The Samurai Strategy Part 53

I didn't have to look far to see that they were already in the womb. We were entering the main laboratory floor now, surrounded by what seemed a Martian landscape of mechanical creatures. The place was bustling, yet spotless as a hospital ward. Noda acknowledged the deep bows of several of the s.h.i.+rt-sleeved staff, then continued.

"Although visitors are not normally permitted in the sensitive areas here, I have arranged total-access priority for you both. I consider you among the few Americans today who can understand the strategic significance of this program."

If Matsuo Noda was really saying that he intended to give us a sobering dose of j.a.pan's impending high-tech clout, he was off to a bang-up start.

Then he turned and greeted a short, white-uniformed man. "Allow me to introduce Dr. n.o.buru Matsugami, who is senior staff specialist for the program here. Dr. Matsugami will be your guide today."

Matsugami was close to fifty and balding, with short- cropped hair that seemed to stand out on the sides of his head like the bristles of a metal brush. He was bowing to Noda every other second, as though he'd just been summoned by G.o.d. He attempted a smile, then greeted us in j.a.panese, followed by accented English.

I surveyed the floor--steel and aluminum and computers-- feeling as if I could have been on another planet. Tam, strangely, had said scarcely a word the whole time. She probably knew about a lot of this, but surely not the proprietary, advanced devices.

Noda's glimpse of j.a.pan's industrial "Manhattan Project" was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Although I suspect the devices he let Matsugami show us were just the toys, they still were enough to leave no doubt where things were headed.

Without going into the cla.s.sified details, let me attempt to describe a few of the items I still remember. I was particularly impressed by the Waseda University/Hitachi walking robot WHL-II, which uses advanced machine technology and computer control to move just as a human does, two-legged style. Its hydraulic steel joints and carbon-fiber muscles, together with its computerized foot sensors, give it walking skills better than most young humans'. Its brain of course is a microprocessor, programmed to let it walk in different styles, just as we do. Other mobile robots had four legs, even six--such as the t.i.tan III, which we saw climb up a set of stairs like a metallic sci-fi spider.

As for robot hands, the most advanced also were from Hitachi's mechanical engineering research lab. Unlike most robot grippers, little more than glorified vises, this one had three fingers (which Matsugami claimed were more agile than a version at MIT) whose "muscles" were a heat-sensitive metal (invented in the U.S.) that would contract when an electric current pa.s.sed through.

Vision research was also well advanced. A Matsus.h.i.+ta robot equipped with a computerized "eye" was able to a.n.a.lyze the lines and shadows of a human face and then draw a black-and- white sketch like a sidewalk artist. Even more amazing, a robot with a TV-camera eye--developed jointly by Waseda University and Sumitomo Electric--could read sheet music and play it on a keyboard using mechanical fingers. This android pianist employed recent advances in artificial intelligence to determine the best fingering for each phrase and even took requests for tunes in spoken j.a.panese. Play it again, HAL. Other robots with "voice recognition" capability allowed a human operator simply to sit in one spot and command the mobile machine where to go and what to do.

At one point Tam asked Matsugami for a candid opinion on how far along he thought the Advanced Robot-Technology Program had progressed. Well, he replied, sucking in his breath pensively, the manual dexterity problem was about licked: the robot arms now being perfected could pick up anything and move it anywhere. Vision and programmable intelligence were harder, but he felt their research was getting close. Already he had robots that could a.n.a.lyze and interpret 3-D objects and scenes, enabling them to maneuver around a factory floor and make decisions of almost human complexity. The ultimate objective was factory-wide systems for Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) that would allow every operation of a company, from design to engineering to manufacturing, to be controlled by computer via a single data base. It was cheap, and it elevated quality control to a hundred percent. No doubt about it, he said, as j.a.pan moved to automate manufacturing and get on with an information- industry future, these smart robots would be their secret weapon.

The Inst.i.tute's mechanical menagerie, I realized, was what the next century was going to look like. Except it was here now. As Matsugami took us through lab after lab, it became clear that the j.a.panese "third-generation" functionoid robot was all but a reality.

Noda's message was clear. Already j.a.pan was spending twice as much on new manufacturing technology as America was. They led the world in robotics and that lead was growing. With the coming of that third generation--robots that could

see, move, and think--world industrial leaders.h.i.+p would be up for grabs.

These were the stakes j.a.pan was betting on the twenty-first century.

Anybody who planned to play against them better have something on the table too.

At the end of the tour as dusk was beginning to settle in, Noda reappeared and escorted us back to the limo. And that's when he laid it out.

"Dr. Richardson, what you and Mr. Walton have just seen is merely a glimpse of the real peril to America's future." He was closing the door of the car. "There is much, much more . . . projects such as the rapid commercialization of superconductivity. America's world supremacy is at a crossroads."

"Why are you showing us this?" Tam was still troubled by the same question that was eating at me.

"Very simple, really. Thus far we have, together, attempted to address some of the more egregious inept.i.tudes in America's corporate management. Our success in that, if I may say, has already been substantial. However, the best-managed organization cannot flourish without the tools required to take it the next step. That translates as technology." He paused, then looked at us both. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"j.a.pan now has the technology, just as it has the money," Tam answered.

"You are correct. Thus far Dai Nippon has merely provided a conduit to infuse capital into the American industrial scene. That was the easy part. The task remaining will be much more difficult." He looked at us.

"Difficult because, for this, America must share in return."

"You want to make a deal, I take it." I finally spoke. Funny, but I thought I sounded a little like Faust beginning negotiations with the devil.

He smiled. "That is a blunt way of describing what I am about to suggest, Mr. Walton, but it does capture the spirit of my proposal.

America excels in basic research, j.a.pan in applied research, in engineering. The time has come to join forces."

"How?"

"As you have seen, the monetary resources at Dai Nippon's disposal make it possible for us to wield significant influence." He smiled.

"j.a.panese capital has been brought to America; j.a.panese technology can be brought as well."

"At a price."

"At a price, yes. But a modest one really." He smiled again, then buzzed for his driver to start the car. "Let me put it like this. If you choose to proceed with me in the next step of Dai Nippon's program, I will arrange for everything you have seen today to be my gift to America. All I ask from you both is complete cooperation in the days ahead. Together we can forge an informal alliance between j.a.pan and America that could alter the course of world history. But it must be done in an atmosphere of complete trust."

Tam was astonished. "You'd make this manufacturing technology available to American industry? Why?"

"As part of a quid pro quo, Dr. Richardson. It's quite simple. In return I would expect complete access to the R&D in the firms Dai Nippon has acquired." He stared back through his rimless gla.s.ses.

"Which, I gather, is a notion you find a trifle unsettling."

You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I thought. You did have my phone tapped. How else could you have known what she was thinking?

She shot me a telling glance. "How does all this fit in with the new MITI guidance we're suddenly getting?"

"That is a separate matter, Dr. Richardson, which we will address in due course. What I am concerned with now is something else entirely--the final step in restoring America to economic health. The first requirement was long-term capital and better management, which Dai Nippon has now begun to provide. The next is technology, a small foretaste of which I have shown you today."

Was this, I wondered, the big picture, the _kan _we'd been trying to get a handle on?

"What I'm proposing," Noda continued, "is that together we become partners in the creation of a ma.s.sive j.a.panese- American consortium.

Perhaps we could call it Nipponica."

"Nipponica?" She kept her tone even.

"The name has an interesting ring to it, does it not? As I envision the organization, you would be its American CEO." He paused. "I would chair the board." Then he turned to me. "And you, Mr. Walton, could be invaluable as chief corporate counsel."

The man had gone totally mad. Or had he?

"I still don't understand how this venture could be brought together.

You'd be dealing with hundreds of companies, a worldwide management headache."

"Mr. Walton, what other choice do we have? Given the precipitous decline of America's global leaders.h.i.+p, together with j.a.pan's economic and technological rise, there can be only two possible outcomes of the inevitable direction affairs are headed: bankruptcy for us both, or war. The time has come for risk-taking, for a belief in the human spirit. We each need the other more than our political leaders can allow themselves to admit, and thus steps must be taken outside normal diplomatic channels to bring us closer together." He continued, in perfect form, "Both America and j.a.pan would benefit from a commingling of our industry and research. We would learn from each other, find strength in unity, realize a common perspective on global concerns. Our economies would be joined, our peoples united. Instead of friction and the saber rattling of trade disputes, we would have the harmony of a single enterprise."

"Who exactly is going to finance and operate this undertaking?" I was listening to him describe his planned-for Utopia with increasing skepticism. But he had already rocked America, and j.a.pan, to the core.

Not a man to underestimate.

"As you might suppose, Dai Nippon would, by virtue of its present situation, be ideally suited to lay the groundwork." He glanced out the tinted windows. "Afterward the political processes of both countries would naturally have no choice but to follow our lead, ratifying--as they always do--conditions that have already become a _fait accompli_."

It had all the easy resonance of a grand historical venture, except . .

. except what if this was still _ken_, superficialities, not _kan_, the real truth?

"Before we go any further, I think Dr. Richardson and I should talk this over." I looked up to see the Tsukuba Hotel, where we were scheduled to stay overnight. Noda had made other accommodations for himself, saying he also needed to drop by the Metallurgy Lab and check to see how work was going on the sword. My scheduled viewing was to be tomorrow.

"I agree." Tam looked at me sharply. "We can discuss this more in the morning."

"As you wish." The limo was pulling to a stop. "Tomorrow should be an interesting day for you both. We can continue our discussions then." He smiled. "However, be aware that time is of the essence."

With that parting shot, the long black Nissan sped away.