I could be wrong, but I associate Japanese animism much more strongly with Shinto than with Zen Buddhism.
That’s true, but the question (minus the robot bit) is a zen koan.
And one of the major branch would state Buddha nature have evilness,is aibo evil as well. The hole can go very deep.
Before the Age of the Golden, Labra, and Snicker doodles, there was an old website that asked you a series of questions to help suggest your ideal dog breed. If you answered that you wanted a dog with minimal shedding, didn't require lots of exercise or attention, the breed it would come back with was an Aibo.
Culturally and sociologically this seems similar to me to owning a doll. I’m not saying this to diminish the significance; perhaps even the opposite: it seems a next step in a very long tradition.
I'm really curious what could be done with one of these plus today's cutting-edge AI mechanisms. Like, how programmable are these?