Doraemon

Who is Doraemon? Doraemon is a "gadget cat from the future". According to Wikipedia, in March 2008, Japan's Foreign Ministry appointed Doraemon as the nation's first "anime ambassador." I'm not sure what that means, but he certainly is ubiquitous throughout Japan.

I was recently in a small English section of a bookstore and to my delight I found volume one of the Doraemon manga, translated into English! (with Japanese as well). So now I'm reading about how this little robot cat comes to save the comic's hero from a lifetime of loser-dom. It's very cute.

Here's a scan of one of the first panels, again courtesy of Wikipedia:



This is where Nobita, the main character, first meets Doraemon as he comes out of a desk drawer. Doraemon's first words are: "It's me. Did I upset you?" Nobita, being something of a spazz, is indeed pretty upset to see robot cats coming out of drawers.

Doraemon, you are a cool cat.

I often find my students doodling Doraemon on their English papers - Doraemon, and for some reason, a very gentlemanly looking frog with a necktie.