One of Walt Disney's earliest cartoon shorts has resurfaced in Japan 70 years after it went missing, according to local reports.

Key points: Cartoon features Oswald, character widely believed to be a prototype for Mickey Mouse

Cartoon features Oswald, character widely believed to be a prototype for Mickey Mouse Walt Disney directed cartoon himself in 1928

Walt Disney directed cartoon himself in 1928 Yasushi Watanabe says he bought the short for $6 in 1948

Yasushi Watanabe, 84, reportedly bought the 1928 film directed by Walt Disney himself for just $6 at a toy wholesaler in Osaka as a teenager.

The anime historian had the 90-year-old cartoon for decades before realising it was one of seven lost Disney films and had it confirmed with the Walt Disney Archive with the help of Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

It was not until he read the book, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons, that Mr Watanabe realised the historical significance of his find.

"As I've been a Disney fan for many years, I'm happy that I was able to play a role," he told Asahi Shimbun.

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The two-minute short, Neck 'n' Neck, stars Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and is widely considered a prototype to the infamous Mickey Mouse character.

Neck 'n' Neck is one of 27 cartoons made as part of the series, which became embroiled in an intellectual property dispute that resulted in Disney forfeiting the rights for Oswald the Rabbit to Universal Studios.

Forced to abandon the character, Disney shifted his attentions to developing a new one: Mickey Mouse.

Speaking with the BBC on the discovery, British Film Institute animation curator Jez Stewart said:

"What's particularly good about this story is that it shows the spread of these films across the globe.

"How the films propagated across the world and where they end up is almost as interesting as the film itself."