{"id":1954,"date":"2009-04-24T17:36:30","date_gmt":"2009-04-24T09:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.randomwire.com\/?p=1954"},"modified":"2026-03-19T16:09:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:09:05","slug":"flying-doraemon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/flying-doraemon\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying Doraemon"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:8627,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.flickr.com\\\/photos\\\/randomwire\\\/3452846062&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251102102821\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.flickr.com\\\/photos\\\/randomwire\\\/3452846062&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.flickr.com\\\/photos\\\/randomwire\\\/3452846062&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-03 16:29:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-17 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05:49:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8629,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.flickr.com\\\/photos\\\/randomwire\\\/3452026961&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251102102822\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.flickr.com\\\/photos\\\/randomwire\\\/3452026961&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.flickr.com\\\/photos\\\/randomwire\\\/3452026961&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-03 16:29:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-17 14:32:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-02 00:15:47&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-16 00:36:05&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-19 18:11:13&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-25 16:47:12&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-31 13:22:35&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-05 03:25:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-13 11:34:28&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-22 14:08:13&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-02 00:04:21&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-07 17:54:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-24 04:36:21&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-03 16:28:08&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-20 19:35:16&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-03 09:00:55&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-25 12:52:25&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-25 12:52:25&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>Whilst <a href=\"\/nani-jin-desu-ka\/\">studying Japanese<\/a> at university in 2004 I <a href=\"\/doraemon\/\">wrote a post<\/a> about a hugely popular cartoon character called Doraemon. For some reason, it\u00a0caused such a stir that it&#8217;s still the no.1 most read page on randomwire.com to this day.\u00a0This has always slightly irked me since it wasn&#8217;t exactly a scintillating post but I have since come to terms with the fact that a cute robot cat\u00a0is infinitely more popular than I&#8217;ll ever be! With\u00a0133 comments (and counting) I can&#8217;t really complain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/randomwire\/3452846062\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" class=\"wp-image-68920\" src=\"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1020322-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Flying Doraemon\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While wandering in Shenzhen&#8217;s <a href=\"\/shenzhen-land-reclamation\/\">mangrove forest<\/a> on the southern coastline of <a title=\"Futian District\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Futian_District\">Futian<\/a> last weekend I was reminded of this feline from the future when half a dozen Doraemon shaped kites appeared in the sky as if they&#8217;d just flown in from Hong Kong (which lies across the bay). Chinese kite flying is an age-old tradition with many styles dating back to the\u00a0<a title=\"Tang Dynasty\" rel=\"wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tang_Dynasty\">Tang Dynasty<\/a> when some believed that it could be used to avoid bad luck and bring prosperity by flying high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/randomwire\/3452026961\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" class=\"wp-image-68062\" src=\"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1020311-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Smuggling Will Be Dealt With Severely\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst the kites were innocently fluttering in the breeze someone reminded me that less than 20 years ago people attempting to escape the mainland of China to Hong Kong by swimming across the bay were likely to be shot and indeed banners still warn people of the severe consequences that will face them if they attempt it. Even when living in a modern Chinese city you can&#8217;t help but feel that there are still darker elements lurking just below the surface. For the most part, foreigners here are blissfully unaware since the language divide prevents most from understanding everything that goes on (myself included).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In other news&#8230;<\/strong> the lack of posting recently has been down to my crazy schedule and other shenanigans which will become clearer soon. My parents are arriving in Hong Kong tomorrow from the UK to pay me a visit and we plan to spend a little over a week travelling around, including a trip to Beijing which should be exciting. Drop me a line if you&#8217;ll be in the vicinity from April 29th &#8211; May 3rd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whilst studying Japanese at university in 2004 I wrote a post about a hugely popular cartoon character called Doraemon. For some reason, it\u00a0caused such a stir that it&#8217;s still the no.1 most read page on randomwire.com to this day.\u00a0This has always slightly irked me since it wasn&#8217;t exactly a scintillating post but I have since [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,12,285],"tags":[634],"class_list":["post-1954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anime","category-china","category-shenzhen","tag-traditions"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1020315-scaled.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":209,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/doraemon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":0},"title":"Doraemon","author":"David","date":"8th December 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Had a fun time in our last Japanese lesson of the term today learning a little song from a popular Japanese cartoon - Doraemon. The cartoon was originally created in 1969 and follows a cat-like robot from the 22nd century of the future (how do they think these things up...!)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Anime&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Anime","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/anime\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Doraemon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Doraemon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Doraemon.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Doraemon.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Doraemon.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Doraemon.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2484,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/shenzhen-anime-expo\/","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":1},"title":"Shenzhen Anime Expo","author":"David","date":"9th August 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I attended the first Shenzhen Anime Expo held in the \"Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center\" (Futian). In fact, I'm not sure what the real name of the convention was since it was cryptically named SCAF (not the Southern Californian Anarchists Federation)\u00a0with no other explanation in English. As well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Anime&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Anime","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/anime\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1030916-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1030916-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1030916-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1030916-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1030916-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/P1030916-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":215,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/red-ted-japan\/","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":2},"title":"Red Ted in Japan","author":"David","date":"18th December 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, it's that time you've all been waiting for (!) - the photos from Red Ted's trip to Japan have arrived courtesy of Yukari who very kindly looked after him :-) They were taken around her house, Shinjuku & Ginza (cities in Tokyo) and her college. It doesn't get much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Japan&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Japan","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/japan\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/rtjapan1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":80809,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/postcards-from-tokyo\/","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":3},"title":"Postcards from Tokyo","author":"David","date":"17th February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Tokyo is a multitude of cities, blending residential and commercial spaces in unexpected ways. Its unique zoning laws allow small shops, restaurants, and businesses to exist seamlessly alongside homes in nearly every neighbourhood. Unlike many Western cities with strict separation between zones, Tokyo's approach creates vibrant, walkable communities where daily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/architecture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7162-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7162-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7162-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7162-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7162-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7162-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9545,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/the-dark-side-of-k-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":4},"title":"The Dark Side of K-Culture","author":"David","date":"26th October 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Travelling through Korea, I learnt about the growing\u00a0propensity\u00a0for South Korean women to get so-called \"double eyelid surgery\",\u00a0a type of cosmetic surgery where the skin around the eye is reshaped to create a western style upper eyelid with a crease from an eyelid that is naturally without a crease (a.k.a. \"single\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/dark-k-culture.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/dark-k-culture.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/dark-k-culture.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/dark-k-culture.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/dark-k-culture.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/dark-k-culture.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":277,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/delicious\/","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":5},"title":"Del.icio.us","author":"David","date":"15th May 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I wasn\u2019t so keen on del.icio.us, the social bookmarks manager, to begin with but after browsing through it last night properly for the first time I\u2019ve found it to be a mine of cool links and other miscellanea organised by tags and descriptions. 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