Hirofumi Katsuno
Biographic Data
| ID | 166209 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hirofumi Katsuno |
| GIVEN NAMES | Hirofumi |
| FAMILY NAME | Katsuno |
| SIGNATURE | KATSUNO H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Doshisha University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4133-2346 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Sensing authorship
Engineering Robots with Heart in Japan
Japanese narratives of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots have long been characterized as the cultural antithesis to their anglophone counterparts. According to this model, whereas in the West intelligent machines signify a threat to humanity, in Japan machines are partners to humans. Such shorthand cultural distinctions circulating in anglophone imaginaries can feed back into robotics design practices in Japan. This phenomenon is especially…
The Japanese Pursuit of Human–Robot Companionship
Building on global advances in artificial emotional intelligence, Japanese companies have increasingly invested in developing social robots with capacities to express and evoke emotion. In some cases, they can even read the emotional expressions of human users. These efforts parallel a broader trend in state support for developing technological solutions to socioeconomic problems, such as social isolation and a deficit in care workers. The rise o…
Modelling emotion, perfecting heart
As part of a surge in technologies with so-called 'artificial emotional intelligence', robotics engineers and Buddhist monks in Japan have developed an android bodhisattva to deliver teachings at a popular Zen temple. Like many recent robots in Japan, the android is designed to impact visitors' feelings. For this reason, it can be called a 'technology of affect'. In order to communicate how new affective technologies are facilitating intimacy in …
Artificial emotional intelligence beyond East and West
Artificial emotional intelligence refers to technologies that perform, recognise, or record affective states. More than merely a technological function, however, it is also a social process whereby cultural assumptions about what emotions are and how they are made are translated into composites of code, software, and mechanical platforms. This essay illustrates how aspects of cultural difference are both incorporated and elided in projects that e…
Toward an Affective Sense of Life
This essay analyzes the organization of Buddhist memorial services for robot pets in Japan against the backdrop of emerging markets for robots equipped with artificial emotional intelligence. It demonstrates how an evocative "sense of life" (seimeikan) becomes both a target of design for robotics engineers and an affective capacity of robot users who care for and through companion robots. Documenting how users cultivate a sense of amusement towar…
At Home and in the Field
Screening Enlightenment
The Robot's Heart
This paper explores the processes by which humanoid robots become sites of affective investment in contemporary Japan. It particularly analyses how narratives of intimacy, conventionally found in relationships between humans, are being reproduced and embodied in interactions with humanoid robots. It uses ethnographic research on participants in Robo-One, one of Japan's most popular robotics events, to examine the development of intimate relations…
Mono to Otoko no Sengoshi (Things, Men, and Japan's Postwar History)
In the past decade or so, anthropological and sociological studies of masculinity have steadily increased. However, the topic of masculinity and material culture remains underdeveloped within the vast range of studies of various masculinities, especially in non-Euro-American social contexts, including Japan. Mono to Otoko no Sengoshi (Things, Men, and Japan's Postwar History), coauthored by Ishitani Jiro and Amano Masako, provides new insights in…
Localizing the Pokémon TV Series for the American Market
Face to face
The Robot's Heart
This paper explores the processes by which humanoid robots become sites of affective investment in contemporary Japan. It particularly analyses how narratives of intimacy, conventionally found in relationships between humans, are being reproduced and embodied in interactions with humanoid robots. It uses ethnographic research on participants in Robo-One, one of Japan's most popular robotics events, to examine the development of intimate relations…
Toward an Affective Sense of Life
This essay analyzes the organization of Buddhist memorial services for robot pets in Japan against the backdrop of emerging markets for robots equipped with artificial emotional intelligence. It demonstrates how an evocative "sense of life" (seimeikan) becomes both a target of design for robotics engineers and an affective capacity of robot users who care for and through companion robots. Documenting how users cultivate a sense of amusement towar…
Face to face
Modelling emotion, perfecting heart
As part of a surge in technologies with so-called 'artificial emotional intelligence', robotics engineers and Buddhist monks in Japan have developed an android bodhisattva to deliver teachings at a popular Zen temple. Like many recent robots in Japan, the android is designed to impact visitors' feelings. For this reason, it can be called a 'technology of affect'. In order to communicate how new affective technologies are facilitating intimacy in …
Face to face
Localizing the Pokémon TV Series for the American Market
Mono to Otoko no Sengoshi (Things, Men, and Japan's Postwar History)
In the past decade or so, anthropological and sociological studies of masculinity have steadily increased. However, the topic of masculinity and material culture remains underdeveloped within the vast range of studies of various masculinities, especially in non-Euro-American social contexts, including Japan. Mono to Otoko no Sengoshi (Things, Men, and Japan's Postwar History), coauthored by Ishitani Jiro and Amano Masako, provides new insights in…
The Robot's Heart
This paper explores the processes by which humanoid robots become sites of affective investment in contemporary Japan. It particularly analyses how narratives of intimacy, conventionally found in relationships between humans, are being reproduced and embodied in interactions with humanoid robots. It uses ethnographic research on participants in Robo-One, one of Japan's most popular robotics events, to examine the development of intimate relations…
Screening Enlightenment
At Home and in the Field
Toward an Affective Sense of Life
This essay analyzes the organization of Buddhist memorial services for robot pets in Japan against the backdrop of emerging markets for robots equipped with artificial emotional intelligence. It demonstrates how an evocative "sense of life" (seimeikan) becomes both a target of design for robotics engineers and an affective capacity of robot users who care for and through companion robots. Documenting how users cultivate a sense of amusement towar…
Artificial emotional intelligence beyond East and West
Artificial emotional intelligence refers to technologies that perform, recognise, or record affective states. More than merely a technological function, however, it is also a social process whereby cultural assumptions about what emotions are and how they are made are translated into composites of code, software, and mechanical platforms. This essay illustrates how aspects of cultural difference are both incorporated and elided in projects that e…
Engineering Robots with Heart in Japan
Japanese narratives of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots have long been characterized as the cultural antithesis to their anglophone counterparts. According to this model, whereas in the West intelligent machines signify a threat to humanity, in Japan machines are partners to humans. Such shorthand cultural distinctions circulating in anglophone imaginaries can feed back into robotics design practices in Japan. This phenomenon is especially…
The Japanese Pursuit of Human–Robot Companionship
Building on global advances in artificial emotional intelligence, Japanese companies have increasingly invested in developing social robots with capacities to express and evoke emotion. In some cases, they can even read the emotional expressions of human users. These efforts parallel a broader trend in state support for developing technological solutions to socioeconomic problems, such as social isolation and a deficit in care workers. The rise o…
Modelling emotion, perfecting heart
As part of a surge in technologies with so-called 'artificial emotional intelligence', robotics engineers and Buddhist monks in Japan have developed an android bodhisattva to deliver teachings at a popular Zen temple. Like many recent robots in Japan, the android is designed to impact visitors' feelings. For this reason, it can be called a 'technology of affect'. In order to communicate how new affective technologies are facilitating intimacy in …
Sensing authorship
Computer Science (7 works) · Art (6 works) · Japanese History and Culture (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Robot (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works)