Introduction

What is Kansei ?

Kansei is a high-order function of the brain, including inspiration, intuition, pleasure and pain, taste, curiosity, aesthetics, emotion, sensitivity, attachment and creativity.

Aim

This conference will be hosted by the Japanese Society of Kansei Engineering (JSKE) and held jointly with the Korean Society for Emotion & Sensibility (KOSES) and the Design and Emotion Society (D & E). With the main theme “The East and the West meet under the themes of Kansei and emotion,” this conference aims to create opportunities for researchers from the East and the West to report on the important roles “Human Kansei and Emotion”- a field natural science has been avoiding - plays in living, cultures, society and industries, and discuss the new direction manufacturing in the 21st century should take under the keyword “Kansei and Emotion.”

Meaning

The Japanese Society of Kansei Engineering and the Korean Society for Emotion & Sensibility are international academic organizations that aim to contribute to the advancement of research on the Kansei, emotion and sensitivity in the East and the West through mutual presentations of the results of surveys, experiments and research on Kansei engineering. “Kansei research” in Japan, in particular, extends to various fields transmitting unique research findings to the world including product development, fiber science, design, psychology, information engineering, Kansei philosophy, cerebrophysiology, robotics and interface engineering.. The term “Kansei engineering,” now used in western countries as well as in Asian countries, has been attracting global attention. This joint conference is significant in that it will help South Korea and Japan be recognized internationally as the sustainable network bases of Kansei engineering and Emotion research.

The necessity for Japan to hold an international conference with South Korea and Europe

Kansei-related studies are conducted more actively by the Japanese Society of Kansei Engineering and the Korean Society for Emotion & Sensibility than by any other organizations in the world. The studies have led to academic outputs such as product development, Kansei measurement technology, Kansei machine designing, Kansei databases, Kansei system-incorporated models, Kansei robotics, Kansei fiber engineering, Kansei designing, Kansei sociology and Kansei philosophy. In Europe, on the other hand, the Design and Emotion Society has actively promoted cross-sectional research on Kansei. We believe that the coming together of Kansei researchers from Japan, South Korea and Europe to discuss Kansei from different perspectives and transmit the characteristics of Kansei research from the East to the West and vice versa will produce significant benefits for this field.

Outcomes expected

The term Kansei has a very broad meaning in Japan. No doubt this international conference, where the academic meaning of Kansei in the East and the West will be defined, will produce significant benefits in terms of culture, society, industry and living.