Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hisashige Tanaka designed the mechanical dolls known as karakuri ningyo in the Edo period. He was a craftsman often referred to as Japan's Edison who created complex mechanical toys capable of serving tea and firing arrows.
WABOT-1 the world's first full-scale humanoid intelligent robot was unveiled in the year 1972. The project was initiated in 1967 by Professor Ichiro Kato of Waseda University to demonstrate that machines could mimic human movement.
Approximately 500,000 industrial robots were operating within Japan by 1995. This figure represented a significant portion of the 700,000 industrial robots in use worldwide at that time.
The CB2 robot developed by Japanese engineers recognizes human touch and records emotional expressions using 197 film-like pressure sensors under its rubber skin. It moves using 51 muscles driven by air pressure to mimic human movement.
Kirobo became Japan's first robot astronaut on the 10th of August 2013. This small humanoid robot embarked on a historic mission aboard the International Space Station to communicate with astronauts and perform tasks in microgravity.