The last 2 pandas in Japan leave for China as ties are strained

TOKYO

Japanese panda fans gathered on Jan. 25 for the final public viewing at Tokyo's Ueno zoo before twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei return to China this week.

Their departure today will leave Japan with no pandas for the first time in half a century, and the chances of getting a replacement are poor, with Tokyo's relations with Beijing at their lowest point in years.

China first sent pandas to Japan in 1972, a gift meant to mark the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two wary neighbors. The cuddly black-and-white bears immediately won Japanese hearts, and a dozen successors have become national celebrities.

The latest departing panda twins have attracted massive crowds despite a one-minute viewing limit per visitor in the panda zone set by the zoo. Visitors, many of them carrying panda-themed toys, call out the bears' names and use smartphones to capture them as they nibble bamboo and stroll around. Many of those who couldn't get panda viewing tickets still came to the zoo anyway to mark the last day.

Beijing lends pandas to other countries but maintains ownership, including over any cubs they produce. Xiao Xiao and his sister Lei Lei were born in the Ueno zoo in 2021.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, asked about China sending new pandas to Japan, said: "I know giant pandas are loved by many in Japan, and we welcome Japanese friends to come visit them in China.”

Giant pandas, native to southwestern China, serve as an unofficial mascot. Beijing lends them to other countries as a sign of goodwill and as part of research and conservation programs.

The first pair of pandas, Kang Kang and Lan Lan, that China gifted to Japan arrived in Ueno on Oct. 28, 1972. It was one month after Japan's prime minister at the time, Kakuei Tanaka, and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai signed a joint communique normalizing ties between the countries.

China also gifted the first giant pandas around that time to other Western nations, including the United States, France, Britain and Germany.

China switched to leasing programs in the 1980s, with participating overseas zoos paying annual fees for habitat conservation or scientific research to benefit the species.

Japan has seen panda diplomacy turn political . A plan to bring a panda to Japan's northern city of Sendai after the 2011 quake and tsunami disaster was shelved in the wake of a 2012 territorial dispute.