TOKYO (AP) — Nobuyo Oyama, best known as the raspy voice of Doraemon, the beloved cartoon robotic cat from the future, has died. She was 90.
Oyama, who voiced Doraemon for more than a quarter century, died of natural causes on Sept. 29, her agency, Actors Seven, said Friday.
Oyama performed the voice of the blue-and-white robotic cat from 1979 to 2005.
Created by the cartoonist Fujiko F. Fujio in 1970, Doraemon and the story of his friendship with Nobita, a good-hearted but somewhat lazy boy, became hugely popular. The manga and anime series have been read and watched by millions of fans in Japan and across the world and have been translated into dozens of languages.
In the series, Doraemon arrives from the 22nd century and helps Nobita in difficult situations, often with gadgets from the future such as an “anywhere door" and “take-copter.”
Born in Tokyo in 1933, Oyama was an aspiring actor and debuted in a 1956 drama on Japan’s NHK public television. She had her first voice acting role in 1957 in the dubbed version of the TV drama series “Lassie.”
Oyama’s raspy voice quickly gained her popularity in anime and children’s programs. She was the voice of one of three piglets in a popular children’s puppet show in the early 1960s and of teenage boy Katsuo in the family anime series “Sazaesan” prior to “Doraemon.”
Oyama retired as Doraemon in March 2005 as part of a renewal of the voice actors for the main characters. “I hope Doraemon will still be a beloved character in the distant future,” Oyama said.
In 2015, Oyama’s husband disclosed that she had developed dementia. Even so, as head of a sound arts school, Oyama was known to always succeed on the first try when she was asked to perform in her Doraemon voice.
Oyama’s agency said her funeral was held privately by her relatives.
Noriko Ohara, the voice of Nobita, died in July.
Nobuyo Oyama, best known for her raspy voice of Doraemon, the world’s beloved cat-robot from the future, speaks during an interview in Feb. 1999, in Tokyo. (Kyodo News via AP)
Nobuyo Oyama, best known for her raspy voice of Doraemon, the world’s beloved cat-robot from the future, speaks during an interview in Feb. 1999, in Tokyo. (Kyodo News via AP)
FILE - Doraemon, one of the most popular animation characters in Japan, participates in a kick-off ceremony of the Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo when Tokyo is bidding against Istanbul and Madrid to host the 2020 Olympics on Aug. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)
FILE - Models of Doraemon, one of Japan's most popular manga and anime characters, are displayed in Shanghai on April 28, 2013. (AP Photo/File)
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the award was made as the “taboo against the use of nuclear weapon is under pressure.”
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
The Nobel Peace Prize is being awarded Friday against a backdrop of devastating conflicts raging in the world, notably in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan.
Alfred Nobel stated in his will that the prize should be awarded for "the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Since 1901, 104 Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded, mostly to individuals but also to organizations that have been seen to advance peace efforts.
Last year’s prize went to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for her advocacy of women’s rights and democracy, and against the death penalty. The Nobel committee said it also was a recognition of “the hundreds of thousands of people” who demonstrated against “Iran’s theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women.”
But in a year of such conflict, the Norwegian Nobel Committee that decides on the winner could opt not to award a prize. The last time that happened was in 1972.
In the Middle East, persistently spiraling levels of violence over the past year have killed tens of thousands of people, including thousands of children and women. The war, sparked by a bloody raid into Israel by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023 that left about 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, has spilled out into the wider region.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says more than half are women and children. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed, with thousands more injured and around 1 million displaced since mid-September, when the Israeli military dramatically expanded its offensive against Hezbollah.
The war in Ukraine, sparked by Russia's invasion, is heading toward its third winter with a staggering loss of human life on both sides.
The U.N. has confirmed more than 11,000 Ukrainian civilian dead, but that doesn’t take into account as many as 25,000 Ukrainians believed to have died during the Russian capture of the city of Mariupol or unreported deaths in the occupied territories.
Western officials have estimated Russian military casualties around 600,000, with perhaps 150,000 dead, and public reports put Russian civilian dead around 150, mostly in the border region of Belgorod.
Ukrainian military deaths were last announced in February at 31,000 and the president has said there are six wounded for every soldier killed.
On the African continent, Sudan has been devastated by a 17-month war that that has so far killed more than 20,000 people and forced more than 8 million people from their homes, while roughly another 2 million were already displaced within the country before hostilities broke out.
The Nobel prizes carry a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million). Unlike the other Nobel prizes that are selected and announced in Stockholm, founder Alfred Nobel decreed the peace prize be decided and awarded in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The Nobel season ends Monday with the announcement of the winner of the economics prize, formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, and Becatoros from Athens, Greece. Lori Hinnant in Paris and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed.
FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The Nobel Peace Prize is being announced against a backdrop of conflicts around the world
The Nobel Peace Prize is being announced against a backdrop of conflicts around the world
FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)
