I’m eating at a sushi bar called Sushi Maru with my better half. Being a Trekkie, I mentioned the Kobayashi Maru to my husband. We toasted Leonard Nimoy.
Followed by what the heck does Maru mean in Japanese.
Buckle your seat belts people we are crossing into the Neutral Zone. In Star Trek it is the “no-win scenario” or “impossible situation”. But is that what it means?
Inquiring minds use their iPhones.
After a brief search we discovered the restaurant wasn’t cleverly named Sushi “Impossible” or Sushi “Situation”. Both would have been cool. Maru according to our source meant “circle” or “round” and referred to the conveyor system transporting our meal.
Isn’t the internet great?
It also lead to another discovery. Maru the Cat. A genuine Japanese cat celebrity.
Im-paws-ible you say.
Maru, a Scottish Fold—straight ear variety—entertains nearly half a million followers on YouTube. His channel is named Mugumogu. And is the 7th most subscribed YouTube Channel in Japan.
If you believe Entertainment Weekly, he is listed along with such notable internet cat celebrities as Keyboard Cat and Nora. Not to be confused with Cat Cora—a person and fellow celebrity featured on this blog.
After the March 2011 earthquake, Mugumogu posted on Maru’s blog that he was safe. Maru has a blog . . . .
He even has his own Fresh Step commercial. My friends, that’s how you know you’ve made it to the top of the heap.
This king of the hill loves boxes. No little box blues will keep him away.
丸のそれを奪う(Take it away Maru) In “Many too Small Boxes and Maru”.
Hello Kitty! Your videos are addictive. 🙂
The Blog of Funny Names 
Reblogged this on Fannie Cranium's and commented:
Japanese YouTube cat celebrity, Maru. This month’s contribution to the Blog of Funny Names.
It is funny cat, yes, Fannie. 🙂
Thanks Mark. Because I’m a cat owner myself, this video made me laugh out loud. 🙂
Small box, flat box … litter box? Yay to cats, Fannie. 🙂
Well said Mark. “Small box, flat box … litter box?” Reminds me of Dr. Seuss’s “Hop on Pop”. 🙂
a star in his own right. may the maru be with you.
LOL. And may the maru be with you. 🙂
If what they say is true and the internet really was made for cat videos, Maru must be the mayor of the internet. And that’s a big job for one cat.
Nice post! You never know what inspiration strikes when out having some mackerel.
Thanks, Arto.
Yes, mackerel is inspirational. There’s no doubt. And now I know for sure the internet was made for cat videos. Because I learned it here first. 🙂
It’s amazing just how entertaining cat videos are! I don’t quite know what it is… so often I’m just like “cats are so weird!” but in the rare instance I end up watching a cat video, it’s always amusing!
Cats are weird and entertaining. One of my friends sent me a video of large cats in boxes. It was just as amusing. Size doesn’t matter if you’re a cat . . . with a box.
Here’s another factoid for ya: Japanese commercial vessels include the word “Maru” in their name. That, by the way, is why the space ship was the Kobayashi Maru although in this case it was incorrect because military ships are not appended with “Maru”. (Also, warships never carry a person’s name.)
Thing is, ask 90% of Japanese why “Maru” is added and they will stare and stutter and probably give up, walking away and sucking their teeth.
There about a half dozen theories for the naming convention but nobody really knows for sure. Most think that “maru” which means “circle” connotes a round trip and therefore successful voyage.
I learned something new today. Very cool about the naming convention. Had no idea.
I only new the part about the Kobayashi Maru being named after a friend, last name Kobayashi, of the script writer who came up with the idea.
Maxwell… I’m impressed by your restraint… most dogs would have just barked at the screen and perhaps tried to chase something. You dropped some mad knowledge on us! You are an advanced dog!
I’ll take moo goo gai pan over Mugumogu. Unless it’s made of cats. I don’t understand the point of cats. Or the entertainment preferences of the Japanese. Or Star Trek. I’m at a loss.
But you know where you are and what you like. Those are the most important things.
Please pass the moo goo gai pan. 🙂
this would be the first funny-name cat here at BoFN? It’s about time, what with the kitty craze and all. Great research, Fannie and thanks for the throwback to Cat Cora.
I think you’re right, this was our first feline foray.
Regarding Cat Cora–any time Liz. 🙂
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