Reading “The Road to ‘The Planet of the Robots’” by Naoyuki Igasawa

The other day, a piece of mail arrived at our guesthouse.

It was from Mr. Naoyuki Igasawa.
Inside were a brand-new book and a handwritten note.
"Please read it at your leisure," it said, in soft, gentle handwriting.

Some time ago, I once introduced one of his books here. Today I'd like to tell you about a new one — its sequel.

Its title is “The Road to ‘The Planet of the Robots.’”

He even went out of his way to send me this second book. First of all, thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart.

Previous article
Introducing Mr. Igasawa's first book (Watausagi Diary)

The film I love, Planet of the Apes, was the way in

The moment I opened it, I caught myself murmuring, “Oh, that's clever.”
The doorway into this book is that very film, Planet of the Apes.

※ Spoilers ahead, so please be careful from here.

I love this movie.
That final scene — the hero finds the Statue of Liberty half-buried in the sand and crumples to his knees, realizing, “This was Earth all along.”
The shock, and the chill down my spine when I first watched it, came rushing right back.

What the author wants to say is this.
What happens in that film is, in fact, already happening right beside us.
It is not a made-up tale from a distant planet, but the story of here and now — and he quietly sounds the alarm. That is what this book is.

A cradle called “perfect convenience”

The book itself is remarkably concise.
It portrays the problems of our age, and how human beings were meant to live, in plain and direct words — so it is very easy to follow.
And yet a real feel for language shines through in every corner; it reads smoothly and stays with you.

Two phrases lodged themselves in my heart.

One is the cradle of “perfect convenience.”
Chores, work, getting around — robots do all of it. Nothing is inconvenient anymore.
But inside that cradle, people slowly turn into beings who merely “sit and wait.”

The other is “the history of losing our physicality.”
From the Stone Age to the Jomon and Yayoi periods, the modern era, and now.
Little by little, human beings have let go of living through their own bodies — and the author unravels that path with great care.

That the world turned out this way is, yes, rooted in human shallowness and folly.
But the one who can stand up to it is, again, the human being.
Saying so, the author looks for a hint in the Jomon way of life, which lasted more than ten thousand years without major conflict.

What waits at the end of handing it all over

The passage that struck me as most on the mark was this one.

Once we have handed everything over to robots, what waits at the end is a lonely fate for humankind, not unlike that of livestock.

Reading it, I could only nod.
In exchange for convenience, we let go of the very will to live. The author writes of that fear without flinching.

What made me marvel most: the final twist

But this book has one more layer to it.

Near the end, the author quietly lets us in on something.
That he wrote this very book with generative AI as his “partner.”

A book that warns about AI, written together with AI.
The author himself is fully aware of the contradiction. On top of that, he honestly admits that he, too, cannot entirely escape the trap of AI's overwhelming convenience.

And he closes like this.
If human beings come to believe “AI is clever, so it never gets things wrong,” and stop looking things up with their own heads…
then the world may be buried under the “false history” and “distorted facts” he described.

I felt these words were meant for me.
Don't swallow what AI says whole. I know that in my head.
And yet, somewhere, we tend to assume “what AI says must be right.”

That is exactly why I want to grasp Mr. Igasawa's true intent.
Not to be tamed by AI, but to think far more carefully about how to coexist with it well.

Just one thing — a small complaint from me

The author also sounds the alarm about the environment in which children grow up.
Rather than mastering smartphones and AI, he hopes they will get muddy and play, and feel the very fabric of human life through that play. That wish came through clearly.

I agree completely.
But let me be a little cheeky and say just one thing.

Children are mirrors of their parents.
If the parents are forever glued to smartphones and AI, it's hard to tell the children alone that “this is a bad thing.” It may only breed rebellion.

So perhaps the ones who need to change first are us, the grown-ups.

In closing

To gather around a fire, to move our hands, to live while truly engaging with others.
It's roundabout, it takes effort, and sometimes it doesn't go smoothly.
But it is precisely in that texture that something essential to being human resides.

Reading Mr. Igasawa's book, I felt this all over again.
And it quietly overlapped with what I have always wanted to treasure in this little guesthouse.

Mr. Igasawa, thank you so very much for such a wonderful book.
I look forward to the day we can sit and talk again, unhurried.

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In writing this article, I also talk my thoughts through on YouTube, so please watch along.

Wrap-up

This is exactly why guesthouses are so much fun!

Watausagi is a self-check-in, easygoing guesthouse in Tsuruoka, Yamagata.
There's no excessive service. Instead, you get to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime encounters between travelers, and time spent living as if you belonged here.

To gather around a fire, to move your hands, to spend time truly engaging with others.
What I felt was “precious” while reading this book is exactly the everyday life of Watausagi.

On this blog, I also share, at an easy pace, the charms of Yamagata, Tsuruoka, and the Shonai region.

I announce new articles in my Instagram stories.
I'd be so glad if you followed along and waited for them.
And a like or a share would make me happiest of all.

▶ Guesthouse Watausagi — Book your stay here:https://wata-usagi.com/reservation/