Media in the UK: On January 25, 2026, Tokyo's Ueno Zoo had its farewell day, with thousands of people queuing to say goodbye to the last two pandas about to return to their home country. These twin pandas will return to China on January 27.
About 108,000 people participated in a lottery for the only 4,400 farewell spots; the waiting time for visitors outside the park reached up to 3.5 hours.
This is the first time since the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations in 1972 that there are no pandas in Japan.
China retains ownership of the pandas and their offspring born overseas, and the receiving countries usually pay a rental fee of about $1 million per pair per year.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1855366291682312/
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