Kabosu, the dog that sparked the “doge” meme, passed away after enjoying 14 years of internet stardom, as confirmed by her owner.
The Japanese shiba inu served as the muse for countless online jokes and notably became the emblem of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency.
Sadly, Kabosu had been battling leukemia and liver disease, eventually succumbing on May 24th.
“She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog, thanking Kabosu’s fans.
“I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner.”
Kabosu, being a rescue dog, didn’t have a documented birthday, but Ms. Sato approximated her age to be around 18 years old.
In 2010, two years following Kabosu’s adoption from a puppy mill where euthanasia was a possibility, Ms. Sato, a teacher residing in Sakura, east of Tokyo, captured a photo of her furry companion gracefully crossing her paws on the sofa.
This snapshot found its way onto Ms. Sato’s blog, eventually gaining traction on online platforms like Reddit, transforming into a widely circulated meme traversing from college dormitories to corporate email threads.
The memes often utilized playful, quirky English to depict the inner thoughts of Kabosu and other shiba inus, affectionately known as “doge” (pronounced like “dough” with a “j” at the end).
Moreover, the original picture evolved into an NFT digital artwork, fetching a remarkable $4 million (£3.1 million). It also served as the catalyst for Dogecoin, initially conceived as a jest by two software engineers but now ranked as the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency, boasting a market capitalization of $23 billion.
Notably, Dogecoin has garnered endorsements from prominent figures like hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.
However, its most fervent advocate is billionaire Elon Musk, who often jests about the currency on various platforms, consequently propelling its value upwards, and lauds it as “the people’s crypto.”
In late 2022, Kabosu fell ill with leukemia and liver disease. Ms. Sato revealed in a recent interview with AFP that she attributed Kabosu’s recovery to the “invisible power” of prayers from fans worldwide.
Ms. Sato, aged 62, expressed her familiarity with extraordinary occurrences, mentioning that when Mr. Musk altered Twitter’s icon to Kabosu’s face last year, now represented by an X, she found herself relatively unfazed.
Furthermore, a statue of Kabosu and her iconic sofa, funded by Own The Doge, a crypto organization dedicated to the meme, was revealed in a Sakura park in November of the previous year.
Both Sato and Own The Doge have made substantial contributions to international charities, including a donation of over $1 million to Save the Children. The NGO acknowledges this as “the single largest crypto contribution” it has ever received.