Introduction (1): Japanese STS in Global, East Asian, and Local Contexts

Abstract

In March 2009, I had the opportunity to participate in the workshop “Toward a Trans-Asian Science & Technology Studies” (STS), jointly organized by the Asia Research Institute and STS Cluster, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore. The chief organizer was Gregory Clancey, who is in charge of, and responsible for, the institutionalization of STS in Singapore. It was a stimulating experience, and allowed me to reflect on STS in Japan in a wider Asian/ global context. The March workshop also led to a round-table session on Japanese STS in an East Asian context held in June 2009 in Taiwan. It goes without saying that STS is a multi-disciplinary practice and academic movement originating in Europe and the USA. It is primarily concerned with science and technology in society, and is said to have grown out of the ivory tower of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) and the Sociology of Science. Essentially, most of the theoretical frameworks have been presented in and shared in Western languages, the basic assumptions and models having been taken from techno-science studies in US–European (Western) society. The question arose in the Singapore Workshop as to whether STS can be global, and whether it is possible to analyze socalled globalized techno-science in different societies, particularly in Asia. The reality of techno-scientific development in Asia is both a struggle for and against techno-science; local innovation and technological development have been successEast Asian Science, Technology and Society: an International Journal (2009) 3:505–509 DOI 10.1007/s12280-009-9112-7