Sharp’s new liquid crystal display plant, a sci-fi wonder built in an Osaka suburb, is a potent symbol of Japanese technology’s past – and of its future.
Robots move down white tunnels that stretch into the distance, stacking sheets of glass in columns, like archivists in some futuristic library. The only sign of humanity is the occasional masked face, reflected in the glinting surface of some vast camera or furnace, watching over the health of their machines.
