Inside the Doraemon headquarters~

Guess what! A new Doraemon museum just opened in Kanagawa (Aka- the Southern part of the Tokyo area. Aka- where I live :)). Although I barely know anything about Doraemon, I do know that it’s one of the biggest, if not most important, mangas in Japanese history.

Doraemon, created by Fujiko F. Fujio, is the story of a cat-robot who travels back in time to help his creator make something of himself. So, in fact, a little bit like a Terminator. Without all of the violence, action, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Anyways, I definitely want to go to the new museum sometime soon. 🙂

In preparation, I thought that I’d like to share some pictures from a trip that I had the privilege of taking to the Fujiko F. Fujio headquarters two summers ago. Of course, this was another awesome job for Asahi Weekly. 🙂

And of course, if you want to see what I looked like in the summer of 2009, here is your chance! Douzo! 🙂

Me (the 2009 me) sitting at Fujiko F. Fujio’s desk!
To be honest, I didn’t think about it much at the time, but this is a huge honor. I never even once sat at Konomi-sensei’s desk.

This Doraemon is life-sized. is head is so big!!

Doraemon’s “doko-demo door,” (“Go-anywhere-door”) a door that will take you wherever you want to go. Kind of like a transporter from Star Trek, without all the science. I want one!

Fujiko-sensei is no longer with us, but his legacy is still continued in manga-format by his former assistant, Mugiwara Shintarou. Mugiwara-sensei gave me a lesson in how-to-draw-Doraemon.

(Yes, I hold my pencil like that! I’ve always been told it’s weird, but I can’t hold it any other way!)

I was surprised to learn that Doraemon doesn’t use any screentones at all! Coming from a shoujo manga background, screentones are really essential in my mind. Not so for Doraemon!

Who did which? (Obviously mine is the one that sucks!)

After that< I interviewed the president of Fujiko Productions. Intimidating!!!

All in all, this was a real eye-opener for me. It’s been a while now, and I never did go and read Doraemon like I’d wanted to. But I think that I will track down a copy and give it a try now! It’s one of those things that any Japanese person would know, sort of like America and Charlie Brown. 🙂

It’s time to acclimate to my country of choice, even if it’s just a little! Better this than AKB48!

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