Japan bids farewell to final big pandas as pair depart for China

The departure of the four-year-old twins for a breeding facility in China leaves Japan with no big pandas for the primary time in additional than 5 a long time

TOKYO, Japan – A whole lot of Japanese panda lovers bid an emotional farewell to the nation’s final two big pandas, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, as they left Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo for China on Tuesday, January 27.

Spectators, braving the winter chilly and a few carrying panda hats and waving flags, held up their smartphones to file the second as a truck carrying the zoo’s star sights left for Narita Airport.

The departure of the four-year-old twins for a breeding facility in China leaves Japan with no big pandas for the primary time in additional than 5 a long time.

Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei have been beloved by so many individuals, and so my emotions are sophisticated,” mentioned Ueno Zoo’s director, Yutaka Fukuda. “I really feel gratitude and in addition anticipation at the potential of future breeding endeavors, however I additionally really feel disappointment at their departure.”

Whereas their transfer to China has been deliberate for a while, the pandas’ departure has been considered as a mirrored image of deteriorating China-Japan relations in latest months.

In November, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi mentioned a hypothetical Chinese language assault on Taiwan might convey a couple of Japanese navy response. That triggered a livid response from Beijing, which views the democratically ruled island as its personal territory.

China, in what has been known as panda diplomacy, has a historical past of loaning out pandas to reward its allies, although it has generally taken them again to precise displeasure. Native to China, big pandas usually return residence after the mortgage settlement ends — and cubs born abroad aren’t any exception.

The twins had been born within the zoo in June 2021 and have been its prime draw since their dad and mom departed in 2024.

Large pandas first arrived in Japan from China in 1972 following the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the 2 international locations. – Rappler.com