If I say that I know what pain means,
how do I know that what I mean is what you mean
when you say that you feel pain?
The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein
tells us to imagine everyone has a box only they can see into.
No one can see into anyone else's box,
yet each describes what they see in their own box as a beetle.
From my own examination of what's in my box,
I believe I know what a beetle is.
And presumably, you believe the same, looking in yours.
But who knows?
Perhaps there are different things in our boxes.
Is a beetle to me the same as a beetle to you?
Can we ever know for sure?
Or are we ourselves each in our own boxes?
You have to understand that these questions plagued Masa so early,
Masa-kun, eat your dinner.
What is all this commotion?
I was saying hi to my beetle.
He was only a boy when he realized how alone he was,
in his own head.
I caught it in the park.
It's shinier than most.
- Masa, quiet. - It has a rod like a sword,
and two horns.
Wait till you see how big it is--
He needs to learn to be quiet.
Why doesn't my dad like me?
He's tired.
I'll cut some apple for your beetle.
Be a good boy and finish your dinner.
But humans are hardwired for connection,
so that when our mind goes, our body has decayed,
there's a record somewhere, proof that we mattered.
And so, Masa kept trying.
Your father...
is tired now.
I won't keep him then.
It's not a good time.
He is going to die.
Are you hungry?
Come. I will make you nikujaga.
But what happens when we try
to bridge that gap, to be seen, to be understood, only to fail?
What lesson can be learned?
I ate already.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Masa?
When he closed the door that day,
did Masa mean it to be forever?
I can't be sure.
But I think he'd learned the only way to survive his loneliness
was to embrace it.
To wear it like a cape.
Two and a half years went by, and Masa hadn't left his room.
That's when I got a call from his mother. She and I hadn't spoken in decades.
But she was desperate.
She'd tried everything.
She was even willing to try me.
I must seem a terrible mother,
but,
please don't think badly of Masa.
Oh, no, no.
He is a smart boy.
He's retained a good job remotely.
Marvelous.
What does he do?
He's a computer engineer for ImaTech.
He works in fridges.
An engineer, eh?
Marvelous.
You must be so proud.
Work is not enough.
- He needs a family. - He needs a family.
Well then...
I was very sorry to hear about Shigeru-san.
I take it he and Masa-kun were quite close?
That's what was so curious.
He and my husband hardly spoke.
Oh.
Well, I'm glad you called me.
I will try my very best.
Please...
do whatever you have to.
You are not staying?
Masa-kun.
Hello.
I'm a friend of your mother's.
Omoide Alley.
Jungle Crows 2.
My favorite level.
Have you found the maphole behind Kojimaya Coffee House?
Behind the kissaten are three doors.
If you stand before the middle door and press B--
No, wait...
Press A and UP at the same time.
Then, once midair, use the somersault coin and then press B.
I did some QA on this game.
I was supposed to patch the mapholes, but this was a fun one, so I left it.
I hear you are also an engineer.
If you're interested, I have a cabin. Something of a workshop on Lake Biwa.
You could stay there.
You'd have the place to yourself.
Perhaps it would help if I introduced myself properly.
Your name is Masa...
because mine is Hiromasa.
Masa-kun...
You are my son.
There's a market if you decide to venture out.
And I'll be back in a few weeks to bring groceries...
meals from Noriko...
From your mother. I--
So many unfinished projects.
I'm always dabbling.
Yes. We know you can't commit.
It was strange. I could see myself in him so clearly.
But he'd built such a fortress around himself.
I had no idea how to get in.
Masa-kun,
If there's anything you want to ask me, you may.
Compensating much?
THIS IS HOW JAPAN'S FUTURE WILL CHANGE WITH INNOVATION!
A NEW GENERATION OF HOMEBOTS
DESIGNED TO ALLOW WOMEN TO WORK OUTSIDE THE HOME
WHILE STILL RAISING GOOD JAPANESE FAMILIES
Motherfucker.
Excuse me.
What the hell?
Hello. I am Shō.
I am a trashbot.
It seems you could use my services. May I?
Do whatever you want.
Trash!
Hey, that's my device! What's wrong with you?
What do you mean?
All lost-and-found objects in this room were filed by Hiro-san.
That object was not filed. Therefore, it is trash.
You think any object that hasn't been filed for you is trash?
That is correct.
Wow. Shit work.
Excuse me.
There are just so many ways an object can be crushed or deformed.
So it is difficult for me to recognize without proper filing.
Yeah, that should not be difficult.
How so?
Forget it.
You were programmed by a moron.
Here. Have fun.
Trash!
You are clocked in.
Trash!
All right, I give.
Let's see what kind of trash this doofus gave you for brains.
Connect to Trashbot.
Wow.
It had been years
since Masa had allowed himself to care about something
as much as he suddenly cared about beating me.
So he spent many weeks alone in that cabin,
working to make my Trashbot smarter than I ever could have.
Trash!
That's wrong.
Shō! Shō! This is not trash!
- Trash! - Wrong!
Trash!
No!
There's still some inside.
Trash!
You did good.
He seems to be eating well.
And I think he was smiling.
Masa smiled at you?
Not at me.
I didn't go in. But I--
Well, I peeked.
Through the window.
Are you scandalized?
I'm sorry.
I only watched for a moment.
I used to do the same.
Though he certainly never smiled.
So this is progress then.
What?
Being away from his mother?
Masa is a grown man, Noriko.
His struggles are his own.
But his crooked smile, on the other hand, that is yours.
My smile is not crooked.
Sure.
If you tilt your head.
What if you came with me next time?
I'm off for Culture Day.
You could peek too.
We could peek together.
Very well.
But we don't peek together.
Separate peeking.
You don't become a roboticist by accident.
Every one of us, we're searching for something.
Masa hadn't yet figured out what, but he was getting closer.
Circling around the problem he'd spent his whole life trying to solve.
His loneliness.
Here we go.
- This is? - Trash!
Yes.
- This is? - Not-trash!
Yes.
- This is? - Trash!
Yes.
Ah.
Not-trash?
Remarkably, that is correct.
- Trash! - No!
How are you still this dumb?
Apparently, I was programmed by a moron.
You programmed me to recycle cans.
Problem is, it was my can.
Wait! Where are you going with my charger?
To throw it out. It's trash.
It is not. Please don't do that.
You and I are very different, but certain patterns are the same.
Why do you want this charger so badly?
I need my charger to charge.
Well, I need my coffee to charge.
So now coffee cans are not-trash?
It's not enough to just classify objects, because value can change over time.
So you have to ask:
What does this thing mean, in this very moment, to whomever it belongs?
Forget it.
Clearly I need to get back into your code.
So what you're saying is the coffee is valuable to you
in the manner my charger is to me?
- Yes. - So in this moment, it is not-trash.
Yes!
Yes. Right. Exactly!
Who is moron now, bitches?
I saw a line like that in a movie. Funny, no?
If you say so, it must be.
Okay. Let's try something else.
We're on a roll.
Trash?
Or not-trash?
Not-trash.
Is that correct?
Let's go.
You need a challenge.
We're going outside?
Yes.
AUTUMN COMMUNITY APPRECIATION FESTIVAL
Trash!
Trash or not-trash?
Look, Papa.
Not-trash.
You said you look for patterns.
You frown at objects
that are valuable to you.
Because you value being sad.
And why are we laughing this time?
Masa wasn't like any roboticist I'd ever met.
It wasn't an interest in robots that led him to the field.
I'm sorry I don't understand your jokes.
You've done well, Shō-kun.
His goal wasn't in teaching robots
to discover their humanity.
What excited him was realizing how they could help us discover ours.
You've done too well.
I see you!
What are you doing?
Yeah. You there, with the face.
Don't think I won't call the cops!
You can't put that in there.
Run!
That's burnable trash!
Go, go, go!
Run! Keep moving!
Hurry! Hurry!
Shit.
- Hello. - Masa.
Trash.
Masa. Please wait--
What in god's name is wrong with the trashbot?
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Why did you kick him?
That piece of junk attacked me!
It was trying to dispose of trash.
- Masa. - What?
What else do you call a man who has an affair then leaves his child
for someone else to raise?
That's enough, Masa.
Are you seriously defending him?
- What the hell is wrong with you? - Don't talk to your mother like that,
- Masa-san. - Oh, shut up.
Ah.
So it was your idea.
Did he know?
Not him.
Your husband.
Did he know I wasn't his?
He hated me...
my whole life.
And I had no idea why.
I knew I should not have come.
No. What?
You don't get to do that. You have to explain.
Why? Why did you keep this from me?
Why didn't you tell me?
Why the fuck didn't you tell me?
Why? Why the fuck didn't he tell me?
ImaTech has NDAs. Very strict.
Oh, bullshit.
They didn't NDA his whole life.
He brought you into his robot bullshit, didn't he?
I do not know why he would not tell you.
Maybe he felt safer keeping part of himself still inside.
Masa came to me,
a few days before the plane, in the middle of the night.
He was upset. He was worried.
I was honored he would come to me for help.
But, uh, he was not well.
He was frightened.
Maybe too much to drink.
He gave me the homebot.
I gave it to you, all according to his instructions.
Why was he scared? Did he say?
I do not know, Suzie-san.
All he said, all he kept saying--
You're the only person I can go to.
I have to protect them.
So he was running. He knew the yakuza were after him.
Please. I swear.
As soon as I knew they were on your bad side, I kicked them out.
I sent them away.
But you didn't call me?
I should have. I get it. I'm sor--
I don't like secrets.
Risa.
Please. The bot attacked the lady's friend.
That's all I know.
It's time.
Coming!
Let's go find Suzie.
And before they had access to the bot, it was never violent?
Where is it now?
At my house. There are these three GPS points so we--
Um, actually, four.
What? No, three.
Four. Look.
What the fuck is that?
The yellow is, um-- Oh.
So, Noriko is in jail.
Huh?
I know, but it sounds like she's really thriving.
Um, so, the green is you.
And orange was in my wedding ring, but we put it on Sunny before coming here.
But the blue?
I don't know.
So, we look at the history.
They only go back two days.
My son does the same thing.
Here we are.
You went to a farm?
So maybe the yakuza didn't plant them. Maybe--
- Maybe it was-- Maybe that's-- - This is New Year's.
Wait. Why is that one not moving?
Come on.
Christmas.
Now it's moving.
Oh, my God.
Where is it...
Oh, my God. That's--
The airport.
My house.
It has to be, right? It has to be--
I have to go find my son.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Sunny is heading towards the blue dot too.
Sorry, excuse me. Sorry.
MANKAKUJI SETSUBUN FESTIVAL
Come on, this way! This way.
What is it?
If I go in there and they're not there...
Hope is terrifying.
They're fucking with me.
What?
It's going.
Hello?
Zen!
Masa-san!
Masa? Zen?
Zen! Baby!
Zen? Masa.
Hello?
Mama!
Zen?
Zen! Zen!
Baby! I'm coming!
Zen!
- Zen. - Mama!
Baby. Zen.
Mama!
Zen!
Mama!
Go!
Don't move until I tell you.
And shut the fuck up.
Zen.
Oh, my God. Baby!
Baby!
Huh? No.
Don't touch him. Don't--
Zen!
Come and get her.
Suzie, are you...
Suzie!
Help!
Suzie!
Suzie.