Fujiko F. Fujio Museum in Kawasaki, which is dedicated to the late creator of the "Doraemon" manga series, is celebrating the birthday of that series' "bully" character, Gian, on June 15.

Throughout June, the popular museum is promoting the perpetual fourth-grade character who often throws tantrums at — and gets rough with — other characters, including Doraemon, the lovable blue robotic cat. Various new dishes themed on the character will be on offer at the museum's cafe, including a 25-cm-tall Gian fruit parfait, and a tonkatsu (fried-pork) dish that has an outline of Gian's face drawn on it with strips of dry seaweed. A range of new souvenir goods featuring Gian, such as towels and T-shirts and postcards, will also go on sale.

"Gian in the original manga series is known as a bully, but in the movie version based on the anime, he's a good character with a strong sense of justice," says museum director Zensho Ito. "He is in fact very popular among fans."

Ito added that, since its opening last September, the city-owned museum has attracted 386,000 visitors. Of those people, around 10,000 came from overseas, including around 6,200 from China and 1,000 from South Korea.

The Fujiko F. Fujio Museum is at 2-8-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. A shuttle service is available to the museum from Noborito Station on the Odakyu or JR Nambu lines.) Advance reservations are required. For more details, visit www.fujiko-museum.com.