Recurring Dōgu

List of Recurring Dōgu




Fourth-dimensional pocket (四次元ポケット?)
The inside of this pocket connects to the fourth dimension and acts like a wormhole (see also: hammerspace). It is usually shown attached to Doraemon's abdomen. Doraemon has a spare pocket which connects to the same location. Nobita has used the spare pocket on occasion, often for mischievous purposes but sometimes for helpful purposes (for example, he used it to save Doraemon on the movie Nobita to Buriki no Rabirinsu [Nobita and Tin-Plate Labyrinth]).

Time machine (タイムマシン?)
The entrance to Doraemon's time machine is in Nobita's desk drawer. The time machine looks like a simple platform with a control console, and a clock with five hands overhanging the console. Doraemon is often seen piloting the time machine. Dorami has her own time machine shaped like a tulip, suggesting a variety of models available in the future. The time machine can create an exit in a specific place spatially as well as temporally. An alternative to the time machine is the time belt, which does not change the wearer's location relative to Earth. The presence of this machine is not known by Nobita's mother.

Take-copter (タケコプター?)
One of the main modes of transportation for the various characters is the take-copter, which combines the words taketombo (竹とんぼ, lit. bamboo dragonfly, the Japanese name for the bamboo-copter?), and part of the word herikoputā (ヘリコプター?), which means helicopter. The take-copter was also called the heri-tombo (ヘリトンボ?) in early stories. The device is a propeller attached to a tiny suction cup which can be attached to enable flight. Ever since the first few Doraemon stories, the take-copter is seen attached to the head instead of the waist, similar to a propeller beanie, due to a mishap with Nobita's shorts. The take-copter has also been attached to objects to enable its flight. One of its disadvantage is its short battery life.

Moshimo-box (もしもボックス?)
The moshimo-box is a pun based on the Japanese greeting used on the telephone moshi moshi, and the phrase meaning "what if", or moshimo. The device is a telephone booth where the characters dial a number and propose a "what if" scenario which alters the world. Nobita has wished for a world where money was not necessary, and purchasing an item meant receiving cash, and being robbed meant being forced to take cash, causing store clerks to force cash onto his hands upon attempting to purchase toys. Nobita has also wished for a world without mirrors, and for a world where lazy people who napped would be hailed as celebrities. But any situation caused by using this telephone booth may be reverted by using this telephone to make a phone call to request for "Reverting/Restoring to the original situation". This used to be the ending of the story that mentions about the telephone booth.

Dokodemo door (どこでもドア, lit. anywhere door?)
One of Doraemon's most commonly used gadgets is the dokodemo door, a door which allows travel to anywhere by simply going through the door. In an early story, the door is able to travel to the end of the universe, but in later chapters, the door is said to only be able to travel a maximum distance of 100,000 light years and cannot access other dimensions. Another limitation of the door is that it can only safely connect two known locations in its mapping computer, which also has a limited range of information based on Time as shown in the movie "Nobita's Dinosaur."

Time Furoshiki (タイムふろしき, lit. Time wrapping cloth?)
Another frequently used gadget, the time cloth has the ability to advance or reverse time depending on which of its two different colored sides are used. When an object is wrapped around with one face outward, the flow of time reverses, causing the object to become newer. When wrapped around the other way, time moves forward, causing the object to become older. It was first used by Nobita to turn old appliances to new appliances to make money, but its uses extend to many other things, such as converting an object back to its starting material, repairing broken machinery, aging or de-aging people, and restoring millions-of-years old fossils. When picked up, of course, the holder does not age, which means the cloth is only activated upon covering an item, hence it can floating over objects with no user and still change the time of objects.

Small light (スモールライト?)
Small light is a lamp similar to a flashlight that will shrink objects and people to minuscule sizes. Its opposite is the big light (ビッグライト?), which enlarges objects and people. Another tool that is used in a similar capacity is the Gulliver Tunnel, which causes a person to grow or shrink depending on which entrance he takes; however, its ratio of shrinking and enlarging is fixed. Unlike the Gulliver Tunnel, however, the effect of the Small light is not permanent and will wear off after a period of time has passed (seen in the series to be anywhere from a few hours in the comics to a few days in the movie Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars)

Pass Loop (通り抜けフープ, Tōrinuke Fūpu?)
A loop which creates a passage through a solid object such as a wall when placed upon it. Nobita has used this to escape from when his mother locked him in a storage shed, and to install watching gadgets in the movie theater.

Air cannon (空気砲, Kūkihō?)
A gun barrel worn on the arm used to fire a powerful burst of air which can knock out the victim when the user says "bang". Later models, featured in the long manga and movies, are fired with a trigger.

Translation konjac (ほんやくコンニャク, hon'yaku-konnyaku?)
A piece of konjac jelly which enables a person to understand and speak any known language in the universe. The effect begins after the person ingests the jelly, but the duration of the effect is unknown. While the ones Doraemon uses are usually unflavored, in the story Nobita's Birth of Japan (のび太の日本誕生?), he used one labeled to be miso flavored, suggesting the existence of various flavors, which are more expensive.

Clothes Changing Camera (着せ替えカメラ, Kisekae kamera?)
A camera that uses a picture of clothing instead of film, and changes the clothes of the person in the viewfinder to the clothing in the picture. It may also be used with no picture or an incomplete picture, with embarrassing results. The story about Doraemon's fourth-dimensional dustbin shows that the damaged camera will make the person naked (ie. when Shizuka used the damaged camera on Nobita, he turned naked). The camera is often used in the long stories and movies, where the gang must disguise themselves in unfamiliar places to avoid attracting undue attention, or to provide with a second change of clothes such as bathing suits.