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Seeking to address the general question, 'Where is Digital Asia?', this paper explores the various ways in which the digital and virtual realm interacts with the problematic and contested category of Asia. Beginning with a discussion of the relationship between Asia and Digital Asia, as both cartographic and ideological sites, it moves on to connect Digital Asia with the discourse of techno-Orientalism. Using the example of the videogame as an instance of a digital location that can be visited and explored, this article suggests that the gamic quality of interactivity adds a new, experiential dimension to the ideological structure of (techno-)Orientalism, hence positing the utility of a new form of 'Gamic Orientalism'. Focussing on the 'digitaldōjō' as the site of Gamic Orientalism and Digital Asiapar excellence, this paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which gamers represent their engagement with this site in a manner that echoes the way martial artists talk about the significance of their art as self-cultivation. Illustrated with texts from thebushidōcanon and interviews with gamers, this playful and experimental piece posits the possibility of 'virtualbushidō' as the ultimate expression of Gamic Orientalism, suggesting that Digital Asia is finally located in an ideologically conditioned mode of engagement with the digital medium rather than in any cartographically defined space.

AbstractThis paper experiments with the idea that travel writing could be a valid and useful mode through which to study certain videogames. By embracing the notions that space is a social construction and that the virtual worlds of some videogames constitute architectural spaces in a manner that is more than analogous to an urban space, it maintains that these constructed worlds are real places to visit, and hence that exploration within them is also real. Furthermore, the paper considers the ways in which travel in general, and travel in(to) videogames in particular, contributes to the experience of emancipation in technology-rich societies. Using the example of Japan (as one of the global powerhouses of videogame creation and consumption), the paper considers the interaction and intersection of the virtual and the actual, in mutually enriching and liberating ways, which are viewed in terms of their social and political function. It also cautions about the ethics and politics of knowledge involved in the deployment of travel writing as a method in the interrogation of videogames, concluding with a methodological sketch for a way ahead. It illustrates and demonstrates its argument with three original travelogues.

An icon of horror, the zombie blunders with apparent mindlessness, bringing only contagion and chaos. It has lost its ego, its individuality, its reasoning self. It is a repellent vision of posthumanity. Mindfulness is a therapeutic practice rooted in the meditative traditions of Buddhism. Liberated from the stresses and anxieties of capitalist society, practitioners escape the demands of an ego driven to exhaustion by instrumental rationality. This essay explores the growing interest in mindfulness meditation and flourishing portrayals of the zombie apocalypse in contemporary societies to suggest a connection between these models of (post)selfhood.

AbstractThis introduction to the inaugural issue ofAsiascape: Digital Asiareviews the debates about the impact that digital media have on culture, society, economics, and politics. The ubiquity of digital technology in various parts of the world has prompted questions about whether the ability to connect on a near-global scale with potentially billions of users has an emancipatory or even democratizing effect. In other words: are personal computers, smartphones, tablet computers, mobile gaming devices, and the digital infrastructure of the Internet 'liberation technologies'? This introduction examines arguments by both optimists and pessimists, and argues that in order to overcome simple dichotomies in the study of digital media, we need to study such media in the diverse social and historical contexts in which they are situated. The review further showcases the five research papers that comprise this special issue ofAsiascape: Digital Asia, each of which provides an insightful study of the diverse ways in whichicthave been deployed by citizens in different Asian contexts to profoundly shaped social, cultural, and political processes. What the discussion shows, is the need for academics to rethink how they can fruitfully explore the challenges and opportunities that digital media present in various contexts, and how they can contribute innovative theories, useful approaches, and much needed 'reality checks' to ongoing public discourse.