Assignment Asia, an award-winning current affairs and documentary program on CGTN (China Global Television Network) featured Japan's robot technologies in their recent show. In the program, a talking-doll "Kabo-chan" which takes a position of a close friend of elderly living alone is introduced,  and Dr. Masaaki Tanaka, OCU Graduate School of Medicine, made a comment on how such communication helps elderly improve their cognitive functions.
See the video as below.
 

　https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P8ZIlhLuZY