The Gorilla at *Higashiyama* Zoo Who Catches Tomatoes Like a Main Character

What's going on

There’s a gorilla named Kiyomasa living at Higashiyama Zoological and Botanical Gardens (a well-loved zoo and botanical garden in Nagoya) who has been going very, very viral lately. A video recently posted by a regular visitor shows him in action, and the combination of his face, his posture, and his movements is doing something to people that they genuinely were not prepared for.

The moment that really got everyone was the tomato catch: the keeper tosses one, Kiyomasa catches it, gives it a casual toss back into the air, then brings it calmly to his mouth — like a guy who just caught his keys without looking. He eats an apple with the same cool indifference. At one point he breaks into a loping, old-timey running gait that is deeply silly, and somehow even that is charming.

Then people started connecting the dots. Kiyomasa is the son of Shabaani (Shabaani: a western lowland gorilla at Higashiyama Zoo who became a pop culture phenomenon around 2015 for his strikingly handsome, almost brooding face — he inspired official calendars, merchandise, and a wave of people visiting the zoo specifically to look at him). At which point, the internet basically said: that explains everything.