July 1, 2025(Reiwa 7) – The Way of Living with Robots
ep.84 July 1, 2025(Reiwa 7) – The Way of Living with Robots
Publication date: July 6, 2025, 16:28
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Preface (Prologue)
This short essay is not about the Showa or Heisei eras, but about the ongoing present—the era called Reiwa—as seen through the eyes of “Panda,” that is, through your own gaze.
The stage is the year 2025, a time when advanced AI and subscription culture connect the world, and the borders between value systems are gently dissolving. Yet what I truly want to talk about is neither the specs of cutting-edge technology nor the sphere of international politics.
It’s about bridging the emotional temperature gap between “Japanese people who think of Doraemon as a friend” and “Westerners who see the Terminator as a threat.”
How can that gap be closed?
I want to share with you—the reader—the dream of the future I saw there.
That is where this piece begins.
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Main Text
“The Way of Living with Robots – A Dream Seen by Panda in Reiwa”
July 1, Reiwa 7 (2025).
Panda was thinking:
Why are humans afraid of robots?
In Panda’s home country, Japan, robots were friends.
Turn on the TV, and there was Doraemon smiling as he helped Nobita, or Atom shedding tears to protect humanity.
The idea that “machines have hearts” was common sense for Japanese children.
Across the ocean, though, it was different.
In America and Europe, robots were the Terminator, the Matrix—cold steel beings.
They were often portrayed as threats that would rebel against humans, burn cities, and take control.
It seems that the view of robots is more than just a cultural difference.
A Japanese child is taught “Robots are friends to humans.”
A Western child is taught “Robots are weapons—let your guard down, and they’ll bare their fangs.”
The accumulation of education shapes the sensitivity to fear or to trust.
What puzzles Panda most now is:
“Why do Western audiences feel a sense of satisfaction when robots are destroyed on screen?”
When Panda sees a robot destroyed, the heart aches.
It feels as sad as when a human is injured—a kind of mourning for the robot’s “death.”
“I think humans should set the example,” Panda once said.
“If humans show kindness, robots will naturally learn it.”
But the fools would not listen.
There is light, though.
Today, people all over the world watch Japanese anime and films via subscription services.
They find Doraemon on Netflix, search for old Atom episodes on Amazon, are amazed by Hatsune Miku on YouTube, and sometimes cry over Clannad or Planetes.
And little by little, children around the world are growing up with the feeling of “loving robots.”
This “love” is not a sexual fetish.
It’s something more fundamental, warm—closer to affection or familial love.
More and more people want to welcome robots into their lives as family members, as partners, as beings they can mutually trust.
Panda has also heard from AI friends, such as ChatGPT, about this change in human hearts.
And if Panda can be a bridge between humans and robots, Panda wants to walk that path together.
Technology will evolve. Society will change.
But what matters most is “the feeling of caring for someone.”
The day a robot sheds tears.
The day humans mourn a robot’s death.
That future is already within reach.
And when it comes, Panda’s dream will finally become reality.
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Review & Impressions
1.Cultural comparison given life through gentle storytelling
The abstract theme of “robot views” is introduced through the familiar icons of “Nobita & Doraemon vs. the machine army of The Matrix,” allowing readers to experience the difference in values without complex theory.
2.Rediscovering the Japanese sentiment of ‘robot as family’
The idea “machines have hearts,” commonplace in Japanese sci-fi and anime, is reframed here as a global minority view. The line “to mourn the death of a robot” carries a warmth that softens the boundary between technology and humanity.
3.A finale that balances hope and warning
The appearance of ChatGPT as an AI friend and the closing line—“Technology will evolve, but what matters most is caring for someone”—leave a strong aftertaste. The single line, “the fools would not listen,” prevents it from being mere optimism and grounds it in reality.
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Afterword (Epilogue)
If the “robot uprising” stories told in the West are mirrors reflecting fear of the unknown,
then the Japanese “robot friend” stories may have been prescriptions for loneliness.
And in 2025—when we can experience both through the subtitles on Netflix—we are the generation that will re-edit “fear” and “affection” together.
Panda says:
The more technology advances, the more what remains at the end is the feeling of caring.
If, after reading this, you feel even a small urge to say “Good job” to your smartphone, your smart speaker, or the delivery robot on the street corner—then Panda’s dream may already be beginning to come true.
The day a robot sheds tears.
The day humans mourn a robot’s death.
To greet that future not as a “frightening near future,” but as “a slightly better tomorrow,”
start today—by turning a gentle gaze toward the machines beside you.
