It must be nightmarish for Japanese “salarymen.” Performance artist Momoyo Torimitsu thinks so, and she’s so convinced of their suffering, she built a (literally) creepy robot to symbolize their plight in the onslaught of the upcoming Asian economic crash. Apparently things are getting so bad, the overworked businessmen will soon be crawling for survival, perhaps the equivalent of dancing for your supper here in the U.S. This guy's a soldier on the battlefield, crawling to dodge those bullets of poverty and failure coming his way.

Momoyo appears in the video as a nurse, adjusting the mechanics underneath the robot’s butt in a clever flourish to show us this is indeed a robot. Or not. That’s one realistic-looking android — we’re still wondering if he’s not just her talented performing partner nearly working himself to death portraying the poor elderly working stiff. It wouldn't be the first time — the Japanese even have a specific word for working yourself to death: karoshi.

Real or not, the pathetic bot certainly drew a crowd in Australia. Click Continue to see the safe-for-work video, which will begin playing as soon as the page loads.

Via Diagonal View