The ZEN University Content Industry History Archive Research Center (HARC) released the first installment of its "Oral History Collection" on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, which contains video and transcripts of testimonies from industry leaders who have been active in various fields related to the Japanese content industry.

The collection preserves valuable testimonies from the development of Japan's content industry as academic digital data, including those from Shirogumi Co., Ltd. founder Tatsuo Shimamura, who worked on the VFX for the film "Godzilla-1.0," which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards, Enix Co., Ltd. founder Yasuhiro Fukushima, who brought the Dragon Quest game series to the world, and Machiko Satonaka, known for her manga works including "Aries no Otome-tachi." These collections are posted on the HARC website and in the database of the International Joint Research Center for Japanese Cultural Resources, an international joint use and research center certified by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and are available for anyone to freely view as research materials.

Passing on valuable testimonies on the development of Japan's content industry to the next generation as a historical asset

HARC's oral history collection is an effort to leave behind for the next generation the testimonies of people who have been active in the content industry, such as games, animation, and manga, and in the fields of IT and internet culture that have created them, in the form of video and transcript materials.

While Japan's content industry has contributed to improving its international cultural influence and revitalizing the economy, not only are many of the testimonies of those who have supported it behind the scenes already being lost, but there are not many objective critiques or research results based on historical facts. By making oral history available as a historical asset for social use such as research, education, and business creation, HARC hopes to pass on knowledge to the next generation of the content industry. We have already conducted interviews with over 60 people, and plan to continue to release them as part of our oral history collection.

[Oral History Collection 1st Release List] *Titles omitted

<IT>

Goto Tomio (former director of NEC Corporation/Japan Personal Computer Museum, developer of the microcomputer kit "TK-80")

Suga Masao (former Toshiba Corporation/developer of "Dynabook" and inventor of "SD card")

Murakami Norio (former CEO of Google Japan)

<Game>

Erikawa Keiko (Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors of Koei Tecmo Holdings Co., Ltd.)

Erikawa Yoichi (CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Koei Tecmo Holdings Co., Ltd./Founder)

Fukushima Yasuhiro (Founder of the former Enix Co., Ltd.)

Yamashita Shigeru (Advisor to Sega Fave Co., Ltd./former Chairman of the Japan Amusement Industry Association)

<Manga>

Satonaka Machiko (Manga artist/"The Maidens of Aries", "Rainbow on the Sky", etc.)

<Animation>

Ogawa Yoichi (Shirogumi Co., Ltd.) President and CEO)

Sunao Katabuchi (animation film director / In This Corner of the World, etc.)

Tatsuo Shimamura (founder of Shirogumi Co., Ltd.)

Keiichi Hara (animation director / Crayon Shin-chan, etc.)

<Internet culture>

Jun Murai (computer scientist / "father of the Internet in Japan")

Takashi Yamakawa (former Nissho Iwai Corporation / contributed to the creation of NiftyServe)

and others

◆Public pages

・ZEN University HARC oral history collection:

https://zen.ac.jp/harc/archives/modern_history/oral_history/

・Ritsumeikan University ARC database published Database in collaboration with ARC (ZEN University HARC oral history collection): https://www.dh-jac.net/db2/video/search_2024d40.php

A special lecture will also be held to consider the archive of Japan's expressive cultural resources

In addition, oral history A special lecture, "Learn, Create, Preserve 'Art Entertainment' - From Tradition to the Present," will be held on Wednesday, July 23rd at 1:00pm to commemorate the joint research and academic exchange between ZEN University HARC and Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center (ARC). Focusing on "learning," "creating," and "preserving" Japan's expressive cultural resources, the lecture will discuss the importance of archives, the efforts of both centers, and the outlook for cultural creation for the future. This lecture will be streamed free of charge on YouTube and Niconico Live Broadcast.

In addition, on Monday, July 28th, a special program will be broadcast in collaboration with the live broadcast program "Nico Nico Museum," which tours art museums and other venues with expert commentary. Oral History The collection will be treated as a "museum," and HARC Director Hosoi and Advisor Gunji will guide the museum along with writer/editor Mari Hashimoto and writer/game creator Takamitsu Yamamoto.

[Special lecture to commemorate the conclusion of the joint research agreement: "Learning, creating, and preserving 'art and entertainment' - from tradition to the present" summary]

Date and time: Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 13:00-14:30

Speakers: Akama Ryo (Director of the ARC Center, Ritsumeikan University), Hosoi Koichi (Director of HARC, ZEN University) *Titles omitted

Moderator: Gunji Satoshi (Advisor to HARC, ZEN University)

Organizers: ZEN University Content Industry History Archive Research Center (HARC), Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center (ARC)

Contents

Akama Ryo: "Creating Archives as Art and Entertainment"

Hosoi Koichi: "Archive Strategies for Art and Entertainment Connecting Cultural Preservation and Creativity"

Panel discussion: "Learning, Creating, and Preserving Art and Entertainment"

Streaming URL

Niconico Live Broadcast: https://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv348097637

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/OGohxGBcwf4

[Nico Nico Museum Special Program Summary]

・Program title: Collecting, archiving, and researching the "testimonies" of key figures in the content industry, including the founder of Shirogumi, which handles the VFX for "Godzilla-1.0," the founder of Enix, and the father of the Japanese Internet [Nico Nico Museum]

・Date and time: Monday, July 28, 2025, 7:00pm-8:30pm

・Cast: Hosoi Koichi (Director of ZEN University HARC), Gunji Satoshi (ZEN University HARC Advisor), Hashimoto Mari (Writer/Editor), Yamamoto Takamitsu (Writer/Game Creator) *Titles omitted

・Content: Oral histories released by ZEN University HARC The collection will be introduced with commentary.

・Streaming URL: https://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv348143412

❙ About Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center

Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center (ARC) is a digital public humanities promotion center that digitally archives and "visualizes" Japan's cultural and artistic resources. Since its establishment in 1998, it has been active as a promoter of digital humanities using digital archive technology, and has been selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's 21st Century COE Program and Global COE Program. Since 2019, it has been certified as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's International Joint Research Center for Digital Archives of Japanese Cultural Resources (ARC-iJAC). Currently, it aims to realize digital public humanities that activate intellectual production activities by making the general public use huge data archives.

More information about Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center▶ https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/