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Tokyo, Japan: Driverless Taxis Soon On The Streets?

In this advanced tech nation, where robot hotel bellhops lug luggage and humanoid clerks check you in, this shouldn’t be unexpected. According to official reports, visitors will be able to hail computerized cabs in the Japanese capital city by 2020.

Consider the possibilities. If you remember the 1976 movie, Taxi Driver, would you want a robotically insane Robert De Niro (Travis Bickle) driving you around town? Also, after settling into back seat, will the automatic taxi driver automatically run up the meter by taking the longest route to your hotel?

If there’s a major pro sports event or convention in town, will the automatic taxi driver automatically up the rate 500 percent? Will the mechanical taxi driver refuse to take anyone wearing a hoodie? Will the robot taxi driver be programmed to laugh hysterically as it aims at little old ladies in wheelchairs as they cross the street?

Will we too soon have to say sayonara to Tokyo’s human taxi drivers?

Destination China: See Giant Panda at home

Giant Panda

Natural Giant Panda habitats are in only a few areas of China today, and one is in the central mountain areas, primarily in the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. In order to preserve the highly-endangered animal, the Chinese government maintains a protected station, which includes a Giant Panda breeding facility and visitor center in the Bifeng Valley in Sichuan.

They're located in picturesque areas some 900 miles from Beijing. There are frequent flights, bus and train excursions from the nation's capital and other Chinese cities to the Bifeng Valley. There are also convenient hotels near the Giant Panda facility, including the Hongzhu, Beite Xingyue Binguan (Moonstar) and even a familiar-sounding Super 8 motel, called the Yibin Lu Neng.