This is a collection of articles published in East Asian Science, Technology, and Society in 2009 and 2010, edited by Togo Tsukahara. The contributors provide overview the state of social studies of science and technology in Japan, especially from the perspectives of sociology and history.
The articles discuss the science-society nexus in Japan, assessing the place and character of the Public Understanding of Science and Science Communication. They also refer to the influence of industrial ecological and health disasters, such as Minamata disease, on STS, foreshadowing the impact of the triple disasters of 3.11 on the field. Finally, they address the question of the universality of STS concepts and frameworks, and how Japanese and East Asian STS may draw and be differentiated from Euro-American STS.