Two More Giant Pandas to Go to China, Leaving Just Six in Japan

Sayonara Ri Ri and Shin Shin

On September 29, the two giant pandas Shin Shin (female) and Ri Ri (male), currently at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, will be returned to China. The last day visitors can see them is September 28.

The pair were born in China in 2005 and loaned to Japan in 2011. The agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association was that the zoo would keep them until February 20, 2026. However, due to their advanced age and the health issues they have developed, it was decided that it was best for them to receive treatment in their home country.

They have three children: Xiang Xiang (female), born in 2017, and Lei Lei (female) and Xiao Xiao (male), twins born in 2021. Xiang Xiang was returned to China in 2023 as part of the agreement. With the return of Shin Shin and Ri Ri, that now leaves only Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao at the zoo. These last two pandas must return by February 20, 2026, which is just one and a half years away.

Big Daddy of the Panda World Back in China

The theme park Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture,　has garnered worldwide attention for its successful panda breeding program. Eimei (male), born in 1992, came to Japan at the age of two and from 2001 onward has successfully bred around once every two years, producing 16 pandas up to 2020. Thirteen of those pandas have already been returned to China and Eimei himself went back in 2023.

The park currently has four pandas: Eimei’s former partner Rauhin (female), and their three children, Yuihin, Saihin, and Fūhin (all females).

Rauhin, mother of the many pandas at Wakayama Adventure World and her twins in May 2015. (© Jiji).

Tan Tan (female), who was loaned to Kobe Ōji Zoo by China in July 2000 as a form of support for recovery after the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, passed away in March 2024, aged 28. While Tan Tan gave birth twice, one cub was stillborn and the other died shortly after birth. There are now no pandas at the zoo.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: Shin Shin (left), soon to return to China, and her daughter Xiang Xiang, who went to China in 2023. Photo taken in 2018. © Reuters.)