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6d ago

Japan’s Last Giant Pandas Depart for China, Ending a Five-Decade Presence

The exit highlights strained China–Japan relations shaped by Beijing’s panda diplomacy.

Giant panda Lei Lei walks in a cage after arriving from Japan at Bifengxia Panda Base in Yaan, Sichuan province, China January 28, 2026. China Daily via REUTERS
Panda fans gather as a truck transporting twin pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei departs from Ueno Zoo for their planned return to China, in Tokyo, Japan, January 27, 2026. REUTERS/Issei Kato
Containers carrying giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei sit next to a Sichuan Airlines plane upon arriving from Japan at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China January 28, 2026.  China Daily via REUTERS
Visitors film and photograph four-year-old male giant panda Xiao Xiao at Ueno Zoo during the last viewing day before the planned return of twin giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei to China, in Tokyo, Japan. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Overview

  • Hundreds gathered at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo on Jan. 27 to bid farewell to four-year-old twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei as they left for China.
  • China’s research center said the pair landed in Chengdu around 1 a.m. Wednesday and reached a Ya’an facility by 6 a.m. for quarantine.
  • The twins were born in 2021 in Tokyo but are Chinese-owned under long-standing loan agreements that return overseas-born cubs for breeding.
  • The departure leaves Japan without any giant pandas for the first time since 1972.
  • Beijing invited Japanese visitors to see pandas in China, while analysts link the absence of new loans to tensions after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Taiwan-related remarks, which drew an angry response and a travel advisory from China.