PM Abe wants a 'robot speaker' to stand in for him during Diet debates
Mainichi Japan | March 2, 2016
...at a dinner at the prime minister's official residence on March 1... Abe apparently said he wanted the robotic proxy as he looked back on the budget deliberations, after the recent test run of a self-driving taxi came up in conversation.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who was present at the dinner, drew a chuckle by saying, "He (Abe) would certainly be able to speak more calmly then."
China already offers a robo-replacement Abe.