soleh gak suka yang berisik-berisik dan dia suka Mama, karena suka ngasi nasi tongkol yang enak. Hahaha.

5. Uya

Nickname : Uya, Uuy, Surya

Lahir : Sekitar April 2020

Jenis kelamin : Jantan

Tentang si kucing

Uya merupakan kucing rescue yang gue ambil dari jalan Suryakencana. Gue ingat betul momen nemu Uya (nama aslinya Surya, dari nama jalan tempat kita nemu dia). Hari itu tanggal 25 Mei, bulan Ramadhan, gue lagi belanja ke toko frozen, tiba tiba hujan deras turun, gue lagi neduh ama suami, tiba-tiba liat ada mas-mas ngusir kitten yang berusaha berlindung dari hujan. gue langsung nyamperin dan negur mas-mas nya, lebih jahat lagi, Uya sempet lari ke satu toko, dan pemilik toko nya ngusir si Uya pake tongkat besi, akhirnya gue ambil Uya. Niatnya gue mau mindahin Uya ke tempat lain yang lebih aman. Si Uya masih trauma banget, dia masih kicik banget, mungkin belum sampe dua bulan. Waktu itu, kucing di rumah udah banyak, nyokap gue udah ngomel, jangan sampe nambah kucing lagi. gue ragu-ragu mau bawa Uya, awalnya gue mau ninggali Uya di depan Indomaret. Gak tega, akhirnya gue bawa dia pulang pake motor, sambil dibungkus kresek, hujan hujan. Selama di jalan, gue tatap wajah dia yang nelangsa. Daaaan, dia ngompol donk, ya Allah Uya wkwkw. Gue diam diam masukin Uya ke samping rumah, taro dia di kandang dan ditaro di depan kamar (kamar gue ama nyokap gue agak jauh). Lima hari setelah Uya dibawa ke rumah, nyokap bokap tau tentang Uya, tapi akhirnya mereka nerima. Dan sekarang Uya sudah menjadi bagian dari keluarga kami yang tumbuh sehat, dan badan nya jadi panjang banget. Uya tipe kucing yang susah gemuk, tapi malah memanjang. Uya juga punya kelakukan preman, khususnya saat dikasi makanan. Uya paling agresif dan gak sabaran kalau mau makan, dia suka ngeong sambil nepok makanan pake tangannya. Uy, uy…

6. Abo

Nickname : Abo, Bo, Teh Abo

Lahir : Unknown, mungkin awal tahun 2020

Jenis kelamin : Betina

Tentang si kucing

Lahir dari rahim yang sama dengan Uno. Abo lahir dengan warna kombinasi abu, hitam, putih. Tidak diketahui Abo lahir dimana, yang pasti emaknya, Chika datang membawa Abo. Waktu bayi dia hobi nge-hiss tiap kita mendekat, tapi sekarang sudah bersahabat. Abo suka dijailin ama kucing-kucing jantan lain (mungkin karena satu-satu betina di rumah saat itu kali ya?) dan dia juga sensi-an kalau ada yang jahilin dia. Abo cukup pendiam, gak cerewet, dan gak petakilan. Adek gue manggil dia teh Abo, karena dia sudah menjadi kakak dari tiga adik-adiknya yang lahir di tahun 2021!

7. Chika

Nickname : Chika, chik, cika, jablay

Lahir : Agustus 2018

Jenis kelamin : Betina

Tentang si kucing

Nah ini diaa, mama-nya Uno, Abo, Mayang (kucing ini dirawat tetangga), dan tiga kucing baru di rumah! Chika hobi banget bikin anak, sampe kita julukin jablay, dan akhirnya Chika di-steril supaya gak beranak lagi. Badan Chika gemoy seperti mama muda, suka caper, agak centil ke manusia lawan jenis haha. Suara ngeong dia khas, pendek-pendek. Chika itu gak suka sama Oly. Mereka hobi banget berantem. Awalnya Chika hanya kucing yang beredar di sekitar rumah, tapi dia sepertinya merasa rumah kita itu jadi tempat bersalin gratis.

Kucing-kucing pendatang baru yang hadir setelah gue berangkat ke Jepang

Kucing-kucing dibawah ini muncul ketika gue udah di Jepang. gue belum pernah ketemu mereka secara langsung. Tahun 2021 Chika melahirkan tiga kucing di box laundry di kamar gue. Suami gue yang pertama kali nemu Chika melahirkan. Kita sekeluarga sempat shock, tapi akhirnya kita putuskan tiga krucil kita rawat. Karena warna si krucil ini mirip ama Eco, Oly, dan Busui, akhirnya kita namain mereka:

8. Ecil

(Ecil = tengah, warna oren)

Nickname : Eco-kecil, Cil

Lahir : 2021

Jenis kelamin : Jantan

Ecil, kucing oren, yang akhirnya kita namain Eco-kecil. Ecil paling gemuk dibanding dua adeknya.

9. Ocil

Nickname : Oly-kecil, Cil, Monyet

Lahir :

Jenis kelamin : Jantan

Tentang si kucing

Ocil atau Oly-kecil. Mukanya mirip ama Uno, agak-agak mirip monyet haha, ekor nya panjang banget kayak coki coki.

10. Bucil

Nickname : Bucil, Busui kecil,cil

Lahir : Agustus 2018

Jenis kelamin : Betina

Tentang si kucing

Bucil atau Busui kecil – kucing calico (tiga warna) yang mirip dengan Busui, ibu nya Soleh, Eco, Oly. Punya ekor pendek, dan kata adek gue, Bucil cukup independen dan gak suka deket-deket orang.

Ada satu kucing lagi yang ditemuin nyokap gue di depan rumah akhir tahun 2021. Dia adalah …

11. Uta

Lahir : Unknown

Jenis kelamin : Betina

Tentang si kucing

Uta adalah kucing ras (sepertinya anggora?) yang gak punya bola mata yang ditemuin emak gue. Dia keliatannya tersesat. Uta adalah kucing buta, makanya dinamain Uta. Kita sempet mikir apa Uta ini punya orang terus nyasar, tapi sampai sekarang gak ada nyari. Dugaan terkuat adalah ada orang buang Uta di depan rumah kita (shame on you if someone did this!). Meski Uta buta, dia cukup sensitif mendengar suara dan gerak gerik. Awalnya kita mau open adopt Uta, tapi sepertinya adek gue mau ngurus dia untuk sementara waktu.

Selain kucing-kucing di atas, adapun kucing lain-lain yang ikut berkeliaran di rumah kami  + teman main kucing-kucing kami + yang sudah pergi meninggalkan kami: Luna (diduga papa-nya dari semua kucing), Busui (Alm.), Widji (Alm.), Krisna (teman main Uya), Buntung, Si Cantik, Bella, Rambo, dan lain-lain.

Note: Semua kucing kami adalah ras kampung, kecuali Uta. Semua kucing sudah steril selain Uta.

Gimana? Lucu-lucu kan kucing-kucing gue? Hehehe..

They are our source of joy. Gue inget betul waktu pandemi mulai, gue batal berangkat ke Jepang, bisnis carut marut, satu hal yang bisa ngejaga gue waras itu dengan cara ngeliatin mereka tidur pulas di sofa. Seakan-akan gak ada rasa kuatir sama kondisi pandemi, karena mereka percaya babu nya pekerja keras dan meyakini kalau rejeki pasti ada. Nontonin mereka tidur, ngelamun, guling-guling udah cukup membuat hati damai. Bokap gue yang awal nya agak-agak anti ngeliat kucing berkeliaran di rumah, sekarang doi happy banget kalau pas ngaji ditemenin si soleh yang duduk di sebelah Qur’an. Yang lebih lucu lagi, kalau kita lagi solat taraweh bareng di rumah, Hamparan sajadah buat kucing-kucing bagaikan kasur buat mereka gogoleran dan tentunya menngurangi pahala babu nya, karena kalau mereka datang ke sajadah saat kami solat, lalu tiba tiba “bruk”, mereka menjatuhkan badan mereka beserta lemak-lemak nya, sontak kita nyengir sambil ditahan-tahan. Hahaha.. those days.. I really miss it. Semoga ada rejeki dan sehat buat pulang, biar bisa melihat kelucuan mereka meski cuma sebentar.

Kalau dari deskripsi gue tentang karakter masing-masing kucing di atas, kalian demen nya ama siapa atau kucing kalian mirip sama siapa? Drop di kolom komen ya!

Jangan lupa follow IG kucing kami ya di @ucingucingan16

 

 

 

 

 

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Serious Board Game Jam 2021 : “Strengthening Collaboration and Connecting Ideas through Making Games”

Annisa Arsyad

Observer at SBGJ 2021

PhD Student at Kyoto University

In 2020, I flew from Indonesia to Japan bringing my dream to discover serious games in Japan. As we all know, Japan is a well-known nation for its anime, games, and fictional characters. Although the current reach of Serious Games is not as big as Entertainment games, serious games has become an emerging field and gained attention in both academia and the practical world for the past few years. I believe a country like Japan has its own community with a strong interest in developing serious games, not just for entertainment purposes, but also educational purposes.

In the midst of the pandemic, I finally managed to start my PhD in Kyoto University majoring in Environmental Education. During my study in Japan, I need to do an internship related to my research interest.  My research interest is about the use of serious games to improve learning outcomes for marginalized students. Back in Indonesia, I worked at a small social enterprise, Ecofun Indonesia, where we design, produce and sell educational board games for the Southeast Asian market.

Luckily, I found this Serious Board Game Jam (SBGJ 2021) through Dr. Kazuhiko Ota, who later became my internship supervisor. I was very excited to hear about this SBGJ 2021, because I have never participated in any board game making event before. Most board game events I ever joined were all about playing the games. This is an interesting approach to teach participants on how to learn about an issue by putting them as a game designer and they have to design the game spontaneously in a short period of time. First time in SBGJ 2021? Read my story below!

SBGJ 2021 is the third Game Jam program organized by Dr. Kazuhiko Ota and Akihiro Takakura. The program was held as a series of events, consisting of Webinar, Bibliobattle, Game Jam, and Game Trial. Just like the previous SBGJ, the program is supposed to be held face-to-face in Kumamoto Prefecture, but due to the pandemic situation all programs have been moved to online. SBGJ 2021 Webinar aimed to introduce the process of serious game design and present the current issues of food. The Webinar helped the participants to understand the context before they have to choose the specific food theme for the game. After that, Bibliobattle was held as the continuation from the Webinar. This time, each participant will be asked to share about one book related to the food and present the book summary.

 

In the Game Jam, all participants will be divided into 11 groups. In two days, they had to discuss and build a game prototype under “Food” theme. The Game Jam utilized an interactive gamified platform called GatherTown where participants virtually meet using cute avatars. I was so surprised at how GatherTown brought the session more alive and real.

 

As an observer, I had a chance to listen to the discussion which I was helped by my senpai for the translation from Japanese to English. I thought my role would be to only sit and listen, but I noticed that one group was discussing religion-based food restriction. I thought I can give some additional information related to Muslim dietary based on my personal experience as a muslim. During the observation, I was intrigued by how all participants actively participated in building the game concept and other essential parts of game development. I also had a chance to interact with the SBGJ’s partner. I met Risa-san from unigames and she told me a brief story about unigames and their products. I learned that unigames make a religious themed board game called Caliphate. This game aims for Japanese audiences to learn about Islamic history. I was surprised to see Islamic history-themed game has a place in non-muslim country.  It made me think of how games can engage people to something that is culturally unfamiliar.

From the Game Jam, seven games have been made and presented at the SBGJ 2021 Game Trial. Here is the the list of games (including English title):

  1. Team A : 素晴らしい食卓 (A wonderful table)
  2. Team C : 自分探しのグルメ宇宙人~まだ見ぬ食を求めて(Gourmet aliens looking for themselves-in search of unseen food)
  3. Team D : でたとこレシピ (Detatoko Recipe)
  4. Team E : くまったなぁ (Bear Year)
  5. Team G : 生まれ変わり食餌日記 (Reborn Food Diary)
  6. Team H : 王とリンゴのタルト (King and Apple Tart)
  7. Unigames : これを食わねば俺は死ぬ (Eat and Let Die)

 

Joining the game testing was my favorite session of all SBGJ 2021, because I played the games directly with other participants. Some games are language neutral, and some others are language dependent, thankfully I got help from my senpai to help me in translating the instructions and commands. I found it very interesting that all games have their own uniqueness. I think all groups have worked so hard making this game appealing and visually attractive. Here are some of my discoveries on SBGJ 2021:

 

Games for Raising Empathy and Tolerance

According to the research, games have an ability to deliver one issue from various points of view, which in academia, we call it Transdisciplinary. Although the main theme of the game is food, it is not just about how we eat or what type of food.  The seven games tried to go across discipline by putting social, ideology, historical, economic perspective of food. “A Wonderful Table” game made by team A talked about how to deliver the food based on different dietary requirements. I can see the value of empathy from “素晴らしい食卓 – A Wonderful Table” game. We learned that people around the world have different customs and beliefs which affect their diet. Team A visualized it well. This game can be a good entry for those who want to build empathy by tolerance by respecting someone’s dietary preference. Another example is “これを食わねば俺は死ぬ – Eat and Let Die” by unigames. The premise of this game is how struggling students can feed themselves by making pickles. We learned that not everyone can have a proper way to feed themselves, so “survival mode” is necessary. “Eat and Let Die” offers a strategy on how to survive by arranging and sharing ingredients. I like how the game mission is not only seen from the content, but also from the mechanic (exchanging cards).

 

Game as Time Machine

Flexibility is a word to describe the power of games as educational tools. Some people used games to study about future scenarios and how we can create a better future by making a present change. But, games can also be used to learn about history. Learning about food menu from Medieval age from 王とリンゴのタルト (King and Apple Tart Game) was very satisfying and totally unexpected. The game invited players to guess all ingredients from the assigned menu from the Medieval era. At first, I thought the challenge was very easy, but it turned out that the mission was very hard to guess. I observed that most players guess it wrong, which makes the game more addicting. I think team H has successfully created a simple but tricky game for the users. “King and Apple Tart game” also has a potential to be expanded by creating more series of eras, for example: Viking era, Silk Road era, Shogunate era, etc. There will be more unexpected menus that come from different eras, at the same time, players will learn about food from different periods of history.

 

Board games, but Online

In my opinion, board games have always been seen as a physical product which is played face-to-face. After the pandemic started, we are all forced to run all the activities online as the only choice. I was a bit sceptical to see if board games can be played online, does the interactivity and engagement will still exist? SBGJ 2021 has shown that interactivity from online boardgaming can be achieved. Through SBGJ 2021, I learned some useful digital platforms such as Udonarium and CCFolia to help game designers to showcase games and board-game players to play games. Furthermore, online boardgaming also supports the idea to combine hybrid way of learning by playing. でたとこレシピ (Detatoko Recipe) by team D is one of example on how the game persuade players to look for some clues from the internet and use it to achieve the game mission. The game shares some ingredients and players have to create recipes creatively from those ingredients. If they miss one or two ingredients, the points will be reduced. So, they have to search some references from the internet to verify that their proposed recipes are valid.

 

In summary, my impression of joining SBGJ 2021 is the sense of optimism that everyone can make a game from scratch. Inclusivity is another keyword that I found after joining all sessions. participants come from different backgrounds and are able to work together and unite their ideas through making games. Moreover, I am surprised that the graphic design of all prototypes are visually impressive. My experience of joining online SBGJ 2021 brings me a new perspective of the gaming world in Japan.

 

On my last note, I would like to express big gratitude to Ota-sensei for this opportunity and also all participants who were kind and warm to allow me who doesn’t speak Japanese to participate in the game testing. This experience will enrich my study and also future work as an educator. Using my native language, I want to say “Terima kasih!” (ありがとうございました!)

 

 

 

 

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