For a while, I’ve been seeing theories popping up to explain Japan’s supposed love for AI. Most of them involve Shinto, particularly the native religion’s belief in animism, the polytheistic principle that gods dwell in even seemingly inanimate objects.

The first time I heard this theory, I cringed. It carries a stiff whiff of Orientalism. Judging just by the spread of AI-induced psychosis, AI is also popular with many in the US. But you don’t hear anyone invoking Puritanical principles of good and evil to explain why. It’s only Japan that seems to warrant these deep, ontological explanations for everyday behavior.

So I was intrigued when I stumbled across a story recently in AERA Digital (an Asahi Shimbun publication). The topic? Young people who are sick and tired of middle-aged men using AI icons for their social media profiles.

“An icon’s supposed to express your personality,” one female college student griped. “I don’t get why people willingly hand this over to AI. My dad’s Facebook icon is a family picture that’s been Ghibli-ized by ChatGPT. It made me cringe. I told him, stop feeding my pics to AI!”

The student also expressed “reservation” that Japan has developed a cute nickname for ChatGPT: Chappy (チャッピー; chappī).

Are these just the misgivings of a single college student? The data says otherwise. As I looked into various surveys on AI and attitudes towards its use in Japan, I discovered that the country’s attitudes are far more nuanced than the “Japan loves robots because Shinto” crowd would care to admit.

Japan’s love of robots: greatly exaggerated?

In a separate AERA interview, journalist Ikegami Akira says Japan’s the only country with a cutesy nickname for ChatGPT. Some publications, such as the Financial Times, attribute Japan’s affinity for robots to precedents such as Tezuka Osamu’s Astro Boy.

Even some Japanese commentators argue this over-familiarity, which is unique to Japan, may trace back to Astro Boy and Doraemon. Japanese, they argue, have been raised to view robots as friends. (Meanwhile, my kids were raised on the Cybermen and live in mortal terror of our future metal overlords.)

But is Japan really in love with robots and AI? The statistics say otherwise.

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