Fans of Kabosu—the wide-eyed Shiba Inu featured in the original Doge meme, whose fluffy face adorns the popular Dogecoin cryptocurrency born in the aftermath of that internet phenomenon—can now make the trek to the dog’s earthly house in Sakura, Japan. The trip is sponsored by Own the Doge, a Doge-focused NFT community backed by Doge DAO, a doge-focused decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)… which was founded by PleasrDAO, a group of NFT artists and collectors who pool their finances to buy culturally significant digital art.
“We conceive of Pleasr as the internet’s Louvre, and Doge as her Mona Lisa,” said tridog, a pseudonymous main contributor to Own the Doge and PleasrDAO member.
Tridog, a firm believer in D.O.G.E. thinking (Do Only Good Everyday), paid a visit to Kabosu, 17, and her “hooman,” the Dogemother Atsuko Sato, a local kindergarten teacher, in Japan last fall. Tridog has been forever altered by the event and is now excited to share his religious catharsis with select members of the Doge community.
“This pilgrimage… will examine the origins of one of the greatest online legends, and give a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to return to [Kabosu’s] beginnings in and around Tokyo, a location famed for its strange and fantastic events,” tridog added.
The vacation, which will take place from May 3 to 7, will include trips to dog-themed temples and monuments in the Tokyo region, street go-karting, and a Geisha performance supper. Of course, it will involve a trip to Sakura, where lucky tour participants will meet the Doge, walk the Doge, pose for meme-reenactment photographs with the Doge, and view the future location of a bronze monument of the Doge—for which Doge DAO already donated $100,000 to install in the city.
Kyle Craven, nicknamed Bad Luck Brian, the subject of another classic 2010s meme, will also accompany revelers on their spiritual quest. Though Craven’s face will most likely be on show for the most of the voyage, attendees who want to participate in Doge revelry anonymously will be given “Doge large heads,” or Doge-themed masks to wear for the length of the trip. (“We’ll definitely go ‘anon-frenly,'” tridog added.)
Anybody may apply to join the trip, but according to Own the Doge, space is running out. Would-be pilgrims are requested to declare their genuine intentions for undertaking the journey on the trip application. To take a picture with the Doge? Atsuko, would you want to eat with the Doge’s human? Or possibly to “shake Atsuko’s husband’s (finger shown in meme) hand”?
But, one lucky lottery winner will have their $4,200 basic trip price plus airfare (up to $1,500) paid for by Doge DAO. Contestants must own at least one Doge Pixel NFT to be eligible. What exactly is it, you ask? PleasrDAO paid $4 million (much wow) for an NFT of the original Doge meme from Atsuko Sato in 2021, then fractionalized it into billions of DOG tokens.
Each pixels from the shot may now be purchased for around $48 in DOG tokens. And the more Doge Pixels a person has, the more likely they are to win the Doge pilgrimage raffle (although such fractionalizing and reselling of NFTs has been deemed potentially illegal by even vocally pro-crypto regulators).
PleasrDAO auctioned off the sofa from the original Doge meme last month to benefit the humanitarian group Save the Children. The couch sold for 21 ETH, which was slightly shy of $35,000 at the time.
