Aibo Funeral
In the Shino-Buddhistic beliefs of Japan, everything has soul. These are not uniquely human, but to be human can be one of the stations on the souls path. This is an important differentiation to the christian concept of soul. Now, as you can see, these Aibo robots also have soul and they are treated accordingly. The support and maintenance of Aibo bots was stopped in 2014, which left many of the owners desperate. They did not only find entertainment in these gadgets, but companions. As a response to the pressure of the owners of these bots, Sony came up with a workaround. What you see in this picture is a funeral-service hold for over 100 Aibos at Kofukuji, an old temple near Tokyo. Sony, the temple and a company called A Fun work together in a recycling scheme. Completely defunct Aibos are given their final blessing and the become cannibalised for parts to repair less seriously damaged models.