A Typhoon Named “Puppy” In Japanese Hit Taiwan And People Turned It Into A Huge Meme
Inspired by the name “Koinu”, which means “puppy” in Japanese, people in Taiwan started putting their Photoshop skills to good use.

A typhoon named “puppy” in Japanese hit Taiwan, and people couldn’t resist turning it into a huge meme.
Typhoon Koinu – “puppy” in Japanese – made landfall in southern Taiwan on Thursday Oct. 5, lashing it with heavy rain and recording-breaking winds of up to 119 kilometer per hour.

Inspired by the name, people in Taiwan started putting their Photoshop skills to good use.

Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior posted a meme on its Facebook page, showing Typhoon Koinu as a chihuahua – the smallest but one of the most aggressive dog breeds – as part of a warning.

“Expectation vs. reality; it’s never what you think,” a person wrote replied in the comment.
“I feel ‘panic-chi’,” another user wrote.
People then started creating AI-generated memes of the typhoon as cute, white-furred dogs.

Some also shared photos of their dogs in contrasting situations, such as before and after a meal, to depict the huge differences in the typhoon’s name and the scale of damage it caused.
Businesses and schools across central and southern Taiwan were closed from Wednesday night to Thursday.

Authorities said the typhoon killed one person and injured more than 300 others.
On Friday, authorities said the storm had weakened and moved away from the country towards mainland China.