日本无惧于机器人取代人类工作

Japan Not Worried About Robots Taking Their Jobs

In a factory near Tokyo, thousands of cans are filled with beer, capped, washed, and put into boxes at speeds of 1,500 cans a minute.

However, there are hardly any people in sight as the cans speed through processing.

Japan’s Asahi Breweries¹ operates the factory. The machines do almost all of the physical work. Humans make sure that the machines do the work right, and the automated³ sensing devices are working correctly.

“Basically, nothing goes wrong. The lines are up and running 96 percent,” said Shinichi Uno, a manager at the factory. “Although machines make things, human beings oversee⁴ the machines.”

Leading the field

While some countries, like the U.S., are debating the issue of robots taking jobs from humans, in Japan, the discussion is much different.

Birth rates in Japan have been decreasing for many years. This has caused many in the country to fear the possibility of a labor⁵ shortage.

The introduction of robots has filled this need for labor. The robots appear to be a welcomed addition to the workforce⁶ in Japan.

Starting in the 1990’s, Japan began a big push to develop robots for the workforce. It currently leads the world in the use of robots.

There are 1,562 robots for every 10,000 human workers. This is higher than Germany, with 1,133 robots, or the U.S., with 1,091 for every worker. The numbers come from a White House report submitted to Congress last year.

The report says Japan also was ahead in robots used outside of the automobile⁷ industry, with 219 robots per 10,000 workers, compared to 76 for the U.S. and 147 for Germany.

A different work culture

There are some differences with Japan’s work culture that might influence Japanese opinions about giving jobs to robots. One important difference is their “lifetime employment” system.

In Japan, many major companies often keep their workers, even if their skills become outdated⁸. They will use them instead for other tasks, said Koichi Iwamoto, a senior fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, gathers information about the use of robots in its member countries.

The information shows that increasing the use of robots or computer programs at work decreases the demand for mid-level or repetitive work tasks, such as operating assembly lines. But it increases the demand for low-and high-skilled jobs.

However, the OECD data showed employment conditions remained almost unchanged for Japan for the period from 2002 to 2014.

That means companies in Japan were not trying as hard as those in the U.S. to replace humans with robots. Clerical workers, for example, were keeping their jobs although computers might do their jobs better.

Another example is how Japanese society has so far preferred to keep taxis instead of shifting to online ride services.

A “reflective stage”

But, machines have increasingly replaced people in Japan. Iwamoto says the country now has entered a “reflective stage.” He says people are actually interested in having “human harmony with machines.”

“Some tasks may be better performed by people, after all,” said Iwamoto.

Kiyoshi Sakai also is an Asahi employee. He has worked at the company for 29 years. He said that in the past can caps were put into machines by hand. This was a repetitive task that was hard on the body and the mind.

Now, machines have replaced many of those jobs, and he is grateful for the changes to his work life. Machines at the plant have become more than 50 percent smaller over the years. They are faster and more precise than 30 years ago.

He said in the past, things used to go wrong all the time and people had to check the machines every 10 to 15 minutes. Now, problems with machines are so rare that people do not need to worry.

Like many workers in Japan, Sakai is not worried about his job disappearing. After people no longer needed to work on assembly lines, his position was upgraded to the general affairs section, a common administrative⁹ department in Japanese companies.

“I remember the work being so hard. But when I think back, and it was all about delivering great beer to everyone, it makes me so proud,” said Sakai, who drinks beer every day.

“I have no regrets. This is a stable job.”

I’m Phil Dierking. And I'm Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

manager -n. someone who is in charge of a business, department, etc.

assembly lines –n. a series of workers and machines in a factory by which a succession of identical items is progressively assembled.

automate² –v. to run or operate (something, such as a factory or system) by using machines, computers, etc., instead of people to do the work

can –n. a closed metal container that is usually shaped like a cylinder¹⁰ and that holds food or drink

cap –v. to cover the top or end of

clerical –adj. of or relating to a clerk or office worker

precise –adj. very accurate and exact

stable –adj. in a good state or condition that is not easily changed or likely to change

1 breweries   

酿造厂，啤酒厂( brewery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In some cases, this is desirable, but most breweries prefer lighter-type beers. 在一些情况下，这是很理想的，但是大多数啤酒厂更倾向于生产酒度较低的啤酒。
• Currently, there are 58 breweries producing Snow Beeracross the country. 目前，全国共有58个雪花啤酒厂。

2 automate   

v.自动化；使自动化

参考例句：

• Many banks have begun to automate.许多银行已开始采用自动化技术。
• To automate the control process of the lathes has become very easy today.使机床的控制过程自动化现已变得很容易了。

3 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

4 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

7 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

8 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

9 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

10 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。