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SoftBank has announced that their beloved long-time spokesdog, Kai-kun, had passed away due to complications of old age. He was 16 and, according to the June 28 announcement.
Although often confused for a Shiba or Akita dog, Kai-kun was actually a Hokkaido dog, also known as an Ainu Dog, a breed named after the northernmost prefecture and its native people respectively. And it was in the small coastal town of Mukawa, Hokkaido that Kai-kun was born in a litter along with his sister Nene and brother Polo.
Kai-kun, whose name literally means “sea” in Japanese, spent his early years in comfort, enjoying his favorite foods of salmon, sausages and cucumbers. However, it didn’t take long for his bold personality and healthy coat to draw him towards the glitz and glamour of show business.
In 2004, he got his first break in the NHK drama "Tenka" playing a dog. Later in 2006, Kai-kun landed another role, this time as a dog who fathered eight superhuman warriors in the TBS version of the classic Japanese epic "Tale of Eight Dogs," adapted for television.
However, it was in 2007 that Kai-kun earned the role of his career as the father of the Shirato Family in the long-running series of ads for telecom giant SoftBank. As a member of the eclectic family, alongside his wife played by Kanako Higuchi and children played by Aya Ueto and Dante Carver, he quickly won the hearts of Japanese viewers and became an icon of the smartphone age.
His popularity soared through the turn of the decade, but as with many rises to fame, the small-town Kai-kun had trouble adjusting to the pressures of stardom. In February of 2014, the star caused a stir when during a press conference with noted regional mascot Funasshi, he began acting unruly.
In front of a shocked mass media, Kai-kun brazenly urinated on stage several times and attempted to hump a few people. He had to be removed from the conference about halfway through.
The fallout was immense, with many questioning why a dog of his stature wasn’t properly house trained. Shortly after, Kai-kun announced his retirement in April of that same year, citing old age as the reason.
▼ One of Kai-kun’s last appearances was as the illegitimate father of idol Kanna Hashimoto.
However, the role of father of the Shirato Family was passed down to his two sons Kaito-kun and Kaiki-kun who have been successfully carrying the torch alongside guest-stars such as Justin Bieber and Piko Taro.
They say that every dog has its day, but some dogs have everyday, and despite his ups and downs Kai-kun was one such canine. For that we would like to pay our respects and wish him well in that big farm in the sky with lots of room to run around in.
Source: SoftBank, My Game News Flash
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9 Comments
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Toasted Heretic
Beautiful creature.
robert maes
I hope he was happy, loved by his owners and he enjoyed most of work he did.it is a thin line between the dog enjoying it playfully or him being used and abused. My life and my wife’s are destroyed since our dogs were taken from us and those who took them refuse to show humanity in returning them to their loving family. We try everything , really everything to get our brothers back home. We ask eveyone to help us. My boys love their family and they are torn from it and from eachother. It is heartbreaking. We kindly ask everyone to support us
Laguna
No dog "brazenly" urinates. They have a purpose: marking (a term adopted into Japanese). And they tend to hump when they're nervous - sort of a default mode more intelligent dogs revert to when they do not know what their owners' expect.
Dogs are humans' longest-running genetic experiment, and as such, many breeds have adopted human-like traits. Let's not over-anthropomorphize them, though: they are quite a different species, with perceptions and needs that differ quite from humans. I say this as an owner of an 11-year old whippet who has mastered how to operate the touch lamp in my daughter's room and would rather die than crap in the house (I leave the veranda door open for emergencies) - but he's still a dog, and he seems to appreciate that i recognize this.
englisc aspyrgend
You can see the poor chap getting agitated at the squawking jumping idiots. I would have got stressed as well let alone a dog who didn’t understand what was going on. Pity he didn’t pee on them!
16 is a good age for a dog. No doubt his family will miss him.
papigiulio
Rip.
But honestly I never liked the softbank commercials, not funny at all.
Harry_Gatto
“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man's.”
Mark Twain.
Netgrump
Nice dog, silly but effective ads with one personal 'highlight' the appearance of obachan Ayako Wakao, one of my favourites of the golden age of Japanese filmmaking.
Yuko Maeda
Should have switched over to the new premium dog food being touted on the main page. Could have lived another 40 years minimum.