“Robots Won’t Save Japan. An Ethnography of Eldercare Automation” (Cornell University Press, 2023) by James Wright is an insightful and thought-provoking study on the potential of robots as a means of addressing the severe labor shortage in Japan’s eldercare sector. Gabriele Vogt’s review of this monograph is now available from Anthropos. Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde. [120 (2025:1), pp. 326-327].
A brief excerpt from the review: “[…] even if prices were to be lowered and the efficiency of integrating robots into the workflow were to be raised, we can expect that caregivers […] will still oppose the robotization of their workplace. Not so much because they would fear for their jobs per se, but because they fear for the core characteristics of their profession. As Wright pointedly puts it: ‘Instead of replacement, a better description for the relationship between care robots and human caregivers is displacement. The introduction of care robots displaces skills, practices, and value …’ (132; italics in original).”
For some further reading on the topic of robotics in eldercare, see also the “Contemporary Japan Best Paper Award 2024 Runner Up”: Gabriele Vogt and Anne-Sophie L. König (2023): “Robotic devices and ICT in long-term care in Japan: Their potential and limitations from a workplace perspective”. In: Contemporary Japan, 35:2, 270-290 (open access).