Yuri Kageyama

TOKYO — The IBM Watson super-brainy computing technology, which has helped organize massive data as well as beaten champions on the Jeopardy TV show, is now learning Japanese. IBM Watson, a unit of the U.S. technology and consulting company, said Thursday it was working with Japanese telecommunications and robotics company Softbank Corp. to share Watson with startups and universities in Japan for a variety of consumer applications, starting October. Watson Senior Vice President Mike Rhodin told reporters that Watson, a cloud-based technology, is an effective tool in handling a large amount of unstructured data, such as clinical tests, information...

TOKYO — I’m Japanese and so I’m a sucker for cute things, like manga, quirky figurines and mascot characters. And Pepper, the new companion robot from Tokyo-based technology company Softbank Corp., delivers cuteness like you’ve never seen. What’s striking is the absolutely ardent attention it gives you — frankly a lot better than some real-life people. “You look a bit thin,” it coos in a soft childlike voice, free of any rigid mechanical accent. “You should watch what you eat.” The 121-centimeter (four-foot) tall white machine-on-wheels was disarmingly charming and definitely intriguing when I spent half a day with...