interviewed by Alexander Hurezeanu
Broadcast date: October 28, 2026
Producer: Jeremy Andriano
In this first special episode of Season 5 of the Unarchived podcast, Dr. Alexander Hurezeanu interviews Dr. Bryan Hikari Hartzheim, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies at Waseda University, Japan (https://www.waseda.jp/fire/gsiccs/faculty-en/2022/07/06/6423/). Dr. Hartzheim’s research focuses on Japanese popular and digital culture, and he is the author of Hideo Kojima Progressive Game Design from Metal Gear to Death Stranding (2023), part of the Influential Video Game Designers series published by Bloomsbury Academic.
In this interview, Dr. Hartzheim and Dr. Hurezeanu discuss the field Japanese game studies, Hideo Kojima, and Japanese indie games.
Games mentioned in the episode:
- Unreal Life: https://www.unreal-life.net/
- Enjoy the Diner: https://www.wakuwakugames.com/enjoythediner
- Kemono Teatime (Steam Page): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2698470/Kemono_Teatime/
