The First Social Systems Gaming of Japan: Knowing What “ENREN” of the Total War Research Institute Was

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  • 日本における社会システム・ゲーミングの創始：総力戦研究所の演練
  • ニホン ニ オケル シャカイ システム ・ ゲーミング ノ ソウシ : ソウ リキセン ケンキュウジョ ノ エンレン

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<p>Research on “ENREN”, an unfortunately vanished Japanese term meaning a gaming simulation, was pioneered in June-November 1941 in Japan. A national graduate school of gaming was established under the administration of a civilian Prime Minister on September 30, 1940. However, the actual name of the school was the Total War Research Institute which seemed to be supposedly identical to be one of subordinate agencies of the US military services at that time. In 1950s, the Rand Corporation probably first reported this gaming as a war game which they focused intensively with mathematical effort. Until the school closed on March 31, 1945 due to aggravation of the war situation, over 100 graduates, almost all who were not military people but civilians, had graduated from the school. This paper examines extensively the first social systems gaming developed by the school in order to show that the first Japanese gaming simulation was not a war game, but a policy exercise, more precisely a policy formation exercise involving 29 civilians, who were some professors from colleges and many junior executives from the public and private sectors, as well as only four military officers.</p>

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