Domo arigato, Mr Roboto

The Economist
SHINTOISM is an animist religion. Its adherents believe that all things, from lampshades to leopards, can possess living spirits. This fact is often trotted out to explain Japan’s fascination with robots. And where America’s mechanical beings tend to menace the human race (think HAL and Terminator), Japan’s are more often its saviours (as Astro [...]