Why Japan lost the supercomputer race

The Earth Simulator is a massive supercomputer housed in a complex south of Yokohama. I once visited it and felt like I was face to face with the HAL 9000. Back then, the Earth Simulator was the fastest supercomputer in the world. It could perform 35 trillion calculations per second, and its speed so surprised U.S. computer scientists that its launch was dubbed the "Computenik" incident (after Sputnik). If 35 trillion isn't mind-boggling enough for you, its speed has since been dramatically upgraded to help model climate.

Today, though, the Earth Simulator ranks a lowly 73rd on the latest Top500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers (Roadrunner, a U.S. military computer that models nuclear weapons, is tops, performing more than a quadrillion calculations a second).

Meanwhile, only 17 machines on the Top500 are Japanese, compared with 290 American ones. Amid deteriorating corporate earnings, NEC and Hitachi recently announced they are quitting a government-led project to build a supercomputer in Kobe.

Why did Japan lose out in the supercomputer race? A recent Japan Times article speculates on three reasons: lower costs for the technology required, allowing more competitors, economic stagnation in Japan, and a lack of military funding. The third reason seems the most persuasive. U.S. machines are often used to model nuclear weapons; seven of the ten fastest supercomputers are at U.S. Department of Energy facilities.

Since Japan has no nuclear weapons arsenal, it has to get more private-sector use out of its supercomputers to make new investments worthwhile. Drug discovery and automotive design are two applicable areas. And, of course, there's artificial intelligence. With IBM planning to field its Watson supercomputer against quiz master Alex Trebek on Jeopardy! later this year (video below), Japan will be playing catch-up again. After all, who's going to build brains for all those Japanese robots?

Back-seat driver now front-seat robot

One of the wildest concept cars being shown off at the 40th Tokyo Motor Show starting Oct. 26th is the Nissan Pivo 2 electric car, and it has a few twists. For starters, its wheels can rotate 90 degrees, allowing the battery-powered vehicle to be driven sideways. The cabin can also rotate a full 360 degrees. Those functions obviate parallel parking and the need for a reverse gear. But the Pivo's best trick? It has a robot navigator that speaks English and Japanese.

Nestled in the dashboard, the Pivo bot is none other than NEC's cute PaPeRo, minus its body. PaPeRo was originally conceived as a childcare robot adept at entertaining tots with songs and games, but it has since diversified into wine tasting, and now a Japanese version of KITT. I shudder to think what's next.

This "Robotic Agent" can sense the driver's mental state by analyzing voice and face image data, according to the automaker. Its voice-activated navigation and information system is also designed to soothe stressed drivers through small talk. But for those who like to pound the dashboard in moments of road rage, this "starry-eyed robot-monkey head," as Motortrend described it, might make a convenient punching bag. Fortunately PaPeRo is made of tough plastic!