Would you work with a joke-cracking robot? Japan tries to catch up with China’s humanoids

At Tokyo’s first humanoid robot expo, most of the robots on display came from Chinese companies, underscoring China’s lead in hardware.

Japan is carving out a different niche: software, training data, and physical AI that help robots work reliably in the real world.

The strategy reflects Japan’s labour shortages and ageing population, which are driving demand for practical robot use.

The broader robotics race is becoming a contest between Chinese hardware strength and Japanese efforts to build the intelligence layer.