THE RISE OF ROBOTS IN JAPAN
There is a fair possibility that a Japanese business is behind every robotics innovation you hear about in the news. Why? You might be surprised by the response; it has a lot to do with demographics (relating to the structure of population). Although we typically identify the post World War 2 era with population growth, Japan actually saw a fall in population following the war. The enormous loss of nearly a generation of young men, along with the ruined economy, low morale, and destroyed infrastructure, significantly slowed Japan's population growth. Japan also has very restrictive immigration policies and culturally is not as welcoming to outsiders as other countries. It also has the highest longevity rates of any country in the world! What results, then, from a large proportion of elderly individuals and a decreasing population qualified to care for them (and pay for their care)? You get robots. The rise of personal-care robots is the real revolution in robotics, even tho