{"id":228910,"date":"2026-01-26T11:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/?p=228910"},"modified":"2026-01-26T12:19:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:19:32","slug":"tearful-farewell-as-japan-sends-its-last-2-pandas-back-to-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/en\/news\/228910\/","title":{"rendered":"Tearful farewell as Japan sends its last 2 pandas back to China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thousands of people flocked to a zoo in Japan on Sunday to say farewell to the country’s last two giant pandas, who are set to return to China on Tuesday, the BBC<\/a> writes.<\/p>\n

Emotions ran high at the Ueno zoo in Tokyo as people stood in line – some for as long as three-and-a-half hours – to see twin cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei one last time.<\/p>\n

This comes at a very tense moment in relations between Tokyo and Beijing. Ties have sharply deteriorated after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Tokyo would get involved militarily if China attacked Taiwan.<\/p>\n

The twins’ departure will leave Japan without any pandas for the first time since 1972, the year the two countries normalized diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n

The People’s Republic of China has used giant pandas as a gesture of goodwill towards its international allies and competitors since it was founded in 1949.<\/p>\n

But China retains ownership of all pandas it loans to foreign countries, including cubs born abroad. In return, host countries pay an annual fee of about $1m per pair of pandas.<\/p>\n

Many pandas have been returned to China in recent years – a loan agreement typically lasts 10 years although extensions are common.<\/p>\n

However, the prospects of a new panda loan to Japan have remained uncertain amid the escalating row.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"