From the introduction:
In designing the Kabo game, we hope that experienced Gamemasters will be able to jump right into the game even if they are not specifically familiar with Korean history. Although this particular game is set in Korea, we believe that it provides a window for the consideration of the political, social, and cultural crises faced by all of East Asia as Korea, China, and Japan sought to deal with threats presented by Western imperialism in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Koreans, in grappling with the question of reform, drew from their own rich intellectual heritage and their direct experiences with the West, but they also sought models in the ideas formulated in China and Japan. Hence we have included primary source materials from the Chinese and Japanese reform movements. We have also tried to encourage students to engage with Chinese and Japanese ideas and to understand Korea within the larger East Asian context by stipulating that the best writing assignments will be those that make use of Chinese and Japanese materials in additional to Korean materials