Since his creation in 1969, the Japanese character Doraemon has not only become highly popular with viewers young and old, he has also had a number of very significant achievements – especially considering he is an anime!
In 2002 Doraemon was the only anime character named in Time Asia magazine’s list of Asia’s 22 Heroes. Then in 2008 The Foreign Ministry of Japan selected Doraemon as it’s first anime ambassador. And perhaps his most significant achievement was a year ago, when in it’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, the Tokyo 2020 team appointed Doraemon as a special ambassador in support of their bid. They claimed Doraemon caries the core values of respect and friendship, which are also the core values of the Olympics.
So what is it about this time travelling, robotic cat of the 22nd century that has earned him such fame, recognition and respect? Deep Japan senpai RuthieJ has some very valuable insights on this topic in her article Doraemon is the Scooby Doo of Japan (kind of . . .).