Overview
- Tokyo officials said Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei will leave Ueno Zoo for Narita on Jan. 27 and arrive in China on Jan. 28 at a facility that also houses their sister Xiang Xiang.
- The departure will leave Japan without any giant pandas for the first time in roughly half a century, according to the Tokyo government.
- Public farewell viewings were heavily oversubscribed, with applications for the final day reaching 24.6 times the available slots before closing.
- The twins were born in 2021 to Shin Shin and Ri Ri, which were on loan for breeding research, and ownership of the cubs remains with China under standard agreements.
- They became Japan’s last remaining pandas after four animals at Adventure World in Wakayama returned to China last June.