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.

Wallpapers and GIFs!

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So I wasn’t surprised when I discovered Purin the Super Beagle, an extremely talented dog owned by a man living in Shibuya, Tokyo. Purin is, embarrassingly enough, probably smarter and more talented than I’ll ever be.

Purin (Japanese for “custard”) first caught my eye when I found this video of her catching a ball in mid-air with her paws. It’s a cute video, not only because of Purin’s talent, but the softly excited「やった！」from the owner with each successful catch.

Beagles are notoriously smart, so it makes complete sense that Purin’s range of tricks doesn’t stop there. She can also jump rope:

Skateboard:

And maybe most impressively, she can catch a sword. The trick is based on an old samurai trope called 真剣白刃取り, where somebody stops a sword at the last minute with their bare hands.

Fortunately, Purin’s owner uses a foam sword, which is probably for the best since Purin seems to want to bite it anyway.

You can find more pictures and videos on Purin’s YouTube channel, and her Facebook page.

Megwin

“we, Samurai, are making original comedy movies in japan!!
We’re pleasure that people over the world enjoy our movies!!
Come to our web site!!”

Megwin puts out a lot of videos and they’re all very strange. They’re all in Japanese, but some do have subtitles. Therefore, Megwin’s videos would be more entertaining and useful to the intermediate or advanced learner of Japanese. Regardless, they’re worth checking out just to experience the silly for many of their videos are hilarious even if you have no idea what’s being said. Check out all the insanity on their channel.

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HirokoChannel

Hiroko is a j-vlogger who vlogs about a variety of things while living in Japan. She uses both English and Japanese in her videos and her topics include mini-lessons, Japanese culture trips, and just general info about Japan. Definitely worth your time. Also she is cute. Her channel is here.

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Chris Gen (Street English TV)

Chris Gen was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. He was schooled in New York City, used to be a dual citizen, and is married to a Japanese woman.

He has three channels, a main heavy edit channel, a low edit channel, and a travel TV type channel. He goes all over Japan and does videos about a variety of things. He uses mostly English, but his videos do include bits of Japanese quite often.

Even though he is not Japanese, he was born and raised in Japan and his videos are too awesome to not include here. Chris puts out some incredible content. He is by far one of my favorite YouTubers. However, he has become less consistent as of late and does not put out nearly as many videos as he used to. He does have a lot of videos out already though, so you should definitely check those out.

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That Japanese Girl

TJG puts out a lot of silly Japanese videos about all sorts of topics. Some videos teach Japanese phrases, others take you to different places around Japan, and some are just goofy. She has a lot of Kansai-ben (関西弁) tutorial videos as well. She uses both Japanese and English in her videos. Check out her channel for tons of tutorials.

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Honorable Mention

Maru (mugumogu)

You’ll learn little (if any) Japanese while watching videos of Maru, but he’s just so darn cute! You can find approximately a million videos of Maru jumping into boxes and generally being adorable on his channel.

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So who are your favorite Japanese YouTubers? Let us know in the comments below!

P.S.: Find someone new to subscribe to? Like Tofugu on Facebook.

P.P.S.: Want to be informed of everything cool forever? Follow Tofugu on Twitter.

[Header Image by ~xChocolatePanic]

Japanese Poop Burgers

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It seems like every week we hear news from Japan of some new and bizarre invention. This story is no exception – scientists in Japan recently discovered a way to extract the protein from human waste and turn it into an edible, meat-like product. Sustainable? Yes. Appetizing? Probably not. Anything that can be described as “meat-like” probably isn’t going to be the tastiest thing in the world.

AKB48′s “Newest Member”

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People were astonished when the popular J-pop group AKB48 revealed that its newest member was a fake. Not fake like Milli Vanilli, but in fact entirely computer generated using parts from other girls in the group. Could this be the beginning of a robot takeover? I, for one, welcome our new computerized J-pop overlords.

Tofugu Flavored Pepsi!

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Mello Yello was recently reintroduced into Japan to much fanfare after being gone from the country for nearly a decade. Based on how popular Mello Yello has become, we here at Tofugu decided to make our own soda, filled with all the same toxins of a fugu fish. This video not only fills you in about Mello Yello and our new Tofugu Pepsi, but is also a choose your own adventure! Make sure you have annotations turned on, and check out all the different endings!

iHotels

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In this episode of TofuguTV, Koichi travels to Kyoto to stay in one of the coolest capsule hotels around. Even though “cool capsule hotel” sometime may seem like an oxymoron, this one, called 9 Hours, pulls it off. If Apple built a hotel, it would be as sleek, white, and shiny as this one. Check the video for footage of Koichi’s stay there, and a short tour around the hotel.

Not Awkward Japanese News

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A lot of commentors on YouTube have said that we here at Tofugu are awkward in our videos. As if! To prove those people wrong, Koichi and I present you with news from Japan in the most smooth, suave, not-awkward way possible. Such professional news anchors, we’re like a regular couple of Brian Williams.

Japanese Words? Chinese Words?

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A lot of people know that Japan got its kanji writing system from the Chinese, but did you know that the kanji sometimes have very different meanings in the two languages? It’s true! In Japanese, 手紙 means “letter,” but in Chinese the same characters stand for “toilet paper.” Check the video for some funny examples!

Miffy + Cathy = Caffy

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One of Hello Kitty’s buddy, the rabbit Cathy, bears a striking resemblance to a Dutch cartoon rabbit named Miffy. The companies who own Cathy and Miffy were engaged in a lengthy legal battle until recently, but they left out Koichi and his family’s cartoon rabbit, Caffy. Watch the legal battle unfold before your very eyes!

Hashi Not Working

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When Koichi posts videos up on YouTube, people are sometimes more interested in what I’m doing in the background than the cool, interesting, and insightful things Koichi is saying to them. Even though you should all be paying attention to whatever super important things Koichi is saying, we decided to give you all a behind-the-scenes look at what I spend my time doing during our work days.

Save the Salaryman Foundation

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News out of Japan is that salarymen are getting less and less spending money from their wives. We here at Tofugu think that this situation is just tragic, so we founded the Save the Salaryman Foundation. For just one dollar a day, you can help a real, live Japanese salaryman muster up the money for some watery Japanese beer after work. What better cause is there?

Japanese Scientists Develop A “Possessed Hand”

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As if poop burgers weren’t enough for you, Japanese scientists have another bizarre invention – the “possessed hand.” It’s a device that controls the movements of your fingers, helping people learn skills like playing the piano. But could it also be used for more sinister purposes?

That wraps it up for June! Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos, or check out the channel for some older Tofugu goodies.

PS: You can also find our newest videos on Twitter.

PPS: Be sure to check out our Facebook, too!

Welcome back to another Saturday Timewaster! I hope the next couple hours of your Saturday are clear (otherwise, you’ll need to clear your schedule and cancel that totally unimportant appointment). This post is all about Japanese cat videos… The best there is on the web (at least in my opinion).

This Is Going To Be Tough

If I could, there’d be a thousand Japanese cat videos on this blog post. Unfortunately, I have the very important task of cutting down and showing you the best Japanese cat videos on the web. That’s hard. There are three things you don’t want to talk to friends about (unless you want to lose them as friends). Those things are Politics, Religion, and “The Best Japanese Cat Videos Of All Time.” You just don’t go there. That being said, I’m going to do my best. If something is missing, you’ll have to add it in the comments for me (and I’ll add the best ones from the comments into the post too).

Are you ready to get your time wasted? Let’s do this thing.

Famous Cats

Let’s start with some famous cats. These cats are more well known than a lot of famous people. You may or may not see why in a moment.

Maru

Arguably the most famous cat in the world, Maru-chan is ridiculously cute and ridiculously popular. He works for his popularity, though. This involves jumping into boxes of varying sizes. Here’s an intro video to everything he does.

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Give Maru a box, and he’ll immediately jump in.

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We’re talking any box.

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Actually, maybe not any box…

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But Maru tries really hard whenever given a chance.

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We have a lot of time wasting to go, but there’s plenty more Maru on mugumogu’s YouTube Channel. We have a lot more cat videos to get through, though, so let’s keep at it. I know this is hard for you. Keep persevering through the blinding cuteness.

白ブー

Shirobuu is another favorite of mine. This cat isn’t particularly cute, I’d say… more “Old/Grumpy” in an endearing sort of way. Shirobuu’s owner likes dressing Shirobuu up (that’s where the first million video views come from) and then feeding Shirobuu food at a dinner table where he’s sitting up like a human (second million views come in because of this).

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It gets worse, though. I don’t think the holidays are very fun for him…

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This next one is a video of pictures… but that doesn’t mean the pictures aren’t priceless.

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He also doesn’t quite have the fame as Maru does… he tries, though…

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Shirobuu looks like an awesome cat. I just want to touch his fuwafuwa-ness.

Stationmaster Tama

Stationmaster Tama is a cat that a local train station started promoting as a station master. Japanese people started flocking here to see the cat, and pumped millions of dollars into a small town. In Japan, economic recovery tends to always revolve around cats, for some reason…

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Here he is in a less newsy video:

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Food + Cats

Another theme I’ve come across in my very serious Japanese Cat Video research is Cats + Food. People like to see cats eating (as you probably noticed in Shirobuu’s videos). Like, for example, did you know that cats like corn?

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This next one involves regular cat food (boring!) but it’s being fed to a cat with chopsticks while it stands on its hind legs. Look at it’s little scrunched up face! Cute!

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There’s also this whole “thing” called “neko nabe” (cats in pots). I don’t know what there is to say about this… except that it’s awesome.

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Then, there’s mass neko nabe. CHAOS.

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Ninja Cat

This one is a classic. I’m sure 99% of you have seen it. If you aren’t one of those 99%, though, you must click play now.

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Talking Cat

Unfortunately, this cat only speaks in Japanese. If you know a bit of Japanese, this Japanese Cat Video is pretty remarkable.

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The guy’s saying ただいま (I’m home) and the cat is saying おかえり (Welcome back)

It gets even more crazy, though. The more you want to hear the cat speaking Japanese, the more the cat will speak Japanese. I hope you want to hear it. This is the much longer version of the previous video.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCfstWh7OV8']

Cat Island (Tashirojima)

This might be a sore topic for some, but I have to include at least one of my own videos. This is part 1 of Cat Island… Part 2? I’m working on it. I swears!

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Musical Cats:

Although the whole music video is pretty entertaining, you’ll want to jump to about 2:30 if you want to get straight to the cats. Leading up to that point is pretty fun, too, though, but the real cat-gold is about halfway through. Gotta love Japanese music videos…

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This music video actually gives the cats an opportunity to sing. Musashi’s Christmas Song:

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpHy2lQimYA']

What’s Missing?

I know all of you are bigger Japanese Cat Pros than I am. What’s missing from this list? Post links in the comments and let everyone know. I’ll put the best ones in the post!

P.S. What’s almost better than Cat Videos? Liking Tofugu On Facebook.

P.P.S. What’s better than Cat Videos? Following Tofugu On Twitter.

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The first video of this month kicked off the new trend of five videos a week! From this video onward, both Koichi and myself have been working hard to bring you all more videos each and every week. In this video, Koichi talked about DVDs of women eating meals, or oshokuji no jikan (お食事の時間) for those lonely, lonely people who just want someone to eat with them. In less creepy news, Koichi also announced the Sticker Haiku contest, giving sweet Tofugu stickers to people who wrote the most awesome haikus!

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Remember how the Rapture was supposed to happen earlier this month? In this video, seer of visions Koichdamus makes his prophecy about the Rapture which includes a giant radioactive monster mutated by Fukushima radiation, MechaJesus, and the people of Planet X (which is right behind Jupiter, duh).

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Koichi picks the first five winners of the Sticker Haiku contest by reading each one aloud in his celebrity impressions. Remember: if you can guess all five celebrities Koichi is impersonating, you can win a pack of Tofugu stickers!

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Koichi announces the second five winners of the Sticker Haiku contest, this time without celebrity impressions, and explains why he likes each one. Congrats to all the winners!

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In this video, Koichi explains how you can use subtitles in Japanese T.V. or movies to help learn Japanese. Koichi also dresses like a beautiful, beautiful woman for…educational purposes? Something like that.

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Ever wanted to go out and catch your own fish dinner, but don’t want to do all the hard work of cleaning, gutting, and cooking the fish? Well at Zauo, a cool, gimmicky restaurant in Japan, you can do just that! Watch Koichi catch his own dinner from the aquarium in the restaurant and enjoy the fruits of his labor.

This video is very dear to my heart, because it introduces me, Hashi, as Tofugu’s very first employee! We take a look around the new and improved Tofugu office, and I awkwardly operate the camera and introduce myself to the world. Check it out here.

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In part one of a two-part series about how to spend money to help learn Japanese, Koichi takes a look at MyGengo, an online translation service. For a small fee, MyGengo will have a real-live human translate whatever Japanese you want to throw at them. However, this kind of service is only helpful as a last-ditch effort to translate few sentences or paragraphs, and shouldn’t be used for whole pages of Japanese.

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Part two covers Lang-8 Premium, a cool website where you write journal entries in the language you are trying to learn (in our case, Japanese), and those journal entries are corrected by native speakers. The premium subscription to the site gives you a few benefits: your journal entries are given priority over free users, and you can get PDF printouts of your entries, just in case you’re the old fashioned, pen-and-paper type.

And that covers it for May! Look forward to more video roundups in the future as we make more and more videos for all of you.