If you’re not very familiar with Japanese pop culture, you may be surprised that this game, Where am I? Alice in a Mad Tea Party, was designed there and not somewhere in the West. Let's take a look at just how Alice has left her imprint on Japanese culture!

Lewis Carroll’s stories Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) first arrived in Japan as an adaptation rather than a direct translation in 1899, and over the next 20 years, several versions came out with some being more true to the original texts than others. Some interesting changes were made in those early translations, such as the Queen’s tarts being changed into manju steamed buns for example. The name ‘Alice’ became a popular girl’s name by 1920 in Japan, and there are 135 ways to write the name ‘Alice’ in Japanese using kanji (Japanese characters). The books have now been translated into Japanese more than 500 times, resulting in more editions of these works in Japanese than any other language except English according to Hawaii University Press.

While the original stories were familiar, it was Disney’s 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland that truly captured widespread popularity in Japan, which was released there in 1953. From that point on, the imagery and characters of Alice in Wonderland became commonplace in Japan, and Disney-licensed Alice in Wonderland-themed merchandise such as stationary, puzzles, picture books, and clothing were all sold through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Those products (and more) continued in the 1980s and beyond, but the 80s and beyond is where Alice’s fashion, imagery, and story started to more heavily influence various facets of Japanese media and culture. Today, Tokyo Disneyland has The Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall cafeteria/restaurant and also a cup spinning ride called Alice’s Tea Party (known as Mad Tea Party in the USA).

In 1983, Alice debuted in her very own Japanese anime called Fushigi no Kuni no Alice! The anime follows both books and ran until 1984 with a total of 52 episodes! The television series was a Japanese-German co-production between Nippon Animation and Apollo Films and has been dubbed into many languages at this point. Have you watched it?

NHK is the national public broadcasting station of Japan–similar to the BBC of the UK or PBS of the USA. On NHK’s website, I found a short video from 1985 of a live action adaptation of Alice. It’s only about 5 minutes long and I found it pretty entertaining! There are no subtitles but it’s relatively easy to understand just by the context. If you find the continuation of it, please let me know! You can watch it here:  https://www2.nhk.or.jp/archives/movies/?id=D0009043873_00000
Also in 1985, a Japanese variety show called ‘What a Fantastic Night!’ aired a live action special called What a Fantastic Night! Alice in Wonderland. It can be seen on YouTube under that same name. It’s a little wild to be honest but no subtitles unfortunately.

A subculture of Japanese fashion called lolita fashion became popular during the 90s, and it is highly influenced by Victorian clothing and styles from the Rococo period. Within lolita fashion, the fashion of Alice and the characters within her stories have had a heavy influence – Lolita fashion brands such as Angelic Pretty or Baby, The Stars Shine Bright often featured Alice-specific collections, and there have even been lolita fashion magazines like Alice Deco that were named after Alice in Wonderland. If you are into fashion, then you may already know about lolita fashion, and if not, maybe it’s time for you to check it out! It still has a large following today.

If you read Japanese manga or watch Japanese anime much, you’ll definitely start to see Alice references come up often. It may be a white rabbit, or a character actually named Alice, or the story alludes to Alice’s adventures. Sometimes it’s much more direct. A simple search on the internet can give you quite a list of anime and manga that have Alice themes and/or characters. Some say that Studio Ghibli’s award winning animated film ‘Spirited Away’ is a Japanese adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Whether it was supposed to be that intentionally isn’t confirmed, but the parallels are many. At the very least, the creator, Hayao Miyazaki, who was both the writer and director, would have been familiar with Alice and her story. (Also, it’s an amazing movie so watch it if you haven’t already!)

Did you know there are Alice-themed cafés and restaurants in Japan? Or at least there used to be! There were many in Tokyo, and a few in other cities like Osaka or Nagoya. However, many have closed down over the last few years. One restaurant that is still open though in Tokyo is named Alice in Fantasy Book. While I’m not sure what other cafes are still open, it’d be worth investigating if you travel to Japan and love Alice!

As you can see from all of this, Alice and her stories have had a huge influence on Japanese culture that began over a century ago! We at Japanime Games are so excited that we have the opportunity to bring Alice in the board game space outside of Japan with this beautiful and fun game that is also so thematic!

If you’d like to dive into even more history and pop culture about Alice in Japan, check out these sources!

We’re funded! We’re beyond thrilled that we’ve hit our pledge goal and so grateful to you all. This game has a wonderful table presence and is super fun to play and easy to learn, and we know you’ll love it!

If you’re familiar with our library of board games, you may notice Where am I? Alice in a Mad Tea Party is a little different from our other games. Most of Japanime Games’ board games feature Japanese anime-style art, so why did we want to publish this game that doesn’t have that same art style? Well aside from the fact that the game is gorgeous and has great mechanics, it is also part of our mission to bring Japan to you, and this game–the Red edition– was designed and originally published by Japanese publisher GOTTA2 in 2020 via Kickstarter.

GOTTA2 has their own library of games mainly offered only in Japan (unless you’re lucky enough to catch them at one of the big board game conventions like Essen Spiel in Germany), and they also have a board game cafe in Tokyo–how wonderful is that?! If you ever visit Tokyo, that could be a fun stop!

As mentioned in the campaign, in collaboration with GOTTA2, we have made various updates to the Red edition such as an updated rulesheet to make the rules more clear as well as additional mechanics to play 5-8 players (when combined with the Blue edition), and an extra 16 ‘reasoning’ cards will be included in our Red edition to enable that 5-8 player gameplay. The Blue edition is brand new to the scene with no previous release with all new characters and a miniature porcelain tea set with blue flowers and gold trim (which goes so well with the red flowers and gold trim on the Red edition’s porcelain set). 

We can’t thank you all enough and we’re beyond excited that you’ve joined us in this campaign!

Please note: The standalone Red edition and Blue edition are 2-4 player games but can be combined for 2-8 player play. They are also cross compatible if one player wants to use a character from the other edition. If you are one of the lucky ones that already own the previous Red edition released by GOTTA2, you can snag the Add-on 'Upgrade Pack for Owners of the Previous Red Box' to get the extra 16 'reasoning' cards you'd need along with a Blue edition for 5-8 player play.