Anime, manga and comic culture on a rock in the middle o' the Pacific
A trek through Bishop Museum’s Anywhere Door
And now, the post that’s taken far too long for me to write.
Waaaaaaaay back in mid-February, “Meet Doraemon: Japan’s Time-Traveling Cat” took up residence at Bishop Museum. In the time it’s been here, this town has gone robo-cat crazy, partly because of the exhibit, partly because of an unrelated visitor stamp rally hosted by HIS Hawaii. So sure, you’ll come across a banner heralding the exhibit’s presence at the museum’s campus in Kalihi …
… but you may also see Doraemon and friends on the side of a LeaLea Trolley on streets near Ala Moana and Waikiki.
Or, if you were watching the Honolulu Festival’s Grand Parade last month, you could see him being wheeled along the parade route.
It’s been a fun past few months, but you only have nine days left to see it — the Doraemon statues, Fujiko F. Fujio artwork, Anywhere Door and a whole bunch of other stuff will be packed up and head back to Japan after April 20.
I could go into excruciating detail as to why it’s taken so long for this post to be written — the cold! the writer’s block! Kawaii Kon prep! But the main point is that time is running short, there’s another museum free-admission day right around the corner — YMCA Healthy Kids Day on Saturday; kamaaina and military with valid ID, step right up — and I wanted to get something posted on the record before then.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that if you sign up to be a museum member now, you’ll get a special Doraemon-edition membership card. Annual memberships start at $50 general, $45 seniors and $35 students and net you admission to the museum, along with a number of other perks that pile up at higher tiers. But c’mon, is this not the coolest museum membership card you’ve ever seen?
It should be noted that it’s possible to see Doraemon at a number of points between Kalihi and Kahala right now. I’ll go into that in more detail in my next post (along with details about a contest this month that’s quietly unfolded on Instagram), but today’s post focuses more on what’s on display at the museum. Whether you’ve already visited, have yet to do so or can’t make it out here before it closes, I hope you’ll enjoy this virtual tour of 67 percent of the exhibit.
Super Gloves Doraemon here greets visitors as they enter the museum campus from the admission window. He’s quite photogenic, sitting in front of the recently remodeled Hawaiian Hall.
Speaking of photogenic, there’s a second statue that, if angled juuuuust so, offers a nice view of the Honolulu skyline in the background.
These two statues are along the walkway leading to Castle Memorial Hall, where the exhibit is located. Hey, Sonic Solidifier Doraemon in the foreground looks familiar …
Sonic Solidifier Doraemon has a nice view of Punchbowl and the Nuuanu area, too.
The four Doraemon statues also apparently had problems with people climbing all over them. These warning signs went up somewhat late in the exhibit’s run.
A sign at the entrance provides an overview for the exhibit, talking about Doraemon’s cultural significance and the influence of artist Fujiko F. Fujio.
And here’s the first thing you see when you enter the exhibit hall — five Doraemon statues, the Anywhere Door, a giant banner hanging from the ceiling, and character cutouts on the walls.
The Anywhere Door, that portal to other places that’s been a starting point for many of Doraemon and Noby’s adventures, is the focal point of the exhibit (and a great place for photo ops, too!).
Memory Bread Doraemon gets a prominent place at the center of the exhibit.
Many of the characters are identified by the names used in the official English translation of the manga. So while Doraemon is still Doraemon …
Nobita is now “Noby” …
Suneo is now “Sneech” …
Gian is now “Big G” …
… and Shizuka is … well … Shizuka.
One wing of Castle Hall has tables for drawing and coloring, a display about the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum in Japan, and the F Theater, screening an exclusive Doraemon anime episode.
This wall spotlights the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum and its exhibits. You’d think that this would have been a static display for the duration of the exhibit, but you’d be wrong …
Here’s the original poster I saw, the same one seen on the left in the previous picture.
And here’s the poster that I saw when I visited the museum on Thursday. WAUGH COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
The rest of the display has remained the same throughout, though. Here’s the first panel, with a Fujio timeline and some information about visiting the museum.
The facility guide is presented in two parts. Here’s part 1. with a panel that talks about seeing the “pretty Gian.”
See? “Pretty Gian.”
Here’s the second part of the facility guide, in which visitors can explore the “slightly wondrous world” of the Fujio museum.
See? “Slightly wondrous world.” Not ALL the way wondrous, mind. SLIGHTLY wondrous.
Here’s what one of the tables in the drawing/coloring area looks like, along with one of the handouts available to color.
Near the drawing/coloring tables, an original Doraemon anime plays on loop in the “F Theater” corner.
A sign nearby notes the title of the 10-minute feature: “Doraemon & Perman Have a Close Shave!?”
Naturally, the anime prominently features Doraemon. Yay happy Doraemon!
This scene, shown before the actual feature begins, shows Fujio’s characters parading past a screen showing highlights
In “Doraemon and Perman Have a Close Shave!?” Doraemon uses a gadget that eventually sucks him and Noby into a TV program they’re watching. ANOTHER gadget — that pink phone to the left — is what they use to get help.
I actually missed these the first few times I visited the exhibit, but off to the side of the drawing/coloring tables are a set of three motion boxes. Slide a lever on the bottom of two of them and watch the characters — in this case, Doraemon — come to life.
The museum also set up this lightbox. Twirl it and look through the slots on the side, and you can see an animated Doraemon scroll past.
Over in another wing of Castle Hall sit more statues as well as the Manga Library.
The Manga Library features several iPads with the English translation of Doraemon volume 1 loaded onto them (available now at the Kindle store!) as well as volumes of translated Doraemon manga from all over the world. Visitors are invited to browse through the books.
A close-up of one of the iPads with Doraemon volume 1. That’s Time Kerchief Doraemon in the background.
Close-up view of some of the translated Doraemon manga available to read.
More of the translated Doraemon manga available to read. It’s times like these that I wish I could read more foreign-language material.
No visit to a limited-run museum exhibit would be complete without a selection of souvenir swag to choose from, and Bishop Museum’s gift shop has a lot of that, most of it shipped in from Japan. The first shipment sold so well, Bishop Museum asked for — and eventually got — a second shipment. Get your plushies, T-shirts and other Fujio museum gifts now!
Here’s a close-up of one of the T-shirt designs available (and the only one available in adult sizes). There are other shirt designs for kids, too.
And here’s a close-up of one of the oh-so-adorable giant plushies. Sorry, but you’re going to have to sew your own aloha shirt and haku lei — only the display plushie gets to look this good.
As for that other 33 percent: You’re going to have to figure out some way to see that for yourself. The gallery portion of the exhibit, featuring manga pages drawn by Fujio, is off-limits for photography and video recording. This much can be said about it, though: In that section, there’s a timeline of Fujio’s career, a giant photo of his desk, and five themed galleries, each one based on a Doraemon movie: Nobita’s Dinosaur (1980), Nobita’s Great Adventure Into the Underworld (1983), Record of Nobita’s Spaceblazer (1980), Nobita and the Steel Troops (1985) and Nobita and the Haunts of Evil (1981).
It’s a pretty even split between Fujio originals and reproductions on display — 36 of the exhibit’s 70 pages are originals, 34 are copies — but it takes a really close look at each piece to tell which is which.
That, of course, and the assistance of the handy Copy Robot icon.
Next time in Otaku Ohana: Noticed all those statues sitting around the exhibit? There are 10 at the museum … and another 13 (that I know of so far, anyway) out in the wild. I’ll have a guide to where you can find all of them … if you’re as obsessed as I am about such things, anyway.
Otaku Ohana 