> They actually need robots do the menial tasks in society since no human is going to be around to do it.
If you imagine robots are going to show up and clean the streets in Japan you are in for a massive disappointment. This kind of things will never happen on time for when they need it, and Japan is not known to be the most innovative country they used to be anymore. They lost it about 20 years ago.
Of all the things that could be automated on roads garbage collection and street cleaning seem ideal. They operate at slow speeds, have far fewer edge cases e.g. cars aggressively cutting in and out and people already move out of their way when they come by.
And you don't want to dismiss Japan's (a) technology ability and (b) commitment to robotics. Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba lead the world in many sensor technologies in particular visual that would be relevant to cars, robotics and other automated systems.
Most importantly their culture is more conducive to it, case in point the robot run hotel:
If you imagine robots are going to show up and clean the streets in Japan you are in for a massive disappointment. This kind of things will never happen on time for when they need it, and Japan is not known to be the most innovative country they used to be anymore. They lost it about 20 years ago.