New robot anime stamps on sale

Japan Post today released its latest edition of stamps featuring robots from popular anime series.

The stamps show characters and robots from manga and anime series Patlabor, which deals with a Tokyo police division that uses huge mecha robots for law enforcement. The mecha feature the designs of Yutaka Izubuchi, who also did the exterior design for the HRP robot series being developed by the government.

JP is issuing 15 million Patlabor stamps in denominations of 80 yen that come in 10-stamp sheets.

The issue is part of JP's Anime Heroes and Heroines series that began five years ago with stamps honoring perennial robot icon Astro Boy.

Others include Gundam, Doraemon and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Karakuri clockwork dolls, the ancestors of modern Japanese robots, have also been celebrated with Japanese stamps.

Check out the Japan Post anime series page here (in Japanese).

Doraemon named anime ambassador

Famed anime character Doraemon has been named Japan's first "anime ambassador," the Foreign Ministry announced. The earless robot cat from the long-running Fujiko F. Fujio series will promote Japanese culture overseas and enhance the power of so-called Cool Japan.

"By appointing Doraemon, we hope people in other countries will understand Japanese anime better and deepen their interest in Japanese culture," a foreign ministry official said.

In the manga and anime series, Doraemon travels back in time from the 22nd century to help a hapless schoolboy named Nobita. Being a robot, Doraemon has thousands of cool gadgets that he pulls out of his fourth-dimensional pocket, like the Anywhere Door and Time Machine. Doraemon merchandising has made the character ubiquitous in Japan, appearing on everything from clothing to candy.

The move comes at a time when Japan's "scientific whaling" program has garnered it a lot of bad press overseas.

Rocket punch!

More on the ongoing Great Robot Exhibition in Tokyo: it has lots of cool exhibits like anime super robot Mazinger Z, above. Check out my Wired News photo gallery - I also have an article in the Japan Times about it and the related show Asimo show.