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?

Is Japanese technology past its prime?

Japanese electronics makers are hemorrhaging red ink. Overseas competition (Samsung and LG) is intensifying, the domestic labor pool is shrinking and consumption is limp. Are Japan's glory days as a technological powerhouse over?

That's the question posed by this insightful article by David McNeill in The Independent quoting yours truly. Yes, it's amazing to see how much Sony, whose first product was a rice cooker that didn't work, is struggling amid these tough times.

The article highlights the fact that Japan is essentially a hardware-oriented culture. It's no surprise that the Internet was not created in Japan, and that the most recent popular electronics that make use of it are not Japanese. Are Japanese manufacturers destined to fade away due to the old cliche that Japanese lack "groundbreaking creativity"?

I don't think so. Japan is a very creative, imaginative society, as anyone who's studied it to any extent can attest. There are many factors that limit the spread of successful, innovative Japanese products, some social or structural and others economic. Besides, the products that are gaining market share may not have a Japanese brand on the outside, but often have Japanese technology on the inside, as McNeill notes:

Toshiba, for example, manufacturers the mini hard drive that powers the iPod, Japanese companies monopolize the production of semiconductor-grade silicon, and make much of the optical fiber and laser diodes that form the backbone of the internet; Nikon and Canon supply many of the optical machines that print lines on computer chips, and so on.

I think the death of Japanese manufacturing has been greatly exaggerated.

Drinks maker giving away robots

Major Japanese brewer Suntory is giving away free robots - one hundred Roomba 570 vacuum cleaners from iRobot as well as a thousand of these cute little original tabletop bots it calls Zerobo. The giveaway is to promote the relaunch of Suntory's Dakara health drink.

Zerobo, named for the zero sugar, calories and salt in Dakara, is pretty nifty for a freebie. It uses infrared sensors and bumpers to detect obstacles and differences in surface levels. It can do light vacuuming in a random pattern like Roomba and respond to voice commands. You can Zerobo saying "Good morning" and other Japanese words on this site.

Another prize is a Dakara-shaped vacuum cleaner that fits in the palm of your hand. Powered through a USB connection, it can be used to clean your PC keyboard.

Doraemon named anime ambassador

Famed anime character Doraemon has been named Japan's first "anime ambassador," the Foreign Ministry announced. The earless robot cat from the long-running Fujiko F. Fujio series will promote Japanese culture overseas and enhance the power of so-called Cool Japan.

"By appointing Doraemon, we hope people in other countries will understand Japanese anime better and deepen their interest in Japanese culture," a foreign ministry official said.

In the manga and anime series, Doraemon travels back in time from the 22nd century to help a hapless schoolboy named Nobita. Being a robot, Doraemon has thousands of cool gadgets that he pulls out of his fourth-dimensional pocket, like the Anywhere Door and Time Machine. Doraemon merchandising has made the character ubiquitous in Japan, appearing on everything from clothing to candy.

The move comes at a time when Japan's "scientific whaling" program has garnered it a lot of bad press overseas.

Ghost in the machine

These creepy X-rays are imaginary robot skeletons that tmsuk, one of Japan's more playful robot manufacturers, is offering as wallpaper on its website. They feature the tmsukIV humanoid robot and the Banryu T73S robot watchdog. A caption in the wallpaper reads: "Robot-like people cannot make robots."

23-foot, fire-breathing robot art

It's three stories tall. It breathes fire. It has a baby's face.

Giant Torayan may be awkward at cocktail parties, but it keeps the conversation flowing. It's certainly one of the most striking pieces of Japanese robot art I've come across.

Sculptor Kenji Yanobe, known for mind-bending installations that incorporate subculture icons, created this titan in 2003 to give kids a thrill. Its "command device," also a baby's head, contains a computer that only responds to children's voices, giving them the reins to a pretty impressive flamethrower. Yanobe calls Torayan "the child's ultimate weapon."

Yanobe's work recently came up in a blog by Robot Museum in Nagoya President Masayoshi Ishiko, who thinks Torayan would be a great ambassador to promote Japanese robot culture in China! Shock and awe indeed.

Ishiko-san has told me about his big plans for robots in Japan on several occasions. Think traveling robot circuses and the like. I hope he branches out to the Tokyo area - his company Gyro Walk also runs the popular RoboCafe in Osaka.

Speaking of Kansai, if Kobe is to get its own giant robot, q.v., Tokyo needs one too. Torayan is perfect.

Panel trumpets housekeeper bots by 2025

Japan's Innovation 25 Strategy Council, a government panel, sees average Japanese families owning housecleaning robots that talk by 2025, according to a new interim report.

Other wonders that await us: electric vehicles will cruise the streets, automatically dodging obstacles and cleaning the air via artificial photosynthesis, while linear-motor cars will cut travel times between Tokyo and Osaka to 50 minutes, compared to the current 2.5 hours for the bullet train. Oh, and there will be robots on the moon too.

The report also features the hypothetical Inobe family of 2025. They are five people plus a robot called Inobee that is 5 years old. The droid does housework during the day, and later gives a verbal report about his activities to the household's telecommuting mom Yumiko. The Inobes' health, meanwhile, is monitored by home computers.

Sounds pretty fanciful. The Nikkei newspaper has criticized the council, created by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for being too vague and offering only rehashed platitudes about the need for greater innovation in Japan as its population ages. The government's powerful Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, though, is to incorporate the report's visions in its 2007 policy goals.

It's nice to know that Tokyo's bureaucrats are rooting for Inobee. No doubt once he masters the art of making his environment look clean, he'll be ready for public service.

Kobe to get 60-foot robot statue

When it comes to monuments, the Japanese know their priorities.

The port city of Kobe could get an 18-meter (60-foot) robot statue as early as spring 2008, according to the Kobe Shimbun and other newspapers. The towering steel monument, the height of a five-story building, would honor Ironman No. 28, a famous manga and anime robot created by Kobe native Mitsuteru Yokoyama in the late 1950s and known as Gigantor overseas. The statue would be about the same height as the juggernaut in Yokoyama's wild stories.

The colossus, fists raised in the air, would greet passengers coming out of JR Shin-Nagata Station in the city's Nagata Ward. A local business group, Kobe city and the central government are backing the amazing project, which is expected to be a symbol of the neighborhood's rebirth following its devastation by the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and is expected to attract visitors. The construction cost for the statue is around 135 million yen ($1.1 million).

There's a TBS TV report on it here.

My book discusses the importance of Ironman No. 28 in the evolution of Japanese robots. Yokoyama was inspired by the terrifying attacks of the gigantic American B-29 Superfortresses that laid waste to Kobe during World War II. In the manga series, the Japanese military builds Ironman No. 28, a mindless hulk controlled with a handheld box, as a last-ditch secret weapon to save the Empire. It later falls into the hands of boy detective Shotaro Kaneda, who uses it to fight an international criminal gang. The first major series in the giant robot genre, it inspired countless other manga and anime series as well as a universe of toys and other merchandise. Ironman No. 28 was also made into radio shows, TV series and films including a 2005 live-action movie.

Yokoyama's mechanical behemoth looking up into the Kobe sky, as if to rebuke the invading bombers, should make quite a sight.

It's a little monster

Brilliant ad inspired by Japanese giant robot/monster classics. It's in a genre with fab videos like Polysics' "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto" and Beatie Boys' "Intergalactic." Pepto-Bismol even got in on the action.

Makes me want to stomp Tokyo.

Powersuits for all

Classy. But can it tango?

Those who fear the rise of robots and artificial intelligence have just gotta love one project in Japan that hits all the right buttons - Tsukuba University Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai's efforts to commercialize a strength-enhancing robotic suit.

The product name: HAL. The company: Cyberdyne.

Coincidence? Perhaps. Regardless, Sankai's robosuit, which boosts arm and leg power in response to user brain signals, just jumped closer to commercialization thanks to a 1 billion yen capital injection from major Japanese homebuilder Daiwa House Industry Co. The company took a 15% stake in Cyberdyne, a venture set up by Tsukuba U. and helmed by the good professor.

They plan to start mass production with annual output of 400 HAL suits, which are designed to help elderly Japanese stay mobile and independent longer. Wearers can tote objects weighing over 20 kg, no sweat, but they can't leap tall buildings yet. The suits would be available for rent or purchase, with a possible price tag of about 500,000 yen, or $4,200. Daiwa House is also planning HAL classes at its fitness club and even special HAL homes for wearers, according to Nikkei News.

I can already see newly young oldsters partnering up for another servo waltz.

HAL-lelujah.

Robocandy

This, gentle reader, is robot omiyage.

Omiyage are souvenirs, a de rigueur gift for colleagues if you're a salaryman on a business trip. They're usually chocolates and the like.

Never little robot buns...until now.

Thanks to the new Robot Museum in Nagoya, which I finally visited. The organizers really did their homework and have put together a very impressive multimedia chronology of famous anthropomorphic machines fictional and real, from Hadaly of Tomorrow's Eve to Honda's Asimo and beyond. A highlight of the gallery is the actual Wabot 1, the first full-sale humanoid robot, developed in 1973 by Prof. Ichiro Kato of Waseda University.

The place is more than a museum. There's also an event space that accommodates visiting robots, as well as a large "robot department store" on the ground floor. Everything robotic, from toys and robot kits to t-shirts and candies, is on offer. Thousands of customers throng the aisles on weekends; a good chunk of them are gaijin.

The manju bun above is part of a slew of Robot Museum merchandise for sale. Comes in this here package.

The taste? Milky-sweet, with a touch of silicon.

Getting cuddly with Actroid

He has created the perfect woman. Her only flaw: she isn't human.
- Star Trek, "Requiem for Methuselah"

On a recent visit to robot maker Kokoro, I got a backstage tour of the magic and spent some quality time with their lovely lady android, mentioned in an earlier post. Actroid is a synthetic female, ultra-lifelike in appearance and movement. I'd seen her several times at various events, but at Kokoro I got to get up close and kick the tires, as it were.

Actroid is designed to work as a receptionist or emcee. The receptionist version sits in a sensor-laden booth and can answer questions in four languages, almost like a fortuneteller. Four receptionist Actroids gave directions to visitors at the 2005 Aichi Expo in Japan. The latest emcee version, Actroid DER2, stands on a platform, generally looks gorgeous and introduces stage acts. She's equipped with 46 servomotors and a repertoire of sassy comments, like "Please don't touch me -- it's sexual harassment!"

Never one to take "no" from an android, I squeezed the Charmin. Her skin is soft and smooth, though cold. Somewhat like a rubber chicken. With her winsome looks and totally gyaru wardrobe - she goes out in Hello Kitty t-shirts, a nod to parent company Sanrio - it's easy to overlook this shortcoming. All she needs is a little warmth in her silicone hide.

A mind would be nice, too. The wizards at Kokoro, however, are already working on this. A company official told me the firm is pursuing collaborative artificial intelligence research to make Actroid more humanlike. With warm skin and a sharper tongue, who knows what she'd be capable of?

Global revolution, methinks.

This little piggy

Want to encourage your budding little industrialist? This nifty piggy bank, mentioned in an earlier post, teaches children the important virtues of thrift and factory automation. Let's see a mutual fund do that!

Not only does this bank have a coin receptacle guarded by a multi-jointed robot arm, it boasts AI functionality: it's a "decision maker." The user asks a question, pulls the lever and gets pithy responses like "never." Sounds a bit grim, but kids have to learn the hard facts of life when it comes to all those eternal questions. Like, when do I get my money back?

Never!

Droidus ubiquitans japonicus

Traveling in a remote region of Honshu Island, I met an old man who offered me a lift to the next village. We stopped for lunch along the road, and over some katsu-don he told me he made tiles for a living.

He invited me to his workplace, which I imagined to be a quaint workshop and kiln, since the sparsely populated region is known for ceramics. I agreed, and we drove up into the mountains as snow began to fall.

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. Turns out the man works in a roof tile factory -- which is full of robots! The place was quite out of the way on a mountain road. I snapped a few pics of some European robot arms stacking bundles of tiles onto pallets. Other robots were wrapping the stacks, or moving tiles along to and from the ovens.

So much for the quaint craftsman shop I had imagined. This made me realize, again, the fact that industrial robots are everywhere in Japan.

Robot antiques roadshow

On the road in rural Japan recently, I spotted this guy amid some old teacups and lamps at a very curious antiques shop in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. Some of these older toy robots from the fifties and sixties can fetch tens of thousands of yen, or a lot more, in Japan.

The shop is called Sanyo-do and it's worth checking out if you're in Kurashiki, famed for its old warehouses along the canal. Not only does Sanyo-do inexplicably have dozens of porcelain HMV dogs on its roof (the terrier listening to the gramophone), its upper floor houses an amazing piggy bank museum -- which happens to include a piggy bank in the shape of a robot welding arm!

Perfect for budding little industrialists.

Manoi: Cosplayer robot

One of the fun things about having a kit robot is you get to take lots of silly photos of it. And dress it up.

I had too much fun at Dark Carnival bookstore in Berkeley posing Kyosho's Manoi in the owners' doggie clothes. Actually they did the dressing up, not me -- Jack and Jay were laughing but their dog was not amused. Here's Manoi in Polar Expedition and Shriner versions.