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Introduction to "The Philosophy of VTuber" – The Diversification of VTubers & Avatars as "Bodies" (Hiroki Yamano)
What exactly is a VTuber?
Recently, virtual YouTubers (VTubers) have been gaining increased attention. Their presence has spread beyond the online world, infiltrating our lives through collaborations with various companies and media expansions.
Hiroki Yamano from the University of Tokyo is working to philosophically explore VTubers and establish a new academic field called "The Philosophy of VTuber." What does it mean to philosophize about VTubers, and what kind of world can be seen through this lens?
In this article, we present the introduction to "The Philosophy of VTuber," which is deeply reflective of Yamano's own "VTuber experience."
PROFILE
Hiroki Yamano
Born in Tokyo in 1994. Graduated from Sophia University Faculty of Humanities, Department of History in 2017. Completed the Master's program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo, specializing in Comparative Literature and Culture, in 2019. Since then, he has been a special researcher for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science DC1 (finished his term in March 2022). Currently, he is in the doctoral program at the same graduate school. His specialization is philosophy (particularly the thought of Paul Ricoeur). He began research on "The Philosophy of VTuber (VTuberの哲学)" in 2022. His main work is "独学の思考法" (KodanSha Gendai ShinSho, 2022). He received the Japan Philosophical Society Excellent Paper Award in 2019 and the Young Researcher Encouragement Award from the Japan-France Philosophical Society in 2021. Under the philosophy of connecting the knowledge of philosophy with real society, he is dedicated to widely disseminating the "significance" and "attractiveness" of philosophy.
(Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ricoeur1913)
(Profile photo: Rena Shimada)
In a room of a ryokan in Oita Prefecture, the hometown of Shirogane Noel, I witnessed a historic moment. It was the moment when Usada Pekora's channel surpassed 2 million subscribers. I happened to be present when Usada Pekora, the mood maker who always lifts the atmosphere and behaves brighter than anyone, revealed her "true feelings" to her listeners.
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