What is the meaning of かい and き in Google's Summer Solstice Doodle?

Question

I was wondering what the meaning of かい and き is for the Google Summer Solstice Doodle pictured here: enter image description here

I'm guessing it has some relation to summer, but what?

Tsuyoshi Ito · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-21 17:08:19Z

up vote 14 down vote accepted

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that these Japanese letters have anything to do with summer.

These are mascots of Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., a company run by Takashi Murakami, the artist who painted this Google Doodle. Also note that the same mascots appear in the Winter Solstice Doodle, too.

edited Jun 21 '11 at 17:08

answered Jun 21 '11 at 15:22

Tsuyoshi Ito
20.9k13676

Ooh, now that I look at it, it does have an Aoshima Chiho-esque cute/spooky feel to it. – Amanda S Jun 21 '11 at 16:10

2

Kaikai Kiki's website says Kaikai Kiki is 恠恠奇奇（カイカイキキ） ... 「怪しく、しかし魅了される」という意味 ("strange yet fascinating"). – ento Jun 21 '11 at 16:10

1

That's really cool. I never thought trying to go to Google South Africa would give me a Winter Solstice doodle! :) – Boaz Yaniv Jun 21 '11 at 16:30

Aww... that's pretty disappointing! Thanks for the answer. – Bradley Swain Jun 21 '11 at 20:38

istrasci · Answer 2 · 2011-06-21 15:04:10Z

up vote 1 down vote

快気 probably. "Good feeling". Or maybe 怪奇 for "weird", i.e., those strange pig-rabbits.

answered Jun 21 '11 at 15:04

istrasci
13.2k1551

1

After all, 怪奇 is pretty close, considering the origin of the company name. – Tsuyoshi Ito Jun 22 '11 at 2:55

2 Answers