Factbook

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    • Robots

    Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein only became available in Japanese in 1953, 135 years after its publication[UPDATED: 3-11-2026]

    Mary Shelley (1797-1851) published her novella Frankenstein in 1818 during a period of revolutions – both industrial and political, thanks to the French Revolution (1789-1799) and new sciences such as galvanism. 

    By contrast, Japan at this time was still enjoying a relatively tranquil period, its Edo Period (1603-1868), and had cut itself off from almost all Western influences including Dickensian fears of rapidly deteriorating social condition from increased productivity and the mechanisation of industry.

    Mary Shelley’s book did not become widely available or known in Japan until 1953 when Nippon Shuppan Kyodo published Giichi Shihido’s (1907-1954) translation and by then Japan had developed its own monsters and fearful threats, including the likes of Godzilla, who made his debut in Japan at about the same time, in a film in 1954.

    Authors such as Kobo Abe (1924-1993), who is often called Japan’s Kafka, have written their own brilliant robot and monster tales. Abe’s 1953, R62 go no hatsumei, The Invention of R62, highlights some of the fears of the time, and Japan also has its own long and rich local history of robot and monster literature.

    The Invention of R62 tells the tale of an engineer who loses his job after new technologies from an American firm are introduced at his workplace. Desperate about his predicament, he decides to kill himself. But before doing so, he is persuaded to enter into a financial arrangement with a university researcher who is trying to develop robots capable of replacing workers and making Japanese industry more efficient. As a last act he agrees to have his brain replaced with a controllable artificial one by the researcher. 

    The procedure is successful, but the consequences are unexpected and painful, especially for the engineer’s former employer.

    Abe’s other robot stories from the period including Eijyu undo, Perpetual Motion, have similar themes echoing the times.

    Nonetheless, the Japanese lived in blissful ignorance of Luddites, steam engines, Victor Frankenstein; as well as growing international angst over the seismic changes taking place in Western society during the period of Shelly’s life and after. And the word Frankenstein doesn’t have the same cultural legacy or impact as it does in some countries in the English reading world.

    Japanese engineers have noted, often proudly, that the nation’s love affair with robots is open and easy simply because Japan does not have a so-called Frankenstein Complex, a term that was coined by Isaac Asimov (1939-1992) while the West does, a concept that Western journalists often pick up on and write about after being informed of this.

    There are several reasons cited for this – both cultural and religious; but perhaps the most convincing arguments are simply that Japan’s development cycle has been out-of-sync with the West. So it was isolated from the negative side-effects of the industrial revolution, and perhaps additionally its early puppet designers and engineers understood the concept of the ‘Uncanny Valley’ earlier than others. And thus adopted and developed less human-like automaton preferring the cute or the industrial or a combination that elicits less fear and disgust when seen in action.

    In fact, Japan’s Frankenstein exposure came late in film format and toys, many of which were made in Japan after the Second World War for export to the United States for the American “festival” known as Halloween. Japan’s industrial revolution has had its own negative environmental and social side-effects, but Victor Frankenstein or his monster haven’t been part of their narratives.
    Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein only became available in Japanese in 1953, 135 years after its publication Posted by Richard Nathan
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    • Robots

    Two influential books from the 1700s helped shape Japan as a Robot Nation[UPDATED: 8-21-2020]

    Japan is sometimes referred to as the Robot Kingdom due to its large number of robots and its openness to new technologies including robotics.

    Japan has more industrial robots than most countries; and more Artificial Intelligence (AI) patents than any other, according to some OECD measures. The government even has a written strategy that articulates the steps the nation will take towards becoming Japan as a Robotics Superpower.

    Two books published in 1730 and 1796 played a very important role in Japan’s development into the so-called Robot Nation it is today. 

    Both books were about mechanical Japanese toys known as Karakiri Ningyo. These two Karakuri books helped increase the popularity of these intricately designed mechanical Japanese automata, and position robots as fun and unthreatening devices in most Japanese people’s minds.

    The 1796 book by Hosokawa Honzo Yorinao (1741-1796), Karakuri zui, sometimes described as Japan’s first mechanical engineering textbook, has been particularly influential.

    It provided detailed diagrams and descriptions of how to make Karakiri Ningyo, which are still used today by hobbyists and craftsmen to repair and reproduce this early form of home-entertainment robots.

    Even though Japan’s Karakuri roots go back much further with some believing as far as AD 697, the influence of these books, like the automata themselves, has had long-term and significant impact on Japan, its industry; and even the wider world. Japanese engineers at firms such as Toyota have referred to them and copied some of their design concepts in their products.

    And The British Museum has a woodblock print of Hosokawa’s book, titled Compendium of Clever Machines, in its famous collection.

    These two books and Japan’s rich and creative history of robot books in general, which includes both fiction and non-fiction, continues to influence and inspire robot engineers and researchers, as well as writers in Japan.

    Some of Japan’s most renowned contemporary storytellers such as Kazufumi Shiraishi and Soji Shimada have, for example, joined many other talented writers penning robot and cyborg tales.

    Works such as their respective Stand-in Companion and One Love Chigusa, generating a virtuous circle of creativity that seems to be providing perpetual momentum to this trend and the evolution of robot books, robot technology and its literature in Japan, and perhaps even robots themselves.

    Two influential books from the 1700s helped shape Japan as a Robot Nation Posted by Richard Nathan