Government-backed Rapidus started pilot production of advanced chips in Hokkaido this week, taking Japan one step closer to its goal of a return to semiconductor-manufacturing leadership. The company announced Tuesday that its plant near New Chitose Airport is ready for test production of next-generation 2-nanometer chips. Rapidus aims to mass produce those semiconductors -- which are vital for advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence and autonomous driving -- in 2027.

The tremendous development in large language models (LLM) has led to a new wave of innovations and applications and yielded research results that were initially forecast to take longer. In this work, we tap into these recent developments and present a meta-study about the potential of large language models if deployed in social robots. We place particular emphasis on the applications of social robots: education, healthcare, and entertainment. Before being deployed in social robots, we also study how these language models could be safely trained to ``understand'' societal norms and issues, such as trust, bias, ethics, cognition, and teamwork. We hope this study provides a resourceful guide to other robotics researchers interested in incorporating language models in their robots.

For Misha Awad, the process of boarding a plane to Japan and then going through immigration brought with it a range of emotions -- shock, nervousness, bureaucracy-induced tedium and even amusement. While moving to a new country is a major step in anyone's life, Awad's case had an extra layer to it, as it was also the culmination of a long wait to return to Japan. A student at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies (IUC) in Yokohama, she and many fellow members of her program were finally able to enter the country in mid-March, having previously had their hopes dashed at the end of November, when their permission to enter Japan was canceled just days before they were supposed to fly due to tightened restrictions following the discovery of the omicron variant . "Knowing for sure I had made it to the gates, I don't need any of these papers (for immigration) anymore, I'm actually here -- that was kind of just mind-blowing," she said. Following the easing of Japan's strict border controls on March 1, which have been in place for most of the pandemic, at least some foreign students have been able to arrive in time for Friday's start of the academic year.

OSAKA – This year, all attention will turn to the 2020 Olympics, with politicians, business leaders and the media talking about how to ensure its success, what it means for Japan domestically and internationally and how to avert a post-Olympic economic slump. Outside the seven prefectures in the Kanto region centered on Tokyo, however, the high drama of the games will be absent with the notable exceptions of Hokkaido (marathons and soccer), Fukushima (baseball and softball) and Miyagi (soccer). With that in mind, here are some issues that parts of the rest of Japan will face in 2020 and official plans to deal with them. From Hokkaido to Okinawa, governments are fighting to stay optimistic and energetic in the face of ever-increasing aging, declining populations and the flight of younger residents and businesses to Tokyo and other major cities. In late December, the government unveiled a five-year plan for regional revitalization aimed at easing the overconcentration of resources in Tokyo and the Kanto region by early 2025. Financial assistance will be available for some startups relocating outside of Tokyo, and the plan calls for the greater use of artificial intelligence in those areas of the country where it would be difficult to relocate or in which the needed number of employees can't be found.

With an aging population and a growing shortage of drivers, Japan is a country where autonomous transportation services would seem to have a bright future. Demand is particularly high for self-driving trucks in regions with few alternatives to hauling freight by road, such as Hokkaido. Among truck manufacturers, UD Trucks Corp., a Japanese unit of Sweden's AB Volvo, has teamed up with an agricultural cooperative in the northern prefecture that is increasingly concerned about the declining number of delivery truck drivers. The company has been testing its autonomous heavy-duty trucks on a 1.5-km-long (about 1 mile) designated route in and around a sugar factory in Shari, eastern Hokkaido. The truck is capable of Level 4 self-driving, meaning it performs all driving tasks without human intervention within a limited area, even in emergencies.

MOSCOW - The Russian Defense Ministry has deployed a surveillance drone to an artillery division stationed on a group of islands controlled by Russia but claimed by Japan, a Russian newspaper reported Monday. The drone will be used for patrolling coastal areas and surrounding waters, as well as for rescue operations, according to the newspaper, Izvestia. The artillery unit is stationed on two of the four Russian-controlled islands off the coast of Hokkaido, known in Japan as Etorofu and Kunashiri. The Orlan-10 drone, the same type as those sent by Russia to Syria, is able to operate within a 120-kilometer radius for up to 14 hours while transmitting images from a mounted camera, the Russian paper said.

MOSCOW - The Russian Defense Ministry has deployed a surveillance drone with an artillery division to a group of islands controlled by Russia but claimed by Japan, a Russian newspaper reported on Monday. The drone will be used for patrolling coastal areas and surrounding waters, as well as for rescue operations, according to the newspaper, Izvestia. The artillery unit is stationed on two of the four Russian-controlled islands off the coast of Hokkaido, known in Japan as Etorofu and Kunashiri. The Orlan-10 drone, the same type as those sent by Russia to Syria, is able to operate within a 120-kilometer radius for up to 14 hours while transmitting images from a mounted camera, the Russian paper said.

What an innocent, carefree year it must have been to spawn so bland a word of the year. It has a nice ring to it, especially when spoken with the Hokkaido lilt the women's curling team -- surprise bronze medalists -- gave it during February's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. So what if all it means is, "That's right"? Let 2018, the Year of the Dog, end as it began -- on a positive note. Speaking of dogs and beginnings: Sony's robot dog Aibo was a big hit at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Nintendo has delayed a crucial video presentation around its Nintendo Switch and 3DS games consoles after a powerful earthquake hit Hokkaido, Japan. The major quake, which struck shortly before 3am local time this morning (7pm BST/ 2pm ET yesterday), left 5.3 million without electricity and at least eight people dead. More than 150 people have been injured in the natural disaster, which measured around 6.7 on the Richter magnitude scale. Nintendo had planned to reveal details around a slew of new video game titles coming to its Nintendo Switch and 3DS consoles in time for the holiday season. However, the video presentation, which is streamed live on the Japanese firm's website as well as YouTube, will be rescheduled.

Jin Kawaguchiya gave up a career in finance to help revive Japan's ailing dairy industry, one robot at a time. In a country that relies increasingly on imported foods like cheese and butter, Japan's milk output tumbled over two decades, touching a 30-year low in 2014. Costs rose faster than prices as the economy stagnated, eroding profit, and aging farmers quit the business because they could not find enough young people willing to take on the hard labor of tending to cows every day. But technology is altering that dynamic. On Hokkaido, Japan's top dairy-producing region, Kawaguchiya transformed the 20-cow farm he inherited from his father-in-law 16 years ago into Asia's largest automated milking factory.