FMS IN JAPAN 2016

Ngoc Anh checks a cat that is blue and earless. Guess who? That’s right, it’s Doraemon!

Doraemon was my childhood. As a kid, I grew up with my eyes glued to the TV screen watching the anime and spent every single cent I had on the manga. The adorable robotic cat won me over with his cute appearance and eccentric behaviour.

When Fujiko. F. Fujio created Doraemon, I wonder if he knew this blue cat was going to be a worldwide phenomenon. The series was translated to 15 different languages and received much love from local as well as international fans. With its popularity, it is a no wonder that Doraemon has its own museum.

For me, visiting the Fujio. F. Fujiko Museum is sacred because this is like visiting the ‘God’ of your childhood, Doraemon. Needless to say, I was very excited about this.

The first place we visited was the permanent display room contains original artworks, personal belongings of Fujiko. F. Fujio. Photos of him as a young boy and teenager are shown using a re-creation of an opaque projector that Fujiko made as a child. This room made us fans felt closer to the creator of our favourite character. Unfortunately, the museum doesn’t allow photography in exhibition rooms so I wasn’t able to take any.

Next stop, we visited People’s Plaza which is a play area where there is a Doraemon Purikura (neoprint). There are also two giant Doraemon and Dorami gachapon. Of course, we took the purikura and it turned out super cute!

The museum is special for its Fujiko. F. Fujio Theatre where a short, original movie that cannot be viewed anywhere else is shown here every 20 mins. Of course, I wouldn’t pass up this chance. The movie featured his two most popular mangas, Doraemon and Korosuke. The movie’s animation was brightly coloured accompanied with cheerful music.

On the rooftop is the re-creation of the familiar playground where Doraemon and his friends hang out.

We decided to end the day by visiting the museum café where they sell characters themed food and drinks.

The most popular item on the menu is, unsurprisingly, coffee with a Doraemon design on its surface. We ordered coffees with different characters designs and they are all very cute!

Even the coaster is designed to look like the manga.

“The museum was very cute. It was adorable, I almost died. I was so overwhelmed with the cuteness of the place with photos of Doraemon everywhere. I love it! I felt like I was a 5-year-old girl again.” Natalie excitedly gushing about her experience.

Helene added on, “The movie was very cute. It was very meaningful knowing about the history of the author and how committed he was in making anime and drawing manga.”

This visit to Doraemon Museum fulfilled my childhood dream and it was everything I imagined it to be. Fujiko’s motto of dream, hope, friendship, courage and curiosity has come to live at this museum. Doraemon is and will always be our favourite cat.