The way this cat shakes its head while burying its face into its hands makes it look almost human!

For cat owners in Japan, there’s one cute kitty pose that never fails to please, and when it happens, the cameras come out, photos are taken, and it gets shared on Twitter, where it has its very own hashtags. It’s called the “Gomen Ne” (ごめん寝), or the “Suman Ne” (すまん寝), which means “I’m sorry”, and this punny name is written with the kanji for ne (ru), 寝(る), meaning “to sleep”. The term describes the way a cat looks like it’s bowing deeply in a Japanese-style apology when burying its face in its hands as it nods off!

▼ The “sorry cat” pose is so adorable it’s been used in toys and accessories in Japan.

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While photos of cats giving sleeping apologies are often seen online, capturing the moment as it happens on video is a much rarer feat for owners, so when this video appeared on Twitter, it was liked and retweeted thousands of times. Like a nature video studying the behaviour of sorry Japanese cats, owner @kokonananya shared the clip with the title, “Making of the Suman Ne”. You can see how it happens in real-life below.

The way the cute cat shakes its head, burying its face in its hands makes this kitty look like it’s truly expressing regret, sinking into a deep bow! Just as soon as our hearts melt, though, making us want to reach out to give it a cuddle and let it know there’s nothing to worry about, we realise it really doesn’t care what we think — it’s just taking a quick snooze. You cats! Playing with our emotions since, well, forever.

Japanese Twitter users have been falling in love with the sweet video, saying:

“Awww… this is too adorable!”
“I’ve caught my little tiger doing this a couple of times at home too!”
“Does it know how cute it’s being?”
“That sorry head! And those little hands! It’s too much!”
“Watching this is healing my spirit so I’m watching this on repeat.”

If you’re not ready to say goodbye to the sweetly sleeping kitty just yet, we’ve got more photos and videos of cute and relaxed cats from here. They’re not bowing in apology, but they’re still adorable all the same!

Source: Iroiro
Top Image: Twitter/@kokonananya
Insert Image: Felissimo