Memories of Momotetsu: How I Learned Geography Without Studying

Geography suddenly becomes difficult when you try to memorize it.
Yet, when I was in elementary school, my grades in social studies were strangely good, even though I didn't really study.

Even when prefecture names appeared on tests, for some reason, my hand wouldn't stop writing.
I didn't just have a vague idea of where they were on the map; I knew their exact locations.

Thinking back, it's strange, but at the time, it felt normal.
However, I suddenly realized the reason why.

Come to think of it, I used to play Momotetsu...

I have no memory of ever properly studying geography.
And yet, the prefecture names and their locations were connected in my mind.

I wondered, why is that?

Isn't there something you've learned without realizing it, even though it wasn't studying?

Games and hobbies end up staying in your memory in surprising ways, don't they?

In Momotetsu, I always kept the name 'Momotaro' and ran around all over the place.

Head toward the destination, and when you arrive, buy properties. It was just that, but for some reason, I never got bored.

Closing the distance in one go with an Express Card, or flying somewhere by luck with a Warp Card...

When I got carried away, the Poverty God would latch onto me, and before I knew it, it would evolve into King Bombie, which was a disaster.

Running away while trying to pass the Poverty God onto other players, making a comeback, and laughing again.

That chaotic fun still remains strangely vivid in my memory.

Back then, I wasn't studying geography.
I was just traveling while playing.

But along the way, I learned things like, 'Oh, Okinawa is this far away.'
Or, 'Hawaii isn't in Japan.'

Things that are obvious to me now were fresh surprises back then.

And those surprises, I think, unconsciously carved a sense of place into my mind.

Before I encountered Momotetsu, my social studies test scores were honestly nothing special.

I didn't hate it, but I couldn't say I was good at it either. I remember my scores being somewhat ambiguous.

However, after I started playing Momotetsu, my lackluster grades began to change little by little.

It wasn't that I made a resolution and studied social studies intensely.

I don't have many memories of putting in effort, like taking diligent notes or going through workbooks multiple times.

Even so, for some reason, the names of the prefectures and their locations started to connect in my mind. Before I knew it, I had also become interested in my atlas.

I would open the atlas because I wanted to find the place names that appeared in Momotetsu.

It wasn't just a one-time look; I would look back at it whenever I remembered.

Eventually, I had touched it so many times that the edges of the pages started to get a bit worn.

As I kept looking back at the atlas like that, the locations of the prefectures naturally stuck in my head.

By the time I was in elementary school, I could identify them quite accurately, not just roughly.

Back then, I didn't feel like I had improved through effort.

I think I was probably the type who grows through exposure rather than the effort-based type.

I owe it to Momotetsu that I was able to realize that.

Studying helps your scores improve if you put in the effort. That is probably true.

But at the same time, there are people who are not good at studying, and even if they don't hate it, there are people who don't want to go as far as putting in the energy to do it.

I was exactly in the middle back then. It wasn't that I hated studying, but I wasn't the type who loved studying enough to solve workbooks on my own initiative.

That's why I think it was significant that I was able to encounter something like Momotetsu and develop an interest there.

It's fun, so I engage with it. While I'm engaging with it, it naturally enters my mind. That feeling is closer to something I acquired before I knew it, rather than something I learned through hard work.

Perhaps things that are forced and crammed in fade away as time passes.

But things that enter your mind naturally tend to stick surprisingly well.

That might be why, even now, when I picture a map, the feeling from those days comes back to me.

I realized it after I became an adult.
Perhaps it wasn't that I lacked effort, but simply that the entry point wasn't right for me.

If there is something you are struggling to memorize right now, where is your entry point?

If you'd like, please tell me just one thing you learned naturally through play or a hobby 😸