Japan-China Relations

Thousands bid farewell to twin pandas in Japan

People flocked to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo on Sunday to bid farewell to twin pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, who are set to return to China on Tuesday, CNN reports.

- I'm really sorry. I wish I had come here more often, says visitor Shoken Ikeda.

Engineer Takahiro Takauji was also there. Among thousands of other visitors, he managed to take 5,000 photos of the twins in the minute he had to see them.

- I never thought there would come a day when pandas would disappear from Japan, he says.

Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were born in 2021 at Ueno Zoo and are the last pandas in Japan.

Pandas and their possible future cubs are leased by China as a sign of good relations and are usually called panda diplomacy. But as relations between Japan and China have become increasingly frosty, the prospects for getting new pandas look bleak.

It will be the first time in nearly 50 years that Japan has been without pandas in the country.

Thousands bid farewell to twin pandas in Japan

People flocked to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Sunday to bid farewell to twin pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, who are due to return to China on Tuesday, CNN reports.

“I’m really sorry. I wish I had come here more often,” says visitor Shoken Ikeda.

Engineer Takahiro Takauji was also there. Among thousands of other visitors, he managed to take 5,000 photos of the twins in the minute he had to see them.

“I never thought there would come a day when pandas would disappear from Japan,” he says.

Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were born in 2021 at Ueno Zoo and are the last pandas in Japan.

Pandas and their potential future cubs are leased by China as a sign of good relations, often referred to as panda diplomacy. But as relations between Japan and China have become increasingly frosty, the prospects for getting new pandas look bleak.

It will be the first time in nearly 50 years that Japan will be without pandas in the country.