How a short blue robotic cat is helping Sino-Japanese relations

Doraemon has been the hero of at least 20 films and his latest outing has just broken box office records for a non-Hollywood film in China.

Stand By Me Doraemon was the first Japanese film to win a nationwide screening in China in three years.

Beijing and Tokyo have not seen eye-to-eye for a while over a whole range of issues, but there are signs of a thaw, including the release of this film.

As Rana Mitter, Director of the China Centre at Oxford University told the BBC's Roger Hearing.