Japan’s Only Two Pandas to Be Sent Back to China: Reports

Two pandas at a Tokyo zoo will be returned to China in January, Japanese media said on December 15, 2025, potentially leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century. Photo by BEHROUZ MEHRI / AFP

Two pandas at a Tokyo zoo will be returned to China in January, Japanese media said on Monday, potentially leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.

Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” programme, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolised friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalisation of diplomatic ties in 1972.

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by Agence France-Presse

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