Japanator boss Dick McVengeance and I have a standing tradition of sharing and/or pointing out new appearances of Otousan, the white Shiba Inu made famous by Japan's Softbank mobile phone commercials. I love this dog. Serious: I have Google and YouTube alerts on him. I'm sick about it, too, as I'll watch the same video over and over. And knowing this, today, I have been sent a link to pictures of Otousan books.

If you've somehow missed these hilarious and adorable commercials, they all feature a dog named Otousan (father). He is the dad over a human family that addresses him as such. I think the commercial makers use the old peanut butter trick to make it look like Otousan is really speaking his lines. They're fooling no one, but it's so cute that we don't really care.

Kirainet has pictures of the many books featuring Otousan, played by the real-life Shiba Inu Kaikun. Kaikun talks about politics, rides a rickshaw, and even poops. Just strolling around Tokyo, complete with cute captions. Great, now I'm going to have to buy one of these. If I ever met the real dog, I'd be so starstruck that I wouldn't know what to do.