We’ve written about Maru before in our roundup of Japanese cat videos and in our list of awesome Japanese YouTubers, but we thought that we’d write about Maru again for one reason: Maru’s 6^th birthday just recently passed (May 24^th).

In celebration of Maru’s 6^th birthday, his anonymous owner created a video montage of some of his best moments from 2012:

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With 259 videos with over 200 million views, you could probably call in sick to work and spend at least a week watching nothin’ but Maru videos; and I gotta say, I wouldn’t blame you.

Maru’s biggest claim to fame is his love of cardboard boxes—jumping into them, sliding into them, and just generally trying to stuff his chubby little frame into any kind of container that he possibly can.

But there are plenty of other great Maru videos that will make you neglect your own cat to watch a Japanese cat on the internet (because that’s where we are as the human race now).

For more of Maru, check out his YouTube channel or official blog.

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Hey, being a puppy is hard. He deserves that beer.

Shunsuke’s owner spreads this vile plague of cuteness to the world via the dog’s very own Twitter account. When a Japanese TV program aired detailing the details of this cute canine cretin, Shunsuke had a whopping 20,000 followers on Twitter (Maru has a measly 13,000). Shunsuke’s army has since grown to over 40,000 followers strong. Too bad Tofugu isn’t run by pomeranians.

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I have to admit, some of these pictures are cute to the point of absolute ridiculousness. Little Shunsuke really does look just like a stuffed animal, especially when he’s shot in pictures with actual stuffed animals. He blends right in!

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Shunsuke is also proving to be a massive influence on consumerism in China. His popularity has been great for pet shop owners because now everyone wants their own little Shunsuke.

With Shunsuke’s popularity rocketing the sales of pomeranians in China, prices have increased from 700 yuan to over 1000 yuan. Yikes. (Actually not that yikes, 1 yuan is about 15 cents American, lol)

Shunsuke also has his very own official photo book and calendar.

P.S. Think Shunsuke makes Maru look like yesterday’s news? Like Tofugu on Facebook.

P.P.S. No! Maru Forever! Shunsuke drools! *cough* Did you know Tofugu has a Twitter?