Popular Dog in Softbank Commercials Dies

June 29, 2018

Tokyo- Kai, a popular white dog featured in a series of television commercials for mobile carrier Softbank Corp., died of natural causes on Thursday. He was 16.

Kai, a Hokkaido from northern Japan, endeared himself to living room audiences with his cute gestures in his role as first-generation "daddy" in the fictional Shirato family in the commercials, which began in 2007.

He recently retired from the commercials and his role was taken over by his sons, Kaito and Kaiki.

Softbank said in a statement that the company is very grateful to Kai and has prayed for his soul to rest in peace. Jiji Press