Category — Education

What I wouldn’t give to be a kid growing up in Osaka right now.  Not only is it the gourmet capital of Japan (mmm, sushi), their education board recently decreed that ownership of a Nintendo DS is now mandatory for all elementary and middle school children.  The handhelds are to be used as teaching tools in the district’s schools, with (I believe) the ministry footing the bill.  Hold your snide comments about Brain Age for now; while we may only see a few dubious educational uses for the DS on this side of the ocean, the Japanese market is filled with a much broader range of educational ‘games’, including writing and speech coaches.  The DS’ touch screen is not a bad interface for these kinds of applications, and it wouldn’t take much investment by the educational powers that be in Osaka to develop more specialized programs for different classes.

There’s also nothing stopping these kids from playing Epic RPG XVIII on their brand new school-sponsored DSes the second they leave class.  Lucky brats.  (Check out these links to English and Japanese versions of the article)