Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how the ‘serious play’ engendered by the card game Ranran Lunch is used as a practice of ethical and empathic learning, and asks, what kind of critical and ethical work does cultivating affects do in the context of food allergy education programs in Japan?

Paper long abstract:

Brightly coloured cards with pictures of dishes of food are stacked neatly into two on the table: one stack are menu cards, the other are allergen cards. A free download on the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare website, created by a paediatric allergist and thereafter printed by a Japanese food allergy NPO in collaboration with Nippon Foundation for their ‘Food Allergy Patient Support Project’, this card game is described on the NPO website as: "A campaign where adults play and think seriously". The NPO advises groups to play the game and subsequently do a workshop or study session about food allergies, suggesting that participants discuss what they both learnt and felt whilst they were playing. Aimed squarely at adults, whilst being simple enough for children to play, the cards have a dual purpose: to get adults to have fun and relax through play, and then to prompt learning about allergens in common dishes whilst cultivating an understanding of the experiences and feelings of those with food allergies. This initiative expands ideas of responsibility beyond the allergic individual to also encourage non-allergic people in wider society to be aware, knowledgeable, and engaged. This paper ethnographically explores how the ‘serious play’ engendered by this card game is being used as a strategy and practice for ethical and empathic learning of food allergy realities and asks, what kind of critical and ethical work does cultivating affects do in the context of food allergy education programs in Japan?