Ed: This was published in the Okanagan Phoenix Sept. 23, 2009
We’ve all seen robots and androids like Data from Star Trek, C3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars, as well as real-life robots, like ASIMO from Honda, and they all seem to be coming from Japan lately. There are a wide variety of reasons why robots and androids enjoy such a large popularity in Japan, ranging from cultural to purely economic reasons.

Part of the reason why the Japanese are so fascinated, and even encouraging of robots and androids, is that for the longest time, Japanese and other Asian fiction lacked a common trope that is often seen here in the west; that of the robots rising to crush their so-easily-crushed oppressors. Namely, us. It wasn’t until recently that this trope was seen in Japanese popular culture, and an excellent example is Cashern, a hyper-surreal action movie, where artificial life rises up and kills us all.

Some sociologists theorize that Japan lacks this common trope because industrialization was seen as largely positive for the country, particularly in the aftermath of WWII. In contrast, there was a large amount of social upheaval in western countries during their industrialization periods, where the machines were seen as a distinct threat.

On average, Japan has one of the oldest populations in the industrialized world. In just a few short years, many Japanese will reach the age of 65, and retire, making it so that 1 in every 4 Japanese will be over the age of 65. This is leading to a significant lack of employees, in turn leading to increasing wage costs for companies.

There are two major markets for robots and androids in Japan, one for the elderly, and one for replacing limited employees where possible. The elderly market requires assistants and companions, especially for the elderly that have no family, or whose family doesn’t visit them. There are already a few preliminary models of elderly assistants, and they are selling very, very well. The other market requires robots to replace humans in easy-to-automate jobs, like store greeters, or waitresses in busy restaurants. One particular requirement is that they look and act as human as possible within the limited purview of the job.

The increasing use of robots and androids in Japan has already sparked several major concerns with their use. There are worries that people will begin to prefer talking to and dealing with robots and androids over their human brethren. As well, there are concerns about the material costs of robots and androids, especially maintenance costs, and whether it really would be more cost-effective than the humans that are being replaced. In addition, Japan has signed several environmental treaties, and increasing their high-tech usage will only hurt their compliance with these treaties.

There is also an issue from an economic viewpoint. The desire to replace humans with robots is because the humans are becoming more expensive to employ. This increases the number of people available for jobs, thus driving down the average wage, making it cheaper to hire people again. However, once hiring increases, then people become more expensive to employ again. It is an inherently unstable situation, unless the government steps in to stabilize the see-saw effect.

One thing is for sure, Japan loves their robots, and they are currently the world leader in practical robotics.