The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has teamed up with the local startup Classroom Adventure to use the game “Ray no Shisso” (Ray’s Gone) for educational purposes.
The game is an educational simulation that reproduces the environment of social networking sites to expose the problem of “Yami Baito,” which literally translates as “shady part-time jobs.”
It’s an issue that has been on the rise recently in Japan, with young people lured by criminal organizations and tricked into committing crimes like scams, theft, or even outright robbery. The highly publicized daylight raid of a watch store in Ginza in 2023 is believed to be connected with “Yami Baito.”
In the game, you’re prompted to explore the social media account of Ray, a friend who disappeared after having been recruited to perform one of these shady part-time jobs, giving up his personal information and finding themselves unable to escape.
The goal is to educate the player to protect themselves through three relevant steps: “Don’t be targeted,” “Don’t be tricked,” and “Don’t get stuck.”
Players will experience being invited to perform that kind of criminal activity via DM on social media after being targeted because their online posts make them look like they need money or feel lonely. This educates them to reconsider how they communicate information about their lives.
By learning about the mental state of the character in the game, including their situation and worries, they’ll be able to recognize the methods used by recruiters to find their targets.
Players will also learn how seemingly ordinary job offers are actually linked to criminal activities, from the latest tricks to the slang terminology used. For instance, “cat hunting” is the lingo for “vehicle theft.”
One of the trickiest aspects of the “Yami Baito” is that once involved, it’s easy to be trapped and unable to escape the loop due to economic dependence or social isolation. The game lets you simulate the situation in which the character gets involved with a criminal organization and is unable to break free, experiencing the dangers involved.
The game also teaches the player what to do if they or their friends end up involved in a “Yami Baito,” including the importance of counseling and how to contact the police. Information about general, legal part-time jobs is also provided, helping users in telling the difference.
The initiative launched by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government involved a special lecture held in March 2025 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Adachi Shinden High School, involving approximately 450 first and second-year students.
The event included two parts. The first involved playing the game, while the second involved a lecture by an officer from the Metropolitan Police Department focusing on actual cases and how they can be tackled.
Participants were asked to fill out a survey after the experience, and 95% responded that they had gained useful knowledge about the topic.
Ray’s Gone was actually released in December 2024 and has since been used in approximately 50 educational institutions across Japan. Yet, this is the first time it’s been implemented in a high school in Tokyo in collaboration with the local government.
The developer, Classroom Adventure, is a startup founded by current students at Keio University. It’s known for the information literacy initiative “Ray’s Blog,” which focuses on fighting misinformation.
In 2024, it won the Tokyo Startup Gateway contest, beating the competition among 3,317 entries.
The company hopes to continue to solidify the collaboration with local governments to fight the problem of “Yami Baito” by using Ray’s Gone.
