The term ‘cybercultures’ includes a wide variety of cultural, artistic and technological products, many of which find their origins in the East Asia region. Ranging from the massive scale of the Japanese video games industry (both in terms of hardware and software) to the innovative and exciting developments in virtual-worlds in Korea, East Asia is the international hothouse of cyber-production. However, it is not only the case that East Asia is the origin of culturally-odourless technological products; it is also the case that these products (and the ways in which the various East Asian societies interact with them) are culturally embedded.

Hence, it becomes interesting to ask political, sociological, anthropological and philosophical questions about cyberculture from the perspective of East Asian Studies. Does the explosive, worldwide popularity of the Nintendo DS mean that Japan has become a new centre of cultural globalisation? Or, is it the case that differing aesthetic, normative and thematic preferences will always be a barrier to the ‘Japanization’ of the West (or the Westernization of Asia)? Given the incredible penetration of the internet in East Asia (2005: 86 million internet users in Japan (67% penetration); 34 million in South Korea (67% penetration); 14.5 million in Taiwan (65% penetration); (representing about 34 million people), 5 million in Hong Kong (68% penetration); and 162 million in China (which is only 12% penetration), what kind of cybercultures and subcultures have developed around internet use in that region, and how might they compare with similar movements in Europe or the USA?

Virtual Ninja Project: launches 29 September 2010-- Ninja Enlightenment

Through a series of questionnaires and other activities, virtualninja.net seeks to explore the question of whether (or under what kinds of conditions) training for violence in videogames is analagous with training for violence in the 'real' martial arts. That is, when (if ever) can playing 'Ninja Gaiden' or even 'Halo' be understood as an exercise in spiritual cultivation?

(advertisement appearing in the 'Edge' magazine, October 2010 -- thanks to Drew Banks!)