I went to Japan to shoot the 2007 International Robotics Exhibition (IREX) in December and to interview robot developers and others.

Yasuhide Mitsuma, of Channel J, was my excellent Assistant Director who helped me shoot the IREX footage and all the interviews. Yasuhide kept me on track and also made sure I tried some of the best sushi in Tokyo.   Joel Challender, was my Assistant Producer, who did much of the groundwork in lining up our interviews, plus provided interpretation on location.  His smooth English style made up for my brash American attitude.

In addition to the interviews, we shot the Finals of the Robo-One GP at the IREX.  And thanks to John Kim, we got pre-show interviews of the competitors. This is an amateur organization whose members build their own fighting robots. We had the opportunity to interview the director of the organization, Terukazu Nishimura.  He told us that they’re planning to have a Championship battle between fighting robots in space!

You’ll have to watch “J, Robot” when it’s released for more details.

Asimo strolling through a Tokyo neighborhood in the near future

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