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San Francisco Chronicle
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Fans bid teary farewell to four giant pandas at a zoo in Japan before their return to China
SHIRAHAMA, Japan (AP) — Thousands of fans bid a teary farewell Friday to a family of four giant pandas at a zoo in Japan's coastal town of Shirahama as the animals made their last public appearance before their return to China. Around 3,000 visitors flocked to the Adventure World theme park to get a last glimpse of the beloved animals. Many rushed straight to the panda exhibit zone, calling out the names of their favorites. Although the 24-year-old mother Rauhin and her three daughters — Yuihin, Saihin and Fuhin — were all born and raised at the park, they remain on loan from China and must now be returned. Once they return to China, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo will be the only pandas left in Japan. More than 1,000 people, many wearing panda-themed attire, queued outside the entrance of the theme park hours before it opened while some camped outside the night before. Some people wiped off tears while viewing throwback images of the pandas when they were cubs. Yoshihiko Fukuzumi recalls the arrival of the first two pandas at the park 30 years ago and has watch their family grow. Since retiring three years ago, he and his wife have visited them nearly everyweek. 'To us, they are like our grandchildren." Giant pandas are native to southwestern China and serve as an unofficial national mascot. Beijing lends them to other countries as a sign of goodwill but maintains ownership over them and any cubs they produce. Born in 2000, Rauhin had seven other cubs with Eimei, a male panda sent from China in 1994. Eimei returned home two years ago and has since died. Despite strained political ties between Japan and China, giant pandas are hugely popular in Japan. 'We feel comforted just by looking at pandas,' said zoo director Koji Imazu. Imazu said the departure of the four pandas marks the end of the zoo's 30-year joint project with China. He thanked Chinese specialists for sharing their expertise with the Japanese staff and said the zoo will be ready for a new arrival at any time. 'Of course we all miss them, but I hope you could send them off with a cheerful wave and wish them well in China,' Imazu said. In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said giant pandas are 'friendly ambassadors" conveying the goodwill of the Chinese people. Guo said that China and Japan have collaborated on panda conservation and research since 2000, and that China is ready to further strengthen international cooperation, including with Japan. Rauhin and her daughters will be flown to China on Saturday where they will join other pandas at a facility in Sichuan province near their original habitat. There, the three young ones will find partners. 'I still can't believe they're all leaving,' said Junko Ikeda, a Fuhin fan from neighboring Nara prefecture who spent Thursday night in her camper van for the send-off. "I hope she finds a partner, becomes a mother and lives a happy life.'
NHK
24-04-2025
- NHK
Japanese theme park to send all four of its giant pandas to China
A theme park in the western Japanese prefecture of Wakayama says it will bid farewell to all four of its giant pandas in around late June. Adventure World in Shirahama Town announced on Thursday that all the pandas under its care will be transferred to China. It says it has reached an agreement with the Chinese side as a joint panda conservation project is set to expire in August. The park says the four giant pandas will be sent to a research base of giant panda breeding in Sichuan Province in June, when the weather is relatively cool. The four female pandas were all born in Adventure World. Rauhin is 24 years old. Yuihin is 8, Saihin is 6, and the youngest, Fuhin, is 4. Under the joint project that started in 1994, 17 giant pandas were born in the Wakayama park over three decades. Adventure World says it strongly hopes that the joint project will continue, and that it will keep negotiating with the Chinese side. Adventure World's first giant panda, Eimei, arrived at the park in 1994. The park's first cub, Rauhin, was born in 2000 under a Japan-China joint conservation project. A total of 17 cubs were born in Adventure World. The youngest, Fuhin, was born in 2020. Eimei fathered 16 of them. They were dubbed the "hama" family because of the same Kanji character in the town's name and those of the pandas. Giant pandas have been a major tourist attraction for Shirahama. The town was promoted as a place to meet pandas. After the Wakayama pandas' departure, the only remaining giant pandas in Japan will be the two at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. All giant pandas in Japan, including those born in Japan, are "on loan" from China.
