Mobile is massive in Japan because it embraces just how big it can be

• Japan is the home of many popular mobile games and a massive scene of its own
• But despite that it's still shrouded in an air of mystique
• Here's what I found when I went boots on the ground in Tokyo

So, the Tokyo Game Show is now (at least where we’re concerned) a distant memory. And if you haven’t already read my piece talking about the show itself, now is your cue to do so! But, as you may remember I wasn’t just in Japan to attend TGS, I was also there to see the country itself.

And in between visiting some key tourist attractions ranging from temples to restaurants, I noticed a few things. We all know of Japan as that pseudo-mythical promised land of nerddom, where everything your geeky heart could desire is laid bare before you.

But that’s only a small segment of the country, and it’s far more interesting to talk about where you do (and don’t) see the offerings for things such as, oh I don’t know, mobile gaming. Yes, we’re doing a bit of cultural anthropology!

So, from someone who visited, here’s what I thought of the mobile gaming scene in Japan

While you may be lucky to spot a few real-life adverts for major games like Candy Crush or Clash of Clans that have mainstream appeal here in the West, in Japan you can spot adverts from games like Genshin Impact, Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Uma Musume: Pretty Derby all on prominent display. Add onto that the even rarer sight of billboard trucks blaring out slogans in certain areas and it’s safe to say that the average mobile gamer in Japan is far more easily exposed to these games than anywhere else.

It’s interesting as well to note that when you walk into bookstores you may not be surprised to find manga and light novels on prominent display (at least compared to the West where they’re still more specialist). But you may be surprised to find that many mobile games have spin-off media on that fills the shelves, perhaps a result of the heavier emphasis on story making them ripe for additional comics and other additions.

But, it’s also important to burst the bubble of Japan being some kind of otaku paradise. The fact is that most places will boast advertising and imagery you’d expect anywhere else; for holiday packages, insurance, clothing and other daily necessities. However, when you get into widely-known hotspots for shopping like Akihabara or Nakano Gallery, this trend abruptly shifts to the anime-esque, neon-soaked kitsch we’re all too often taught to solely associate with Japan.

Where this advertising is present it’s virtually ubiquitous, and it can be quite jarring to see cultural juggernauts even the West knows, like One Piece, on equal footing if not overshadowed by immense billboards and posters promoting gacha games like Nikke and Genshin. Given that the average Akihabara visitor is there to spend disposable income, it should be of no surprise that this is also an opportunity to lure in those lucrative spenders.

Of course, over here we’re only just now beginning to grasp the merchandising phenomenon that Japan has cultivated over the years. It’s often said that merchandising is just as lucrative as direct income, and with gachapon machines, figurines, posters and more all on offer (not to mention pop-up shops and collabs) you’d be hard-pressed not to find something that’s in your price range you’d want to pop on your dedicated nerd shelf.

Further to the above, manga and other spin-off media are also prominent. Perhaps the easiest, and most prominent, example is Uma Musume. The horse girl racing series was only the latest example of odd overseas media for Westerners to scoff and roll their eyes at when it first debuted back in the late 2010s. But years later it has exploded into its own multimedia series featuring anime, movies, soundtrack CDs and more!

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Whether that’s anime, collaboration events, merchandise, or manga, Uma Musume is the biggest example of how a successful game can be mined for all manner of new revenue streams. Compared to something like Clash of Clans, which most players only see in the form of YouTube advertisements and the occasional plush toy, you see why these games are more visible.

If you’ve spent any time on the Tokyo Metro you know that idle conversation isn’t a typical pastime. Most people are just concerned with getting from point A to point B with minimum hassle, and aren’t particularly eager to chat with random strangers or even friends in the often-cramped confines of a train car at peak rush hour.

But this also means you can easily spy a great many people playing games. Hyper-casual type puzzle stuff is pretty much ubiquitous, especially since the Tokyo Metro is fast enough that you’re rarely on it for more than a half-hour at the longest. It’s easy to see why so many games developed in Japan have wholeheartedly embraced the idea of AFK rewards or other short-term play options for the average Japanese commuter.

While it may be common for some among us to stroke their chins and dismiss the anime-esque, character-centric themes of many games as being some inscrutable quirk of Japanese culture, when you actually pay attention it’s quite easy to understand. 

Japanese players, it seems, are more prone to identify with characters in a game rather than insert themselves into a role, so to speak. Hence the popularity not just of gacha, but also games based on anime and manga, as well as sports. Familiar faces both real and fictional are more likely to entice players than promises of abstract action and appear prominently on store pages and icons for the top-grossing and most popular games.

And this also furthers the appeal of stuff like merchandising. Sure, you may recognise Ursula from Merge Mansion at a glance, but would you spend money on a plush toy? Now compared to the fact that the dozens of horse girls in something like Uma Musume almost all have merchandise, you can see that fans are dedicated to their particular favourite.

And now the big thing to address. I’m sure there are plenty of people who could pick apart the often male-focused, girl-centric nature of many games (like Nikke) and use it to dissect the Japanese gaming market as a whole (and make even broader sweeping statements culturally). But while they may be rarer, female players aren’t necessarily all that different to male gamers in Japan (at least where advertising is concerned).

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You need only look as far as Twisted Wonderland, a Disney-based title that recasts familiar faces as stylish male takes on classic villains, to see that that female fans are catered to just as well as (if not in quite the same way) as their male equivalent; educated fans will recognise the name Yana Tobos as well as their work in this title in particular. This extends even to cosplayers at gaming booths, as while they weren’t as prominent as female actors, males were not a rare sight either.

I think the important thing to remember is that while the internet and mass media may have made us more aware of countries beyond our own, you can only really begin to grasp the identity and nature of a place by actually being there, as tough as that may sound.

It certainly makes me curious to think where I might end up next, and what else I may see…but that’s a topic for another day.