The story of a recent online phenomenon offers a great snapshot of internet culture in Japan during the Heisei Era (1989-2019). Twitter user @Ninjamaaaaaan posted a blurry photo of a pooch in motion, with its tail swooping in front of its face. It looked vaguely like the canine in the image was throwing a haymaker with a particularly jacked-up arm.
More than 48,000 retweets later, right-hook dog has taken on a whole new existence. Users across the internet created fan art, latte designs and 3D printed models. Soon enough other famous dog characters were getting the proteined-up treatment, while others drew comics. A buff fox was soon uncovered. Naturally the two squared off.
Given the pace of internet culture in 2019, right-hook dog isn’t going to be the final meme to spread before the Reiwa Era officially starts (who knows what animal is enjoying its time in the digital spotlight as you read this?). However, it does serve as a nice note to go out on when talking about online life in Japan over the past few decades. What started as a seemingly innocuous photo mutated into a multi-layered thing netizens riffed on and mashed up with other pop-culture staples. The only difference now is just how widespread this stuff can get.