Apr 1, 2008

Aside from the whole whaling thing, Japan is pretty cool.


A robotic cat with magical powers has been enlisted by Japan's diplomatic corps to promote the country's popular culture overseas.

While our government is busy destroying the Middle East, Japan is trying to build a positve perception of itself. No less a figure than the foreign minister, Masahiko Komura, this week appointed Doraemon, a popular cartoon character, as Japan's first "animation ambassador."
At a ceremony held in a ministry room usually reserved for receiving foreign dignitaries, the blue-and-white cat with no ears was given a certificate and a plate piled high with his favourite snack: dorayaki pancakes. Sure, Japan is still harpooning innocent whales by the ton, but you are missing the point, JAPAN HAS A ROBOTIC PANCAKE EATING CAT!

In front of dozens of journalists, a straight-faced Komura said: "Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador and deepen people's understanding of Japan so they will become our friends." More...

5 comments:

Ubermilf said...

how do you know it's a cat? It looks like a blue ball with whiskers to me.

And I don't know if it's good to be associated with blue balls.

Darth Roker said...

I only say it's a cat because the articel says it is a robotic pancake eating cat!

Look at what Bush did by limiting stem cell research -- first we can't cure Michael J. Fox and now this!

Ubermilf said...

that's your fault for reading.

CTK said...

Meh. This country put a cookie-eating muppet on television some 30-plus years ago.

Darth Roker said...

CTK: Perhaps you missed that this is a robotic, pancake eating, cat that is an official Ambassador of Japan? How the hell are our Ambassadors, like Larry M Dinger going to compete with that?

I just don't see it happening. We are falling way behind in technology and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Nobody in the world is going to like us as much as they like Japan. Cheap electronics, Asian women, and now this. It's all over.