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 Turned It Into A Huge Meme](/content/images/size/w1200/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/taiwan-typhoon-koinu-dog-meme.jpg)
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.
![Taiwan typhoon koinu chihuahua meme](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/taiwan-typhoon-koinu-rain-meme.png)
Inspired by the name, people in Taiwan started putting their Photoshop skills to good use.
![](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/taiwan-typhoon-dog-meme-koinu-waves.jpg)
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.
![Taiwan typhoon koinu meme chihuahua](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/taiwan-typhoon-koinu-meme-chihuahua-1.jpg)
“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.
![Taiwan typhoon dog meme expectation reality](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/taiwan-typhoon-koinu-dog-meme-expectation-reality.png)
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.
![](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/typhoon-koinu-dog-meme-taiwan.jpg)
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.