For those of you who are huge manga fans, I may not have to explain myself. If that is the case please stop reading now as this post will serve no purpose but to bore you...
For the rest of us, who believe that the purpose of a blog is to inform as well as entertain, this post will be about the cultural phenomenon of Doraemon.
Doraemon is a cat-like robot from the future, sent back by Nobita's (the show's main human character) great-great grandson. It is a cartoon that has been running since 1969 and remains hugely popular today. Probably 90% of the boxer shorts that my Kindergarten kids wear under their uniforms feature Doraemon, and he is also frequently seen on adults. Doraemon can be found everywhere, on any kind of merchandise... We have seen Doraemon themed cars and motorcycles. There is also a popular program at 7-11 here where you earn Doraemon stickers for your purchases which can be later put towards Doraemon merchandise (we are going for the flatware set). Kids go crazy if you print off a Doraemon colouring sheet for them... Doraemon has a pouch which, much like Mary Poppins' bag, contains any tool that is needed in any situation.
Also important to note. Doraemon had his ears chewed off by a mouse and subsequently developed a phobia of the entire species. Mice please take care not to alarm our blue cat-like friend.
Other than these facts, we know very little about the mysterious Doraemon as it has never been translated into English. For more information, wikipedia is worth a look... as is Youtube. Even though you can't understand what they're saying, it is still pretty hilarious.
