What was Nobita's first wish to Doraemon?

Hello! This is a really interesting question. Many fans who've only seen the anime might not know the answer, as different anime adaptations have different first episodes. But to get to the root of it, we need to go back to the very beginning of the original manga.

The answer is: He wanted to eat rice cakes (called "mochi" in Japanese, also often translated as sticky rice cakes or Japanese rice cakes).

You might find this a bit surprising, right? It wasn't some grand wish like changing his life, getting a perfect score on a test, or marrying Shizuka. But that's precisely the charm of Doraemon – it captures the genuine thoughts of an ordinary kid perfectly.

So, what exactly happened?

This scene comes from Volume 1, Chapter 1: "From the Distant Future" of the manga by Fujiko F. Fujio.

The Setup Doraemon first pops out of Nobita's desk drawer, accompanied by Sewashi (Nobita's great-great-grandson). They tell Nobita that his future is incredibly bleak, so Doraemon has come specifically to help him change it.
Nobita's Skepticism At first, Nobita doesn't believe them at all, thinking they're con artists. I mean, imagine a robot suddenly popping out of your drawer claiming to be your descendant from the future – who could accept that right away?
Doraemon Proves Himself To convince Nobita he really can help, Doraemon decides to demonstrate the power of his futuristic "gadgets." He asks Nobita what he wants.
The Birth of a "Grand" First Wish It was New Year's time. Nobita had just eaten rice cakes and was lazing around. He didn't believe Doraemon and couldn't be bothered to think hard, so he casually blurted out the simplest, most fitting wish for his lazy personality:

"I want to eat rice cakes without doing anything, just lying here."
The First Gadget Appears Hearing this, Doraemon immediately pulled out his first gadget from his four-dimensional pocket – the Gourmet Tablecloth (Gurume Tēburukake). Just say what food you want onto this tablecloth, and it appears instantly. Nobita wished for rice cakes, and a plate of steaming hot rice cakes immediately materialized on the cloth, leaving him stunned.

So, Nobita's very first wish to Doraemon was something this simple, even a bit "unambitious." But this perfectly establishes Nobita's character: lazy, loves food, simple-minded, yet utterly relatable.

And it was with this plate of rice cakes that their countless imaginative adventures together truly began.