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Dateline: 3/31/2009

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

Free Screening of Doraemon Film April 26

The film “Doraemon: Nobita’s Dinosaur” will be screened for free April 26.
Poster typography by Ryan Dixon.

Doraemon, the blue robotic cartoon cat that has thrilled Japanese children on TV and in films since 1969, is coming to Gonzaga University with free screenings of a 2006 “Doraemon” film at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Sunday, April 26 in the Jepson Center’s Wolff Auditorium.

Seiko Katsushima, senior lecturer in modern languages at Gonzaga, is coordinating the two free airings of the 2006 film “Doraemon: Nobita’s Dinosaur” as part of Japan Week in Spokane April 18-26. Seating is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

 The event is co-sponsored by the Consulate-General of Japan, Seattle, in cooperation with the Japanese Program and Gonzaga’s Japanese Club.

As the storyline goes, Doraemon is from the 22nd century and rode a time machine to the present time to help a grade school boy named Nobita. Doraemon pulls all sorts of gadgets out of his 4-D (fourth-dimensional) pocket and saves Nobita from crisis after crisis.

Doraemon is a cultural icon and the most well-known and lovable anime character in Japan. In this, the 40th anniversary since his debut, he is serving as Japan’s first “anime ambassador,” Katsushima said.

“In Japan, everybody, ranging from little children to old people, knows Doraemon,” said Katsushima. “I am very happy that I can show it to people in the Spokane community. The showing of the movie on our campus is very special.”

The Doraemon series has been in magazines and on weekly TV shows; a new theatrical movie is released every year. Doraemon episodes are comedies and give children moral lessons about such qualities as perseverance, courage, friendship, family and respect for the old. 

Doraemon comics and animations have been translated into many languages and are especially popular in Asian countries. In 2002, TIME Magazine chose Doraemon as one of “22 Heroes” in Asia, the only cartoon character chosen. In 2008, the Japanese government appointed Doraemon as “Japanese Cultural Ambassador.”

Doraemon first appeared as a Japanese comic, called manga. The vastly popular comic ran from 1969 to 1996 and also spawned a cartoon with more than 1,000 episodes and more than 20 feature-length films.

For more information, contact Seiko Katsushima at (509) 313-3951 or via e-mail.