In Japan, the robot isn't coming for your job; it's filling the one nobody wants

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/05/japan-is-proving-experimental-physical-ai-is-ready-for-the-real-world/

In Japan, the robot isn't coming for your job; it's filling the one nobody wants | TechCrunch

Driven by labor shortages, Japan is pushing physical AI from pilot projects into real-world deployment.

TechCrunch

"No one wants" usually includes an insufficient wage, sometimes also an issue of insufficient investment in training for skilled folks. eg if you need a doctor in 12 years you have to start more or less today.

A quick google suggests ~18% of their working age people do not have jobs, which naturally could be shifted by incentives like money or training.

(Edit, because people are confused, I'm not talking about unemployment rate, i'm talking about labor non-participation rate as a measure of people who could be enticed into the workforce with a living wage)

18% is one of the.lowest rates on the planet. 4th in fact.

This includes early retirees, full time students, home makers and people unable to work for health related reasons.

Japan's employment rate is hard to compare, in that many of these job just wouldn't be seen as real jobs in any other country ("bullshit job"), and it's compound by half of the population being over 50. A high employment among the elderly could just be masking the harsher truth when that upper half passes away.