“Mickey Mouse eat your heart out,” shouts Doraemon in elevated shrieky voice.

Meet Doraemon, the cartoon robot cat who can now claim to be the official cartoon “ambassador” for the entire country of Japan. Anime is popular worldwide, and is the distinct form of animation that Doraemon is supposed to promote around the world. Maybe America should jump on board and name their own cartoon ambassador, perhaps Mickey Mouse? Because as of right now, Japan can honestly say it has the most “colorful” and “imaginative” ambassador of any country.

In the inauguration ceremony in Japan, the Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura officially appointed the cat an “anime ambassador.” The human-size Doraemon doll was handed an official certificate and dozens of “dorayaki” desserts piled on a large plate. If you think giving food to a cartoon character is weird, please realize they just named a cartoon character an “ambassador” in an official ceremony. Plus, there was an unidentified man being paid 3 yen an hour to sweat on stage. Maybe he got to eat the desserts?

Japan is trying to blitz the world with its pop culture. They recently created the International Manga Award, the “Nobel Prize” for artists working in Japanese style comic books (their words, not ours!). A Doraemon film is going to be shown around the world in celebration of his new post, including at Japanese diplomatic missions in countries such as Spain, France, and China. Doraemon (or the voice actress Wasabi Mizuta behind the sliding paper screen) said that “”through my cartoons, I hope to convey to people abroad what ordinary Japanese people think, our lifestyles and what kind of future we want to build.” Apparently Japanese think that robotic cartoon characters are just like people, and that in the future they will take other formerly human posts!

More about the new ambassador:

Created by cartoonist Fujiko F. Fujio, Doraemon is a Japanese cultural icon and is popular around the world, especially in Asia. The robotic cat travels back in time from the 22nd century and uses gadgets such as a “time machine” and an “anywhere door” that come out of a fourth-dimensional pocket on his stomach to help his friends, allowing them to travel anywhere and to any time they wish.

This isn’t Japan’s first cartoon ambassador, as last November “Astro Boy” was named as ambassador for overseas safety. Other countries are falling behind the animated ambassador curve!

[Link]

• Please welcome Japan’s new tourism ambassador: Hello Kitty. No, seriously.
• Japanese man stalks toll-free phone line… to hear an automated woman’s voice
• Link: Do You REALLY Love Eggs?
• Man to police: “I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.”
• Black jumbo watermelon sells for $6,100 in auction