Friendship is over: Japan will be left without pandas from China for the first time in half a century

Japan will lose all giant pandas for the first time since 1972. In January 2026, the last pair of twin pandas living at the Ueno Zoo will go to China, Kyodo reports.

The last day of the public meeting of Panda Xiaoxiao and his sister Leilei at the Ueno Zoo, where they have lived since birth in 2021, is January 25. February is the deadline for the return of pandas to China as part of a bilateral animal rental agreement.

"The prospects for another rental of pandas, considered as a diplomatic symbol of friendship between Japan and China, remain uncertain amid the deterioration of relations between the countries following recent statements by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan," the publication says.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, however, said that the country "hopes to continue the exchange of pandas."

The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Guo Jiakun, evaded a direct answer to the question about the possible transfer of pandas in the future, saying that this question should be addressed to the relevant authorities.

In June of this year, all four big pandas temporarily staying at the Adventure World amusement park in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, went to China.

The parents of twin pandas Lily and Xinxin were born in Sichuan Province in 2005 and came to the Ueno Zoo in February 2011 on loan to conduct breeding research. They were returned to China in 2024, and the Xiangxiang twins' sister left for her homeland in 2023.

Since the arrival of the first pair of large pandas from China in In commemoration of the normalization of diplomatic relations, these iconic bears have won the hearts of many Japanese and brought economic benefits as a tourist attraction.

Recall that all the big pandas of the world belong to China. Since 1984, foreign countries have been able to keep bamboo bears only on lease terms, paying Beijing from $ 250 million for each pair of individuals, but the animals remain the property of China, which returns home after the expiration of the agreement.

As EADaily reported, in 2023, Japan, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, as well as Washington and Memphis zoos, gave pandas to China, and by the end of 2024 pandas from Atlanta and Australia zoos returned to their homeland.

Finland returned two pandas to China ahead of schedule from the Yachtyari Zoo. Keeping animals costs the zoo € 1 million annually. At the same time, in 2023, the € 5 million assistance package to the zoo, provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, was withdrawn from the country's additional budget.

At the same time, China in October last year for the first time in a quarter of a century transferred large pandas to the United States. Pandas were leased to the Smithsonian National Zoo (Washington) for a period of 10 years with an annual fee of $ 1 million to support conservation activities in China.