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ABSTRACT
This paper contributes a genealogical perspective to the social sciences study of robots in Japan, proposing a widely applicable research on “robot cultures.” The author discusses the corporate and governmental strategies and mechanisms that are shaping a national robot culture through establishing robot “lineages” and a national robot history which can have significant implications for both humans and robots. The paper contributes discussions on monozukuri (manufacturing) and Nihonjinron (theories on “Japaneseness”) to the existing anthropological consideration of robots, by examining links between monozukuri and robots, robot genealogy, popular culture and robots, and different social rituals and sites that help the enculturation of robots. The paper draws attention to the power relations and hegemonies of robot culture which also imply the existence of plurality and diversity that will require further scholarly attention as the robot phenomenon unfolds.
KEYWORDS:
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Simon Marvin, Aidan H While and Ling Tang for reading my drafts and giving feedback. I also wish to thank the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford and the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield for their support during the writing of this paper as well as to the editor and the reviewers for their helpful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributor
Mateja Kovacic is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow based at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford. She specializes in the history of technology and science in Europe and Japan as well as the interdisciplinary study of robots in and beyond Japan.
Notes
1 For a comprehensive overview of government plans, programs and policies, see Wagner Citation2013 and Robertson Citation2018.
2 METI Citation2015.
3 Robertson Citation2007.
4 Robertson Citation2007; Sabanovic Citation2010.
5 The term is discussed by Volti, Citation2014.
6 Sone Citation2017, 21.
7 Nakayama Citation2006, 16.
8 As another example that Shinzō Abe’s politics is about restoring old social values rather than introducing new ones, “innovation” is rephrased in the Abe cabinet’s policy Innovation 25 to mean “renovation” and “renewal” (Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet Citation2008).
9 “Automata” is derived from the Greek word automatos, “moving of one’s own will.” These automata are sometimes referred to as proto-robots, to demarcate contemporary, almost autonomously acting machines from automata, which moved in a pre-set action and order by the use of wind, air, water, and clockwork.
10 Jasanoff Citation2004, 409.
11 Star and Griesemer Citation1989.
12 Foucault Citation1995, 25.
13 Befu Citation2001, 17–39.
14 Watsuji Citation1961 (first published in1935).
15 Kawashima Citation1950.
16 Doi Citation1971.
17 Sabata Citation1964.
18 Saitō Citation1972.
19 Befu Citation2001, 14–15.
20 Pringle Citation2010, n.d.
21 METI Citation2017.
22 See for instance Kuki Shūzō: Iki no kōzō (Citation1930).
23 The University of Tokyo Citationn.d.
24 Wallenius Citation2018.
25 Kaplan Citation2004, 2 and 4.
26 SA partners Citation2012, 2.
27 See Robertson Citation2007; Citation2014; Citation2018.
28 METI Citation2015.
29 Bases are chemicals which make up strands of DNA: T – thymine, A – adenine, G – guanine, C – cytosine.
30 Toshiba prides itself on inheriting what it refers to as an unbroken string of 140 years of monozukuri DNA [Sōgyō irai 140-nen ni watari myakumyaku to tsuzuku monozukuri DNA wo uketsugi]
31 Yanmar Citation2017.
32 Mitsubishi Citation2017.
33 Sumida Local Brand Strategy, 3.
34 Ninth Generation Tamaya Shobei Appreciation Society.
35 Suzuki 1994, quoted by the Ninth Generation Tamaya Shobei Appreciation Society.
36 “It is not too much to say that these Edo Karakuri masters have built the foundation of what became the technology giant that is the Japan today” (Suematsu Citationn.d.).
37 See, for instance, Karakuri Tamaya (in Japanese) that features references to contemporary robots and newspapers articles on ASIMO as an introduction to karakuri ningyō.
38 Capek Citation2001.
39 In the original: 時期外れの中途入社で、たった１人で研修を受けていた私が、1番最初に言われたのが『アトムを作れ！』だった。[Jikihazure no chūto nyūsha de, tatta hitori de kenshū wo uketeita watashi ga, ichiban saisho ni iwareta no ga “Atomu wo tsukure!” datta.]. (Since I entered the industry, my training was all about only one thing; the first thing they told me was “Make Atom!”). Nishizaka Citation2002.
40 Robertson Citation2007.
41 Wagner Citation2010.
42 Sabanovic Citation2014.
43 In the original: 万年時計からはじまった情熱のＤＮＡ 驚き︕１３０ 年モノづくり物語. Toshiba 2005. Toshiba 130th Anniversary Event [The DNA of passion that began with the Ten-thousand-years-clock. A surprising 130-year story of monozukuri] held at the National Science Museum.
44 Hall Citation1980, 117.
45 Adas Citation2014, 1–16.
46 Unna authored numerous works of fiction, many of which had as a theme artificial humans or robots. Examples include Jinzō Ningen Efu-shi [Robot Mr. F] (1939), Jinzō Ningen Jiken [The Robot Incident] (1936), Jinzo ningen satsugai jiken [Robot Murder Case] (1931), Jinzo ningen no himitsu [Secret of the Robot] (1940), and Jinzo ningen hakase [The Robot Scientist] (1939).
47 A more detailed overview of twentieth-century science fiction robot history unfortunately exceeds the scope of this paper. Other important authors include the eugenics proponent Nagai Hisomu (1876–1957), Yumeno Kyūsaku (1889–1936), Shisui Matsuyama (n.d.) and Kunieda Shiro (1887–1943). For more on the topic see Itō Citation2010.
48 Time Citation1928.
49 Wilson Citation2011, 290.
50 Wilson Citation2011, 306.
51 For more on the topic see Schodt Citation2007.
52 As one example, Kodaira Noria, an industrial robot designer of Mitsubishi, has said: “I am very happy about being in the robot business. I’ve wanted to be in the robot business since I was a high-school boy. My dream was to make Tetsuwan Atomu.” Quoted in Menzel and D’Aluisio Citation2011, 196.
53 For more on this topic, see Schodt Citation1988; Hirose Citation2002; Itō Citation2010; Hornyak Citation2006; Wagner Citation2011; and Wagner Citation2013.
54 Ndanialis Citation2006, 41–64.
55 For instance, a paragraph on the difference between the Japanese and the Western brain inspired by Tadanobu Tsunoda’s The Japanese Brain (Citation1985).
56 A similar neo-traditionalism in the spheres of gender and family has been discussed by Robertson Citation2014.
57 METI Citation2011.
58 Sabanovic Citation2014, 10.
59 Robertson Citation2014 and Citation2018.
60 Ibid.
61 Robertson Citation2014, 592.
62 Van Gennep Citation2004; Turner Citation1997.
63 Takashimaya Citationn.d.
64 Sakura City Citation2014.
65 Sone Citation2017, 21.
66 Latour Citation2005.