Tokyo
—
Japanese followers rushed to farewell the nation’s final two pandas on Sunday forward of their return to China, in a departure that highlights strained relations between the 2 international locations.
Twin cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei will go away Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo Tuesday after assembly their followers for the final time on the weekend.
They had been born within the Japanese capital, however China retains possession over them, underneath the foundations of Beijing’s “panda diplomacy.” The federal government there treats pandas as nationwide symbols and goodwill ambassadors, loaning them to international locations with which they want to strengthen ties.
The duo’s departure leaves Japan with none pandas for the primary time in additional than 5 a long time, at a time when relations between Asia’s two greatest economies are at their lowest level in years.
And politics wasn’t removed from guests’ minds once they paid final visits to the pandas over the previous week.
“I’m actually unhappy,” customer Shoken Ikeda advised CNN throughout a latest journey to the zoo together with his spouse. “We at all times mentioned, ‘There’s a panda right here, so we’ll get to see it someday,’ after which this occurred. I want I’d come extra usually.”
Lengthy strains started to type within the weeks main as much as the pandas’ final encounter with the general public, prompting the zoo to modify to a lottery system for tickets.
One other panda fan Yukie Kuyama mentioned she lined up for 5 hours to see the animals in early December. After successful the lottery, she got here to see them once more final week.
“That’s very disappointing. It feels unhappy that such cute, harmless animals are getting used as a trump card – or perhaps a software – in diplomacy,” she mentioned.
The siblings have totally different personalities, in accordance with their keepers; Xiao Xiao is timid whereas his sister Lei Lei is fearless and adapts to adjustments shortly.
The 2 pandas had been born in 2021 on the Ueno Zoo, to mom Shin Shin and father Ri Ri. The mother and father had been returned to China in 2024, a yr after the twins’ sister Xiang Xiang was additionally despatched again.
Japan welcomed its first pandas in 1972 to mark the normalization of diplomatic ties with China. Since then, extra pandas have arrived or had been born regionally, gaining an enormous following.
However remarks from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi – suggesting {that a} Chinese language invasion of Taiwan might set off a navy response from her nation – has just lately drawn ire from China.
Beijing has responded with a flurry of financial strain, together with chopping flights and warning residents towards touring to Japan. The variety of Chinese language vacationers in Japan dropped by virtually a half final month yr on yr, to round 330,000, Tourism Minister Yasushi Kaneko mentioned final week.
Chinese language authorities have additionally suspended seafood imports and banned exports of uncommon earth components with navy makes use of, as they demand that Takaichi withdraw her remark. The Japanese chief mentioned in November that her remarks had been “hypothetical” and that she would keep away from making comparable feedback once more.
In the meantime, Takaichi has known as an election on February 8 in a bid to bolster her mandate on a variety of insurance policies, probably together with her more durable stance on China, having secured the workplace by successful an inner contest amongst her Liberal Democratic Social gathering in October.
Final yr, China additionally took again 4 pandas from the zoo of a Japanese city which relied closely on panda-related tourism.
In Shirahama, a resort vacation spot tucked away on the southern coast of Japan, outlets promoting panda merchandise, and ramen bars serving up noodles themed on the bears, had been left in limbo.
China’s determination to not renew the leases of these 4 bears was probably associated to Taiwan as effectively, one worldwide relations skilled advised CNN earlier, coming after Shirahama elected a mayor with a pro-Taiwan stance.
For now, employees at Ueno Zoo plan to maintain the panda facility as it’s and hope for one of the best.
“The amenities had been designed particularly for big pandas, so it wouldn’t be straightforward to adapt them for different animals,” mentioned Hitoshi Suzuki, director of animal care and displays on the Zoo, who helped increase Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei from day one.
He hopes to proceed working with China on conservation and breeding analysis on the very least. However greater than something, he hopes the pandas will come again in the future.
“They’re not solely lovely but additionally fascinating animals, and I might love for many individuals to have the possibility to see them,” he mentioned.
CNN’s Mai Takiguchi and Yosuke Tomita contributed reporting.
