The Cultural Power of Robots in Japan

This chapter addresses an increasingly popular new topic for “rerouting” ethnographic inquiry: science and technology studies (STS) that examine how scientific knowledge is culturally produced. In particular, the chapter focuses on the cultural expression of humanoid robots in Japan and their social impact in society. Conducting fieldwork “at home” in Japan, this chapter shows that by deep participant observation in the daily lives of robot builders—through the construction of a robot, direct participation within the Japanese robotics community, and self-reflections recorded in a field journal—the author is able to understand and identify with the sociocultural world of Japanese robotics.