Things here are ahead in some ways, but not in the (very publicly visible) ways they used to be. Robotics, particularly as relates to manufacturing and elder care, comes to mind.
Good question! Japan (as, er, the business as much as the country, I guess), has a few things working here. A few are helping the elderly to regain their mobility with various things that are like frames (almost like mechs) that can support and lift a bit (not a ton (literal or figurative)), but enough that they can continue to move and work as they could. (This has benefits because a lot of people here run small businesses and farms, but also can have a bit of a dystopian slant). These are not really ready for primetime, but they sometimes hit the news here.
Another angle is machines to help take care of elders. These can include some degree of automation with delivering meals or using cameras on a bot to check in on people. This has the potential to also help the hikikomori and others with handicaps (deaf, for instance) that prevent them from “normally” doing the job, but allows them to do it remotely. There are also inroads to some replacements of care staff with bots beyond this, including helping human staff physically move patients (see also the above paragraphs), but this is also not in primetime yet.
There’s a whole other tangent I could go into about importing a lot of nurses (mostly from the Philippines, which is common in a lot of developed countries,) and the discrimination they face even in light of having to take their tests in Japanese, but that’s a whole other discussion in and of itself.
30 years ago, Japan was a glimpse into what life would be like in 20 years.
Now, Japan is a glimpse into what life was like 20 years ago.
Things here are ahead in some ways, but not in the (very publicly visible) ways they used to be. Robotics, particularly as relates to manufacturing and elder care, comes to mind.
How is robotics used in elder care there?
Good question! Japan (as, er, the business as much as the country, I guess), has a few things working here. A few are helping the elderly to regain their mobility with various things that are like frames (almost like mechs) that can support and lift a bit (not a ton (literal or figurative)), but enough that they can continue to move and work as they could. (This has benefits because a lot of people here run small businesses and farms, but also can have a bit of a dystopian slant). These are not really ready for primetime, but they sometimes hit the news here.
Another angle is machines to help take care of elders. These can include some degree of automation with delivering meals or using cameras on a bot to check in on people. This has the potential to also help the hikikomori and others with handicaps (deaf, for instance) that prevent them from “normally” doing the job, but allows them to do it remotely. There are also inroads to some replacements of care staff with bots beyond this, including helping human staff physically move patients (see also the above paragraphs), but this is also not in primetime yet.
There’s a whole other tangent I could go into about importing a lot of nurses (mostly from the Philippines, which is common in a lot of developed countries,) and the discrimination they face even in light of having to take their tests in Japanese, but that’s a whole other discussion in and of itself.