Japan pushes to adopt AI and robots to address labor shortage

Japan, a technology pioneer, is facing a major challenge of an aging population and a rapidly declining birth rate. This has led to a severe labor shortage, especially in the industrial and service sectors. Faced with this situation, Japan is urgently transforming itself by vigorously applying automation and robotics technology.

This problem is not unique to Japan but is a common situation in many developed countries. Many people hope that AI and robots can be the key to solving the labor force problem in Japan in particular and countries around the world in general.

From familiar services such as food carts on bullet trains to complex production lines, robots are gradually replacing humans, opening a revolution in the way Japan produces and conducts business. The labor crisis not only affects businesses but also forces the government and people to adjust their development plans for the future.

For example, Osaka Ohsho, a Japanese specialty dumpling manufacturer, deployed an advanced AI-powered camera system at one of its factories in January 2023. The system is designed to detect any defective dumpling packages on the production line, thereby improving the factory's efficiency to two dumplings per second, double the rate of other facilities. The adoption of AI has helped them cut the workforce on the production line by nearly 30%.

Reports estimate that Japan is facing a labor shortage of up to 11 million workers by 2040. With nearly 30% of the population over 65 years old by 2042, the severe aging of the population is posing a major challenge to the country's workforce.

Despite utilizing labor resources from female workers to the elderly, Japan still cannot meet the demand. To cope with this situation, Japan is actively applying advanced technologies, bringing robots and artificial intelligence into various fields, to ensure that economic activities are not interrupted.

Construction industry

Japan's construction industry is facing an unprecedented labor crisis. Despite efforts to improve working conditions, the number of construction workers is still falling sharply, especially among young workers.

According to Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the number of construction workers has fallen 30% since its peak in 1997 to 4.8 million. Only 12% of construction workers are under 29, while about 36% are over 55.

The shortage of labor resources not only affects the progress of major construction projects such as the Osaka World Expo 2025, but also threatens the economic development of the country as a whole. Estimates show that due to the lack of labor, the construction cost of the Osaka World Expo 2025 has doubled to more than $1.6 billion, as contractors have had to pay higher wages to attract workers.

Faced with a worsening labor shortage, the construction industry has been forced to make urgent changes. A new regulation that has just come into effect restricting overtime for workers and drivers is an effort to ensure the quality of work and the health of workers amid a severe labor shortage.

Supply chain

For decades, Japanese confectionery giant Lotte has delivered its famous Koala's March chocolate cookies by truck. However, due to a severe shortage of truck drivers caused by new overtime regulations, Lotte will switch to delivering the beloved children's snack by train.

Other companies across Japan, including automaker Toyota and e-commerce company Rakuten, are also gearing up to address the driver shortage by developing robots and self-driving cars.

Meanwhile, Japan’s vending machine giant, with more than 4 million machines, is facing an unprecedented challenge: a shortage of drivers to deliver goods. To address this problem, businesses are looking for creative solutions to adapt.

Accordingly, JR East Cross Station Company has pioneered the use of trains to transport goods to vending machines, while Toyota is leveraging robotic technology to automate production processes by deploying a fleet of logistics robots to pick up and move cars to the loading area. Toyota also hopes to replace 22 workers in the parking lot with 10 robots in the near future.

Agricultural sector

Last summer in Miyazaki Prefecture, southern Japan, a solar-powered robotic duck called Raicho 1, made by Kyoto-based Tmsuk, was deployed in rice paddies to weed out weeds. The robot is part of a drone-robot system designed to sow, tend and harvest rice without human labor.

In addition to using AI to address labor shortages, Japan is also applying robotic technology to chase away wild animals that destroy crops. To deal with the problem of wild animals invading residential areas, Japanese scientists and engineers have developed a robot equipped with a high-pressure water gun that can roam around to chase away wild boars and deer.

The experiment ended with the October rice harvest with positive results, with total human labor hours reduced from 529 hours to 29 hours, a 95% reduction, while rice yield only decreased slightly, by about 20%.

With the help of technology, farmers have significantly reduced labor and protected crops from the harmful effects of wild animals. The results of this experiment have opened up a promising future for Japanese agriculture.

With an aging and declining population, Japanese agriculture is facing a serious labor shortage crisis. Accordingly, in 2022, the country will only be self-sufficient in food at about 38% and more than 10% of agricultural land is abandoned, which is clear evidence of this situation.

With 43% of Japanese farmers over 75 years old and the average age of farmers nearly 68 years old, CEO of Tmsuk technology company (Japan), Mr. Yoichi Takamoto affirmed that applying robots to agriculture is an urgent solution to preserve local specialties and ensure national food security.

Retail industry

A severe labor shortage has forced Japanese retailers and convenience stores to cut operating hours and services. In 2020, Japanese convenience stores were short 172,000 workers, and the industry association predicts a shortage of 101,000 workers by 2025.

As a result, only 87% of retail stores are now open 24 hours, down from 92% in August 2019. Hiring foreign students, who can work despite Japan’s tight immigration restrictions, is one option, but some need weeks of training to meet customer expectations.

Faced with this situation, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio warned that without fundamental and effective solutions, Japan risks falling into an unprecedented demographic crisis, threatening the existence of the current social model.

Meanwhile, Hisayuki Idekoba, CEO of Japan’s largest recruitment company, Recruit Holdings, sees AI as a potential solution to Japan’s labor shortage. However, he warns that public skepticism about AI is holding back the technology’s adoption. While Japan needs to invest heavily in AI, changing social perceptions will be a major challenge.