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Doraemon clock debuts in Odaiba to mark manga's 50th anniverary

Nov 30 (Japan Times) - A marionette clock based on Doraemon, the robotic cat from one of Japan’s most popular manga, was unveiled Friday in Tokyo’s Odaiba waterfront district to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the character, which has since been turned into anime, movies and video games.

The face of the cat, which travels back from the 22nd century to help an elementary school boy named Nobita, is depicted in the center of a clock that’s in a box sitting on top of a 3.8-meter tall, 4-meter wide base made up of other boxes.

One of Doraemon’s secret tools, a “mood-lifting orchestra,” appears from behind a curtain in the large main box at certain times to perform the theme to the Doraemon TV program.

Fujiko F. Fujio (1933-1996) started running Doraemon comic book stories in December 1969 in a kids magazines published by Shogakukan Inc.

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The Japanese government on April 21 revised the Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and related guidelines, in principle allowing the export of weapons with lethal capabilities. The move marks a major turning point in Japan's postwar security policy.

Footage released by the Nagano Prefectural Police mountain rescue unit captured the moment an earthquake struck during an operation to save two climbers who had fallen on a steep slope of Mount Shirouma in the Northern Alps.

Japan's weather agency and the Cabinet Office issued a 'Hokkaido-Sanriku Offshore Subsequent Earthquake Advisory' after an earthquake measuring upper 5 on Japan's seismic intensity scale struck off Sanriku.

JR East has launched a preview version of its new online Shinkansen booking platform, JRE GO, promising reservations in as little as one minute and easier handling of sudden schedule changes.

A bear that had remained in a residential area in central Sendai since early Sunday morning was euthanized last night in an emergency cull. No injuries were reported.

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At Kumata Shrine in Osaka's Hirano Ward, an inspection using a termite detection dog was carried out to help protect the site’s historic wooden buildings.

A female worker in her 20s died after becoming trapped while carrying out inspection work on an attraction at Tokyo Dome City in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, shortly before noon on April 21.

A fire broke out at a four-story apartment building in Okinawa City in the early hours of April 19th, leaving one person dead, with authorities suspecting the victim may be a man in his 70s who served as chairman of a local crime group.

A 37-year-old father arrested over the alleged abandonment of his son's body in a forest in Kyoto Prefecture may have contacted associates to say the child had gone missing before the boy's school informed the family, investigators said.

A 20-year-old university student has been arrested on suspicion of breaking into an apartment in Osaka and stealing cash, with police believing he played a key role in recruiting minors for illegal work schemes.

The annual spring garden party, held at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Tokyo, has once again drawn attention to a pressing issue facing Japan's Imperial Household: how to maintain the number of family members as it continues to decline whenever female royals marry.

Japan is often viewed abroad as a country with an unusually visible sexual culture, shaped by adult videos, erotic manga and a wide range of related subcultures. (Japanese Comedian Meshida)

A bear that had remained in a residential area in central Sendai since early Sunday morning was euthanized last night in an emergency cull. No injuries were reported.