was a

Shiba Inu The is a breed of hunting dog from Japan. A small-to-medium breed, it is the smallest of the six original dog breeds native to Japan. The Shiba Inu was originally bred for hunting. Its name literally translates to "brushwood dog", as it is us ...

dog from Japan. Adopted in 2008 by kindergarten teacher , she is prominently featured in the original Doge meme and the

Dogecoin Dogecoin ( or , Abbreviation: DOGE; sign: Ð) is a cryptocurrency created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who decided to create a payment system as a joke, making fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies at the t ...

cryptocurrency.

Life

Kabosu was a pedigree dog who was sent to an animal shelter when her

puppy mill A puppy mill, also known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility characterized by quick breeding and poor conditions. Although no standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists, a definition was established in ''Avenson v. ...

shut down. She was adopted in 2008 by Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato, and named after the citrus fruit kabosu by a volunteer at the shelter. Sato kept the name, because she thought the dog had a round face like the fruit. Kabosu was first pictured in a 2010 blog post by Sato; afterward, variations of the pictures using overlaid

Comic Sans Comic Sans MS is a sans-serif typeface created and designed by Vincent Connare and released by Microsoft Corporation in 1994. Designed as a non-connecting script, the typeface draws inspiration from comic book lettering, to emulate the informal ...

text were posted from a

Tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...

blog, ''Shiba Confessions''. The use of the intentionally misspelled "Doge" dates back to June 2005, when it was mentioned in an episode of ''

Homestar Runner ''Homestar Runner'' is an American comedy animated web series and website created by Mike and Matt Chapman, known collectively as The Brothers Chaps. The series centers on the adventures of a large and diverse cast of characters, headed by the ...

''s puppet series. The meme she inspired achieved widespread internet popularity on

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

and

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...

, and inspired a popular meme coin known as

. On December 28, 2022, Sato announced that Kabosu was seriously ill with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

, but soon after that her health had improved. On May 24, 2024, it was announced on Sato's blog that she died at the age of 18, at 7:50 a.m. JST, in

Sakura, Chiba is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 173,740 in 78,483 households and a population density of 1700 people per km2 (4300 per sq. mi.). The total area of the city is . Geography ...

. A memorial service dedicated to Kabosu drew 50 people, including some who were involved in the cryptocurrency industry.

Reception and legacy

Kabosu and Atsuko Sato sitting on the monument of Kabosu 2023-11-02

In Japan, Kabosu and Sato were known as pet and owner rather than a meme, and her blog ''Taking a walk with Kabosu-chan'' was the fourth-most popular pet-related blog in the country as of December 2013. Reacting to the meme, she explained, " be honest, some pictures are strange for me, but it's still funny! I'm very impressed with their skills and taste. Around me, nobody knows about the Doge meme. Maybe I don't understand memes very well, because I'm living such an analog life." Sato has also expressed that she had learned that "the risk of the internet is that anyone in the world can see my life on my blog". ''

Convergence Convergence may refer to: Arts and media Literature *''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen *Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics: **A four-part crossover storyline that ...

'' regarded the image of Kabosu as, at one point, a central cultural icon, being used in commercial advertising because it was widely recognized. A

non-fungible token A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchai ...

of the meme sold for $4 million. In 2023, a park bench monument to Kabosu was installed in

. A

manhole cover A manhole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening of a manhole, an opening large enough for a person to pass through that is used as an access point for an underground vault or pipe. It is designed to prevent anyone or anythi ...

with her image was also installed in Sakura in 2024. A documentary film about Kabosu and her owner, titled ''underDOGE'', is being developed by Scout Productions.

References

External links

''Taking a walk with Kabosu-chan'' (かぼすちゃんとおさんぽ)
A blog by Atsuko Sato *

{{Authority control 2005 animal births 2024 animal deaths Deaths from leukemia in Japan Individual dogs in Japan Pets in Japan

Life

Reception and legacy

See also

References

External links