NAVIGATION

     You've seen him all over the world, even
     though you don't know his name. When you
     are blue, and feel like the world is turning
     its back on you, you see his warm smile and
     could feel his optimism flooding into your
     body all of a sudden. He appeared on stamps,
     numerous games, TV series and nearly
     everything that could be seen in Japan. Who
     is this charismatic character that has
     beaconed over us in the past 30 so years?
     It is none other than Doraemon, the futuristic
     robotic cat from the 22nd Century, who
     paved humanity a path towards nirvana.

     Doraemon didn't start out to be great. A 
     faulty robot which was auctioned to a family
     suffering from abject poverty, Doraemon
     suffered drastically during his first years.
     Baby-sitting, failing all his tests in the
     Robots Academy, and having his pair of ears
     beaten off by a mechanical mice, these are
     just some of the major dramas he have to go
     through back home. It was until one day when
     his family decided to send Doraemon back in
     time on a mission, to approximately 250
     years ago, where his family's ancestor lived,
     in suburban Tokyo, in the year 1969.

     Doraemon's mission is to help Nobi Nobita,
     the great-great-great-great grandfather of
     Doraemon's owner. Nobita is what many
     would have considered a failure, having
     inherited all the bad characteristics from his
     parents. Incapable in his academics and
     disabled in athletics, Nobita is only good at
     shooting, which proves almost useful in the
     Japanese society. This is the reason why he
     ended up as a failure in the future. And
     Doraemon is sent from the future to help him
     become successful.

     It seems rather ironic having a faulty robot
     helping a faulty child, but somehow the duo
     manage to succeed every time. Though
     Doraemon is capable of handling every
     situation with ease, he sometimes get real
     mixed up and get things even worse. But in
     the end, the problems are all fixed and
     Doraemon is once again the robot who we
     envy, the cat who can reach inside his fourth
     dimensional pocket on his belly and produce
     that myriad of wonderful gadgets and solve
     all problems in life, single-handedly.

     Doraemon is more than just a robot who can
     solve almost every problem in life with his
     wonderful gadgets.  If you have watched a
     Doraemon episode, you will know what I am
     trying to address. Not only does he look onto
     the bright sides of life, Doraemon is kind and
     understanding. Every time when Nobita runs
     home crying because he got abused at school,
     Doraemon would listen carefully to Nobita's
     troubles and try to solve the complication.

     Doraemon also seems to capture human
     emotion of every kind, ranging
     from anger to revenge, happiness to
     sympathy, and of all these, we empathise with
     him thoroughly, because all his emotions are
     caused by understandable reasons. In fact,
     his reactions are similar to how we would
     have reacted if  we were acting on human
     instinct. 

     For example, in one of the stories, Nobita
     was chased by a stray dog and without
     thinking twice, Doraemon just threw himself
     against the dog to save the defenceless
     Nobita. Such quality of bravery is instilled in
     many of us, and most of us can find
     resemblance of ourselves in Doraemon.

     Doraemon is more than just a pretty face,
     unlike Hello Kitty. Anime characters such as
     Hello Kitty - who seem to drink tea all their
     life and serve no real purpose other than
     being cute and acting like girls - when put in
     the spotlight against Doraemon, the perfect
     friend who we all want, who conjures all
     those wonderful qualities: being able to solve
     all problems, being brave, being optimistic
     and more importantly, trusting his friends,
     you know why Doraemon has been so
     successful. And it is those qualities that
     bring a 70 year old and a 17 year old
     together, chatting for hours, because they
     are what we all more or less desire in
     ourselves. As long as men can see, Doraemon
     will always be remembered for the qualities
     he contain, not just his pretty face.

 

 
    
 
Is he a cat? Is he a racoon? Is he Doraemon?!?!


         

  Doraemon on a Japanese snack packaging.  
  Doraemon is not only famous in Japan, but
  around the world.


       
Scene from the cartoon.



Doraemon's manga (comic books) have been published all over the world, in languages including Japanese, Chinese and English.

        
    
       Japanese fans dressed up as Doraemon.



           Author ( Mr Fujiko ) 's signature




Doraemon featured in the Japanese Hakata Festival.