Japanese Robot Culture

Dr Yuji Sone is a lecturer in the Department of Media, Music, Communication, and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University in Australia. He teaches theatre and performance studies courses with an emphasis on praxis in relation to cultural studies and media studies; he is also a performer and dramaturge.

• Introduction: The Japanese Robot and Performance.- Robotics and Representation.- Futuristic Spectacle: Robot Performances at Expos.- The Anthropomorphic Robot and Artistic Expression.- Robots, Space, and Place.- Hatsune Miku, Virtual Machine-woman.- Competition Robots: Empathy and Identification.- Robots that ‘Care’.- Epilogue: Staging a Robot Nation.

“As robots are predicted to replace human labour in many jobs in the future, this book forms a valuable function in its in-depth exploration of the complex relationships between ‘real’ humans and artificial humans. Japanese Robot Culture caters to the increasing scholarly interest in robot technology and performance, and is a substantial introduction to the field.” (David O’Donnell, Australasian Drama Studies, Vol. 70, 2017)