Thousands of visitors gathered in Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo over the weekend to say goodbye to Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, the last remaining giant pandas in Japan.

The four-year-old twins, born at the zoo in 2021, are being returned to China under terms of a longstanding panda loan agreement.

Their departure marks the first time Japan has been without any pandas since 1972, the year it normalized diplomatic relations with Beijing.

The emotional farewell comes against a backdrop of worsening relations between Japan and China.

In recent weeks, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated that Tokyo would not hesitate to militarily support Taiwan in the event of Chinese aggression.

In response, Beijing tightened export controls on critical rare earth elements bound for Japan.

The return of the pandas—once a staple of Beijing’s soft-power diplomacy—now appears as another casualty of fraying ties.

Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were born to Shin Shin and Ri Ri, two pandas leased from China for research and public diplomacy.

Under China’s policy, all pandas born abroad remain Chinese property and must eventually be returned.

Host countries typically pay up to $1 million annually per panda pair.

While lease renewals are often granted, recent political tensions have cast doubt over future panda diplomacy with Japan.

At Ueno Zoo, demand to see the pandas one last time was overwhelming.

Only 4,400 spots were available, but over 108,000 people applied.

Some visitors waited in line for more than three hours.

Merchandise sales spiked, and tearful farewells filled the air.

“My son has grown up visiting them,” said one mother.

“I hope he remembers this day.”

China’s panda diplomacy has long intertwined with trade.

In 2011, Beijing agreed to send pandas to Scotland during talks over salmon exports and energy tech.

But as geopolitical fault lines deepen, symbolic gestures like panda exchanges are now under strain.

With the last pandas gone, a once-flourishing emblem of goodwill has quietly left Japan’s shores.