Overview
- The four-year-old twins, Shao/Shao and Leilei, left Ueno on January 27, landed in Sichuan before dawn on January 28, and were moved to the Ya'an Bifengxia base for quarantine and health checks.
- Their return marks a nationwide “zero panda” period in Japan for the first time since pandas arrived in 1972.
- China’s Foreign Ministry said it welcomes Japanese visitors to see pandas in China but did not signal any plan to lend new animals to Japan.
- Hundreds of fans bid farewell in Tokyo and near Narita; the zoo said handlers administered mild sedatives during transport, delaying departure by about 15 minutes.
- Panda lending has been stalled since 2011 as ties cooled; four pandas in Wakayama were repatriated in June 2025, and the twins will reside where their mother Shin Shin and sister Xiang Xiang are housed.