Let's Talk Food and Etc.: 100 Years Before the Birth of DORAEMON

Thursday, September 20, 2012

100 Years Before the Birth of DORAEMON

I am not exaggerating when I said Doraemon is one of the most beloved anime character in history. Doraemon is a Japanese manga series created by Fujiko F. Fujio which later became an anime series and an Asian franchise. The series first appeared in December 1969 and since its debut, the stories have been selectively collected into 45 books (excluding featured stories) published from 1974 to 1996, which had a circulation of over 80 million in 1992. (My brother collected all the 45 books plus 22 "featured" stories...)

The series is about an intelligent robotic cat named Doraemon, who is sent back in time from the 22nd century by a young boy named Sewashi Nobi to improve the circumstances of his great grandfather, Nobita Nobi so that his descendants may enjoy a better future. In the original time-line, Nobita experienced nothing but misery and misfortune manifested in the form of poor marks and grades, physical disasters, and bullying throughout his life. This culminates in the burning down of a future business he set up which leaves his family line beset with financial problems. In order to alter history and better the Nobi family's fortunes, Sewashi sent him a robot called Doraemon.

I watched and loved Doraemon growing up. Thus, imagine my excitement when Hong Kong announced the “100 Years Before the Birth of Doraemon” exhibition at the Harbour City from August 14 to September 16, 2012. I had a great time at the exhibition taking photos and quizzing myself on Doraemon's gadgets.

this gadget lets the wearer to blend in with the surrounding environment and renders the wearer invisibility

this gadget allows you to read the reply before you even send out the letter!

if you and your crush stand under the umbrella for 5 minutes, your crush will fall in love with you

stamp the "bread" on anything you want to memorize and eat it - you won't forget it - best for exams :)

wrapped the gadget on an item and it will rewind / fast forward the item

how Doraemon originally looks like

Doraemon and mini-Doraemon

exactly how Hermione's purse works :P

Doraemon and his time machine

Below are three of the most memorable scenes in the Doraemon series...

Nobita visits his grandmother via Doraemon's time-machine

the farewell scene between Nobita and Doraemon

wedding celebration between Shizuka and Nobita

I was even able to get my hands on the limited edition mug (樵夫之泉馬克杯), which was "sold out" shortly after I bought mine!

If you were able to visit the exhibition, I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you missed it, I hope you can feel the excitement through my pictures :)

After visiting the Doraemon exhibition, I met up with a friend and had dinner at Gyotaku (魚作) in Central. We also stopped by the newly opened A&F on the way and had our picture taken with one of the hot guys \(=^v^=)/. Dinner was delicious. As usual, the quality of sashimi is so much better in Hong Kong.