News From Japan TodayTOKYO — The foreign ministry announced Friday it was appointing the cartoon cat Doraemon as the nation's first "anime ambassador," in Japan's latest effort to promote its soft power through its animation industry.
Doraemon — or at least a person dressed as the earless, blue-and-white cat — will receive his official assignment letter from Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura in a ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, officials said.
The character will appear in films to be shown in Japanese missions overseas, talking about the country's lifestyle and customs.
"By appointing Doraemon, we hope people in other countries will understand Japanese anime better and deepen their interest in Japanese culture," said Yuko Hotta, a foreign ministry official.
Doraemon is the main character in an animation series that is among the most popular in Japan and widely known in much of Asia. The friendly cat travels back to the present from the 22nd century to help out a schoolboy by lending an "anywhere door," which allows people to travel wherever they please.
The government has been trying to turn growing worldwide interest in its anime cartoons, manga comics and cuisine into political capital with a campaign promoting "Cool Japan."
My HR Manager and I had been discussing the Malaysia Election since it was confirm that the polling date on 080308.
I shall not explain much, but she's got some link with this year election. We had been discussing that this year election, the most exciting battlefield is Penang.
Result is out and I am right.
Looks like me and my HR manager got things to discuss lor.
It's will be interesting to see if the Opposition still form up a coalition as promised.
'But obviously,
he is a very wily sort of person and must have won the confidence of whoever were his custodians.
'So when he said he wanted to go to the toilet, they allowed him to go to the toilet. Whether the toilet had bars and there was no exit from the windows, that has to be explained.
'I give him full marks for having won the confidence of his custodians - that he's completely docile, completely passive and he's going to remain in captivity.'
'It shows that it is a fallacy,
it is stupid to believe we are infallible. We are not infallible.
One mistake and we've got a big explosive in our midst. So let's not take this lightly,'
'So we have to find out. It's a game of tracing the possibilities.
I'm not a security expert, I'm not a detective...but we do have people who understand what we ought to be following. But
we ought to keep the pressure up.'
From
The Straits Times