Esports entering Japanese schools as extracurriculars
Schools in Japan are starting to take up esports, and more than 40 high schools will take place in a national esports competition in December.
With help from tech company Third Wave Technologies, students at Mie Prefecture’s Matsusaka Prefectural High School of Commerce started their own esports club on October 24th. They are aiming to participate in the First National High School Esports Tournament where the games there will consist of League of Legends and Rocket League.
With no physical boundaries, anyone can get involved
The teams meet up after their normal school club activities end (around 5pm), and practice for the tournament. Some of the students can barely believe they are able to play games for their club activities that would normally only consist of music or sports at other schools.
The esports program is also showing promise for physically handicapped students, who would normally have trouble with joining extracurricular sports activities.
Preliminary rounds for the competition will take place in the beginning of December, with Third Wave Technologies supporting over 40 schools.
Already popular throughout the world, gaining traction in Japan
With competitions taking place all over the world, awareness of esports is spreading far and wide, with an already huge market share of over 660 million USD, and estimated to be more than 3 billion USD by 2022.
This, along with Japanese game companies joining forces to create the Japanese Esports Union, allows Japan to be involved in the already global esports scene little by little. With a push to also get involved in the Olympic Committee, Japan is really stepping up its esports game.