Play, Lege and Asobu: How the Concept of Play Is Defined in Danish and Japanese Contexts

2.1. Denmark and Japan

If you are studying the generality of a finding across nations (the country as the context of the study), selecting countries so as to maximise diversity along the dimension in question should allow you to explore the scope or universality of a phenomenon. (Ólafsson et al., 2013, p. 22)

[…] There is an urgent need to map children’s engagement with cultural texts, such as media texts, in a global context. (Marsh, 2010, p. 12)

These two quotes introduce valuable grounds for including two countries as the sources of data for my research: observing the generality of young children’s play practices with current technologies, such as tablets, in distinct contexts. Mobile technologies, such as tablets and smartphones from brands such as Samsung and Apple, have become ubiquitous in several countries. However, are current play practices with digital devices defining similar norms despite diverse cultural contexts? Technologies such as tablets are ‘always flavoured by the local as instantiated in routines, relationships and day-to-day operations, as well as by the beliefs, understandings and experiences of participants’ (Merchant, 2015, p. 6). Although I agree with this perception by Merchant (2015) in this research, I am not seeking to map the differences between Danish and Japanese children; instead, I set out to determine what types of play practices become universalised through tablet media. Play is a mediator of the interaction between child and device. Moreover, mapping digital play in transnational contexts facilitates thinking about future developments in both design and educational fields. I also wished to investigate whether there was a universal ‘play vocabulary’ when dealing with touch-sensitive devices, as they carry the same interfaces across cultures.

The first country was the base country of the research, Denmark. The second country had to be selected on the basis of several initial considerations. First, it should not be a country where the similarities between cultures were too obvious (with this criterion, several northern European countries were excluded). Second, the educational systems, mainly related to young childcare, should be equivalent to those encountered in Denmark (children do not learn to read or write until six or seven years of age), and this aspect helped me eliminate another set of countries, such as England and Spain. A third point concerned language access. It should be a country where I could interact with the children in their language. Both Japan and Brazil fulfilled these conditions; however, Brazil presented another variable, which is the wide social-economical differences between classes.

Although recent research regarding how Japanese and Danish students perceive and describe their expectations and relationship to school have emerged (Umino & Dammeyer, 2018), there is a gap in the literature regarding aspects of Danish and Japanese culture of playing. Japan, like Denmark, has a more stable and unified social-economic system, and, in that sense, is closer to Denmark though with a clear cultural distinction regarding language and play. In addition, Japanese culture is described as a technology-oriented culture (McGray, 2002, cited in Ito, Matsuda, & Okabe, 2006); therefore, it is valuable to assess how this orientation is lived and apprehended in this culture considering the pervasiveness of Western-designed gadgets, such as the iPad. Considering the early adoption of mobile phones (Ketai) and the I-mode in Japan, which is a system that in 1999 already offered many of the services attributed to current smartphones (Ito et al., 2006), Japanese culture has also embraced various forms of entertainment, including games, as a regular part of their culture (Kusahara, 2003). Playing or having fun is witnessed in Japanese daily life through a wide range of visible accounts and performances, from dress codes, icons and characters displayed on signs, traffic information and packaging, to a variety of toys carried on bags, and commuters playing on their phones (Ito, Okabe, & Tsuji, 2012). These performances compose some of the multimodal aspects of current communication practices pervasive in Japan and inform the cultural urban context of Japanese children (Yamada-Rice, 2013). Similarly, digital tablets offer multimodal ways of communicating and rich iconography.

In Denmark, as a Western country, various forms of play have been mostly linked to pastimes and children’s activities for many years. In more recent years, play perception has shifted with both the videogame market, catering for late teenagers and young adults, and smartphones, with which a range of users of all ages can engage while on the go; furthermore, play and games have entered the educational system as a way to engage students and promote learning (Ejsing-Duun & Skovbjerg, 2015). Besides this, computers and related technologies have entered the Danish school system both towards information and communications technology (ICT) literacy and as tools aiding baseline subjects such as Danish and Mathematics (Fróes & Tosca, 2018; Karin Levinsen, Ejsing-Duun, & Sørensen, 2013; Levinsen & Sørensen, 2008; Levinsen, Sørensen, Tosca, Ejsing-Duun, & Karoff, 2014; Sørensen, Audon, & Levinsen, 2010).

Although Danish and Japanese societies can differ in a number of aspects, there are aspects of play and games that have exceeded borders and become universal, such as chess and rock, paper, scissors. As people cross borders for work and life, pieces of their culture are carried with them, and several games and traditions have become adopted and incorporated in diverse ways. However, it is also true that some of these adaptations are adjusted to their new culture and change in the way they are interpreted, with small local adaptations tending to appear (Merchant, 2015). From songs and cards, to role-playing games, several commonalities and differences are encountered in various countries including the ones from this research.

What about tablet play? Based on my observations, there are several digital games and icons that are popular in both Denmark and Japan, such as characters and brands like Pokémon, LEGO, etc. These games and icons, together with several other media, are equivalent in both countries, in the form of TV shows, toys, characters, etc. These media are context dependent, and as such are absorbed and appropriated in these societies. In the case of tablet play, the digital interface of the device, combined with the apps and the ways of playing, is the same, with almost no local cultural adaptation. The tablet interfaces in Japan are the same as those in Denmark and follow a Western layout structure, with a left to right orientation, and while the apps can speak different languages, the digital scenarios and activities offered on the devices’ digital stores are almost identical. Children from both countries knew many of the same characters and applications installed on the devices used in the research. Consequently, the styles of play are expected to be of a similar character, with the types of interactions being dictated by the device and app designs. In order to better ground as well as challenge current and future perspectives of children’s digital play practices, it is valuable to consider how technology-related skills are developed and incorporated into these countries and their cultural contexts.

2.2. Lege and Asobu

In different languages and cultures, the term for play is defined and described in modes and forms, offering many subtleties in its meanings and uses (Huizinga, 1949; Karoff, 2013; Pesce, 2000; Sicart, 2014; Sutton-Smith, 2001; Weisberg, Zosh, Hirsh-Pasek, & Golinkoff, 2013).

In Danish, there are two main words used to define play: lege and spil (Lieberoth, n.d.). Lege refers to something that small children do, for example, they play house, play with dolls, play with dogs, etc. Lege is also used to describe a form of make-believe: she is playing as if pretending she is the queen; he is playing as if pretending he is a plane. This type of play should be differentiated from the act of playing a part in a play for the theatre, as actors spiller rather than leger (otherwise it would not be actual acting or spille, but pretending to try to act). So most activities by children are defined as lege, meaning nothing truly serious, but something fun, open and casual. When the verb is used for adults, it means an innocent attempt at an action, something of a light character or sometimes if something is done with extreme easiness and ability, e.g., Hun bager en kage som en leg; Baking a cake is child’s play for her. Such nuances of a term create a unique perception of the action of lege, giving it an array of scenarios and expectations. The verb at lege does not need to be complemented by a substantive, the action can be a complete action in itself, so one can say han/hun leger (he/she plays).

The term spille, which also translates into English as play, already indicates another very distinct meaning. The term originates from the German spil, meaning game (in Proto-Germanic it also meant dance and exercise). The Latin equivalent, jocor, was to make a joke, to think of something as fun, which resembles more the lege definition than that of spille. While lege has no set of rules bound to the perception of the word, the word spil already brings on its core meaning, a frame or structure. So in Danish one does not say spille med dukker (play with dolls) as playing with a doll has no set of recognised rules, instead the ways individual children play with their dolls might differ, so leger med dukker is the expression used. Spille needs a complement for its full meaning, one always says spille something or with something (plays something), such as (play) chess, as this is an identified game with a known set of rules. The term is also applied to games of chance and sports, such as spille Lotto (play the lottery) and spille fodbold (play football).

So from these terms, one can easily define the type of action pursued with various objects, including digital devices (Karoff & Johansen, 2014). Therefore, if the sentence lege (med) iPad is used, the purpose or the type of interaction being performed is not defined, i.e., it is not a ‘serious’ activity, meaning the child may be watching videos, playing on various apps, taking pictures, etc. All of these would fall into the lege category. However, when using the term spille, the sentence would be: spiller Angry Birds, meaning playing Angry Birds, a specific game with a specific set of rules. Spille can also be used for instruments, such as hun spiller klaver (she plays the piano) and acting hun spiller Juliet (she plays Juliet). In sum, spille indicates play bound by a set of rules. In my observations, Danish children used the term spille when referring to tablet play ¹ .

In the Japanese language, there are specific verbs for specific activities and this also applies to play. Instead of two words, the range of words for distinct play activities is much larger. For the sake of the focus of this study, I limit the definitions to better relate to my current discussion; the three words selected are asobu (遊ぶ), suru (する) and yaru (やる).

The first word, asobu, is a general word connoting play not limited to games or rules, i.e., asobu is used for any form of free play, ² entertainment or amusement. Asobu carries the sense of a non-intentional and an enjoyed activity and can be translated as the Danish definition of lege.

The remaining two words, suru (する) and yaru (やる), are very broad and related as verbs. Both share the meaning of ‘to do’, so it implicitly indicates an action depending on the word/substantive that precedes it – the anteceding word will define what the action is. In the case of videogames, the Japanese terms suru or yaru are primarily used. Comparatively, the terms suru and yaru are even broader than spille. However, like both the Danish and Japanese terms, they are tied to a structured action, thus suru and yaru can translate as spille when related to play-like activities, such as games. In the Japanese observations, all three words were used when talking about play and tablets, although asobu and suru prevailed.

Together with a wider range of actions and actors (Latour, 2005), oral language composes the sociocultural contexts of tablet use. Children participate in these contexts and flows between practices and artefacts while building their play (Medina & Wohlwen, 2014). Defining an activity is a way of framing the interaction. A brief analysis of the play terms of choice based on the observations indicates that whereas in Denmark playing with tablets is more commonly described as structured play (spille), in Japan the description appears to be looser, with asobu or free play being used to referring to the iPad in general when used by children, while suru and yaru were used more when describing playing with specific applications and games. ³

Another actor helping to build the larger context of young children’s lives and play practices are the day care institutions. Children spend long hours in these places, where they engage with people who do not belong to the child’s direct circles of family or relatives. Instead, children gain a rich social environment with other children of similar age and professionals who engage in helping the child to develop and grow. The descriptions of the Danish and Japanese care institutions that follow further depict my subjects’ social educational context.

2.3. Børnehave and Hoikuen

It is important to clarify the profiles of the institutions that collaborated in my study. Although both use the term kindergarten when speaking English, their structure and goals fit more closely with those of a preschool in the English definition, where pedagogues focus on motor skills and social abilities, with a lot of play and loose structures instead of primarily focusing on preparing children for school through teaching them the alphabet. In Denmark, it is not uncommon that children only learn the alphabet and learn to write at the age of six or seven when they formally enter the school system in grade zero, which corresponds with the English kindergarten. In both the Danish and Japanese institutions, children learn colours, shapes, numbers and sometimes, when interested, they also learn to write their own names, though this is not necessarily a requirement.

2.4. What Do I Mean When I Write…

With the purpose of facilitating the reading of this book, I have defined and incorporated this short glossary in this chapter. The concise glossary below specifies the meanings of the terms I use most frequently in the specific context of this book.

• Activities: The actual tasks that are offered from within an app. For example, the LEGO Duplo Food app includes different activities as part of a narrative. As the player selects the play button, he/she can choose what food to sell before setting up the sales outlet ready to receive customers by ‘opening’ doors, windows. The third activity involves receiving and putting the food away. The fourth activity is to prepare the customers’ orders. Many apps also offer different scenarios and other types of activities, such as puzzles, putting objects in specific places and matching colours. Other apps offer a number of games to be played, and by playing those games, the players earn points that allow them to buy different items in the main activity, as in Talking Tom.

• Apps: Digital applications common to mobile technologies, such as phones and tablets. I also use the term to refer to the applications that were installed in the devices.

• Book Creator: An application (app) whereby users can draw, take pictures, record sounds, etc. to create a multimodal digital book. The app also allows for importing pictures and videos from the camera roll. The app was developed by Red Jumper Limited, http://bookcreator.com/.

• Competence: The ability to do something (well).

• Children, young children or preschoolers: The children who participated in my observations, my research subjects.

• Games: Structured play. An activity where there is a somewhat defined path with a specific goal.

• Narrative: A story, description or account of events, experiences; a way of explaining, understanding events or representing a specific occasion or process reflecting or agreeing to a pre- established set of goals or values. In other words, the term goes beyond the literary definition, where a narrative is identified as a story or the style of how a story is told.

• Penmanship: The activity to learn to write clearly and beautifully. Also, means the skill to do so.

• Preschool(s): The institutions where I carried out my observations.

• Skill: Having the ability to execute well an activity or a task due to previously having done or practiced it.

• Tablets/digital devices/digital tablets: A device that can be personalised by users through the purchase and download of applications online. The device can be used both online and offline. Popular brands are Apple iPads and Samsung Tablet Notes.

2.5. Chapter Overview

The knowledge about play and play terms in Denmark and Japan, aligned with the glossary, set the stage for the next chapters. This short overview aims to inform and contextualise the spaces where I carried out my observations. In addition, some of the aspects I have described in this chapter return later when I further discuss my suggested typology and taxonomy. The following chapter further contextualises my field of research through the work of related researchers, which informs and culminate in my theoretical contribution later presented.