Their departure will leave Japan without the cuddly black-and-white animals for the first time since 1972, when China presented the country with two pandas, Kang Kang and Lan Lan, as a gift intended to mark the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties.
China is known for sending pandas to other countries as a sign of good will. However, Chinese-Japanese ties have deteriorated greatly over the past few months, particularly since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island Beijing claims as its own, could bring about a Japanese military response.
