Kunihiro Higashimura, head of a delegation of Tokyo assembly members visiting China, speaks to reporters after inspecting an electric vehicle factory of Xiaomi Corp. in Beijing on Oct. 14, 2025. (Kyodo)
BEIJING (Kyodo) — Some 20 local assembly members from Tokyo are on a five-day trip to China from Monday, during which they plan to visit a giant panda breeding research center in Chengdu ahead of the scheduled return of two pandas currently living in the Japanese capital.
The assembly members’ annual visit comes as the last two giant pandas in Japan, offspring of animals leased from China, are due to be returned from Tokyo’s Ueno Zoological Gardens by next February when their own lease expires.
Their parents were returned to China in September 2024, and they were followed by four other loaned pandas from a western Japan zoo in June this year.
Kunihiro Higashimura, the Tokyo metropolitan assembly member who heads the delegation, told reporters after visiting an electric vehicle factory of smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp. in Beijing on Tuesday, that the lawmakers are eager to learn why the pandas need to be returned through their visit to the breeding research center.
The group also visited the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress on Tuesday to promote municipal exchanges.
AloJapan.com