Review of Sashingo: Exploring Japanese Through Photography

Sashingo: Learn Japanese With Photography captures a straightforward concept right from its title. The game places you in a charmingly small-scale model of Shibuya, Tokyo, with nothing but a camera in hand. As you wander around, the only tool at your disposal is a small polaroid camera. When you snap a picture, the camera zeros in on a single object within the frame, providing you with both the Japanese words and their corresponding Hiragana or Katakana characters. While there aren’t any rigid objectives to meet, the game does encourage you to uncover all the words scattered across the map and compile these snapshots into your album.

I find this open-ended nature of Sashingo to be an inventive and enjoyable way to introduce players to basic Japanese vocabulary. You can opt to take a mini-exam where you’re shown a word and tasked with locating that object in the game. It makes for a delightful blend of exploration and real-world language learning. Sashingo really excels with this educational method. Words are pronounced clearly for the player, and there’s a comprehensive manual with useful phrases to practice for basic Japanese communication. Compared to something like Duolingo, which is an effective tool, Sashingo has a more engaging approach. Learning and practicing vocabulary here doesn’t seem like a chore; rather, it gives you the autonomy to direct your learning journey, choosing which words to focus on expanding.

Having always held a soft spot for Japan and having traveled there several times, the language has remained somewhat elusive for me. I’ve used Duolingo, and my partner has taken a fair share of formal Japanese courses. The true hurdle in learning any language, though, lies in consistent practice and the necessity to actively use it in conversation. Sashingo straddles a peculiar position; while it employs sound educational strategies to introduce Japanese terms, it doesn’t quite serve as the best first step for language novices. It somewhat bypasses the essentials of language interaction, which are crucial for grasping how the language operates in real life. The manual elaborates a bit on practical situations, but ultimately, it boils down to reading and listening to selected phrases—a method that doesn’t quite implant itself through practice within the game environment.

Nonetheless, my partner found watching me play quite engaging and even lent a hand in learning new words. Her basic grasp of Japanese—thanks to her lessons—helped her recognize everyday items like bottles, bicycles, and traffic lights, while she also picked up new terms not covered in her classes, like construction site, garbage bin, and cardboard box. This is where Sashingo truly shines, as a supplement to enhance vocabulary and a playful interactive practice resource. While the “game” aspect feels slightly underdeveloped, offering various filters you can unlock after passing tests, it doesn’t fully cater to those looking to express their personal photography flair. Features like a good zoom and focus are present, but the lack of camera tilt or selfie options makes the game feel more like an instructional tool than a photography game, which might disappoint photography enthusiasts like myself.

For those already on their language learning journey, Sashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography could serve as a delightful complementary resource. Its adorable art style and the scaled-down Shibuya offer a fun landscape to roam and expand your Japanese vocabulary. However, it doesn’t quite hit the mark as a standalone language learning method or as a full-fledged photography game. Still, if you’re planning a trip to Japan, it’s a charming way to pick up some vocabulary and phrases to practice once you’re there.