Date and time: Thursday 10 September 2026, 13:00-14:00 CEST
Speaker: Hirofumi Katsuno, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan
Title: Imagining Companionship: AI, Robots, and the Future of Intimacy in Japan
Where: Digital Futures hub, Osquars Backe 5, floor 2 at KTH main campus OR Zoom
Directions: https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/contact/how-to-get-here/
OR
Zoom: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/69560887455
Host: Iolanda Leite iolanda@kth.se
Bio: Hirofumi Katsuno is Professor of Anthropology and Media Studies at Doshisha University in Kyoto. His research investigates how people engage with emerging media and robotic technologies, and how these interactions shape imagination, agency, and a sense of presence in everyday life.
His current projects are available at modelemotion.org.
Abstract: Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Japan, this talk explores the cultural, affective, and ethical dimensions of living with companion robots. Drawing on cases from Japan’s emerging companion robot market, I examine how human-robot intimacy is imagined, practiced, and contested across different social contexts. In doing so, I consider what approaches to AI/robot companionship emerging from Japan might contribute to broader cross-cultural conversations on the future of human-machine relations.
