TOKYO, April 28 -- Her fluffy face now frail, Kabosu still flashes the enigmatic smile that made her the go-to meme dog for millennials and inspired a US$23 billion (RM109 billion) cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk.

She's best known as the logo of Dogecoin, but to Atsuko Sato, Kabosu is the elderly former rescue puppy who accompanies her every day to work at a kindergarten.

"It felt so strange" to discover her dog was an internet celebrity, Sato told AFP in Sakura, where Tokyo's eastern sprawl gives way to fields of rice and solar panels.

In 2010, two years after adopting the shiba inu, Sato posted a picture on her blog of Kabosu crossing her paws on the sofa and giving the camera a beguiling look.

That image became the "Doge" meme ...