Mary King, in her essay “Robots & AI in Japan and the West“:

“Integrating robots into Japanese society is less complex than in the West because Japanese revere both animate and inanimate objects, have historically taken a positive view of technology, and enjoy a culture where robots are presented as friends. Western dualistic thinking splits concepts into ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and historically and culturally robots and technology have been perceived as potential threats to humanity and God.”

Via Robots.net