Doraemon

is a fictional character in the Japanese manga and anime series of the same name created by Fujiko F. Fujio. Doraemon is a male robotic earless cat that travels back in time from the 22nd century to aid a preteen boy named Nobita. An official birth certificate for the character gives him a birth date of 3 September 2112 and lists his city of residency as Kawasaki, Kanagawa, the city where the manga was created. In 2008, Japan's Foreign Ministry appointed Doraemon the country's "anime ambassador". Creation and conception Doraemon was originally conceived by Hiroshi Fujimoto following a series of three events. Firstly, when searching for ideas for a new manga, he wished that a machine existed that would come up with ideas for him. Secondly, he tripped over his daughter's toy. Thirdly, he heard cats fighting in his neighborhood. The name, "Doraemon", can be translated roughly to "stray". Unusually, the name is written in a mixture of two Japanese scripts: Katakana and Hiragana. "Dora" derives from , and is a corruption of nora (stray), while "-emon" (in kanji ) is an old-fashioned suffix for male names (for example, as in Ishikawa Goemon). Characteristics Doraemon's physical appearance changed as the manga progressed. At first, he was predominantly kingfish color, with a blue tail, a white stomach, and flesh-colored hands and feet. He also stooped, and had a body much larger than his head. In later issues, he sported a smaller body, white hands and feet, and a red tail — the appearance most identify him with today. In the 1995 short film 2112: The Birth of Doraemon (as well as The Doraemons story arc set in the Robot School), it is revealed that Doraemon's original paint color was yellow, and had a high-pitched voice than his current counterpart. After getting his ears gnawed off by a robot mouse at the 22nd century Nobi's residence, he slipped into depression on top of a tower, where he erroneously drank a potion labeled "sadness" instead of "happiness". As he wept, the yellow color washed off and his voice changed due to the potion. As a result, he developed a morbid fear of mice despite being a robotic cat. Doraemon often becomes enraged when he is mistaken for a raccoon dog due to his missing ears, which is a running gag in the series.