By combining game design with faculty-guided research, the JapanLab model provides an intensive, hands-on learning experience in which students deepen their knowledge of Japan, build practical digital skills, and produce high-quality educational resources for use in the classroom. The Department of Asian Studies was created in 1994 to provide a focus within The University of Texas at Austin for the creation and dissemination of knowledge about Asia, principally East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) and South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan).