With the departure of twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, Japan will be without a single panda for the first time since 1972, writes the BBC.
Emotions ran high at the zoo as visitors waited in line, some for up to three and a half hours, to catch one last glimpse of the popular bears. According to data from the Tokyo city government, about 108,000 people applied for only 4,400 available places for the farewell, and many visitors were in tears.
“I’ve been bringing my son here since he was a baby, so I hope it will be a nice memory for him. I’m glad we could come today to remember them,” said Ai Shirakawa.
“Witnessing their growth, especially since they were so little, was such a joy,” added another visitor.
Twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were born in 2021 at Ueno Zoo, and their parents, mother Shin Shin and father Ri Ri, were also loaned to Japan for breeding research.
Giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, currently at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, will return to China on Tuesday. As Sunday was their final day meeting the public, visitors flocked to catch one last glimpse of the adorable pandas before their departure. #GiantPandas #Pandamania pic.twitter.com/KC913641No
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 26, 2026
The return of the pandas is part of China’s so-called “panda diplomacy”. China has used giant pandas as a goodwill gesture since 1949, but retains ownership of any animals it borrows, including foreign-born cubs. Host countries pay an annual fee of about $1 million per pair, and loan agreements typically last 10 years, although extensions are common.
Sometimes the loans are linked to major trade deals. For example, the loan of two pandas to the zoo in Edinburgh in 2011 was agreed during negotiations on the delivery of salmon, Land Rover vehicles and energy technology to China.
The twins’ departure comes at a very tense moment. Relations between Japan and China worsened after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Tokyo would intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan.
The statement angered Beijing, which considers Taiwan its territory. Since then, both sides have taken a series of hostile measures, with China tightening restrictions on exports of rare-earth-related products to Japan earlier this month. Due to the escalation of the dispute, the prospects for a new panda loan to Japan remain uncertain.
(Vijesti.ba)
