January 25 marked the last public appearance of the pair of giant panda twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at the Ueno Zoo (Tokyo), before they were brought back to China under a bilateral agreement.
The farewell atmosphere took place in rare emotion, as thousands of Japanese people have considered the two panda bears as "spiritual symbols" for many years.
According to NHK, watching panda on the last day was organized entirely in the form of pre-drawing, with a record high level of competition.
On Sunday, January 25th alone, the ticket winning rate reached 24.6 to 1, meaning that for nearly 25 registered people, only 1 person was selected. A total of about 4,400 lucky customers witnessed the moment of breaking up with Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei with their own eyes.
The management of Ueno Zoo said that each 30-minute slot only allows 400 people to enter the panda cage area. For the last 15 minutes of the day alone, a special slot of only 100 tickets was opened, quickly becoming a "golden ticket" that tens of thousands of people desire.
Statistics from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government show that in the period from mid-January to the last opening day, there were more than 310,000 ticket applications. After the information that the panda would return to China was announced in mid-December 2025, the flow of people flocking to Ueno lasted for many consecutive days, at times queuing for more than 5 hours.
Many people, even if they didn't win tickets, still came to the area around the zoo just to "breathe the farewell atmosphere". Japanese media recorded many families, elderly people and even foreign tourists standing outside the Ueno fence, taking souvenir photos and expressing regret.
On social network X, the wave of farewell spread. "Today is the last day to meet the panda. Xiao Xiao, Lei Lei, thank you and live happily," a account wrote.
Another person posted a photo of Lei Lei with the caption: "Unexpectedly, one day Ueno will no longer be a panda. Hope Leilei will live happily in China, with her fellow human friends".
Some opinions even call this a sad milestone for "panda diplomacy" - a symbol associated with Japan-China relations for decades.
According to the plan, the pair of panda bears will leave Japan on January 27, fly back to Sichuan province (China) and be taken to the breeding facility after a period of isolation before opening to the public.
NHK said that this event marks the first time since 1972 that Japan has no panda bears left. In 1972, panda bears were brought to Japan to commemorate the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic relations.
Speaking about the event, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun affirmed that the panda repatriation took place in accordance with the agreement between the two countries, and expressed his understanding of the special feelings of the Japanese people.
Pandas are loved by many Japanese people, and we always welcome you to visit them in China," he said.
