STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
For the first time in more than half a century, Japan is pandaless (ph). No pandas. The country's last pair of giant pandas were returned to China last month. NPR's Anthony Kuhn was at the zoo to see them off and filed this dispatch on the state of panda diplomacy.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Japanese).
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: An announcement tells visitors to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo that some areas are closed off and asks them not to block the roads as they bid farewell to the bears. A packed, hushed and mostly female crowd waits patiently for a truck to whisk the pandas to the airport to catch their Sichuan Airlines flight home.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Speaking Japanese).
KUHN: A gentle wave of sighs, sniffs, goodbyes and wishes to stay healthy ripples through the crowd as the animals leave the zoo. Noriko Kobaiashi (ph) is here with her panda pals. She says she comes to the zoo about three times a week.
NORIKO KOBAIASHI: (Through interpreter) The pandas strike all sorts of poses, and watching them was just amazing. It was really a source of emotional support, something that soothed my soul.
KUHN: Oh, so it's a kind of panda therapy. Helps you relax.
KOBAIASHI: (Through interpreter) Yes, that's right.
KUHN: China dispatched its first pair of panda envoys to Japan in 1972 to seal the deal reached a month earlier when the two countries established diplomatic relations. Panda twins, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, were born in Tokyo and returned to their native habitat in China by agreement after four years and seven months. They left as Tokyo and Beijing are locked in a diplomatic dispute over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks last November. She told parliament that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response. Since then, China has dialed up diplomatic and economic pressure, sending the message that the Taiwan issue is a red line Tokyo must not cross. Reporters ask Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun when China might loan Japan some more pandas.
GUO JIAKUN: (Trough interpreter) For specific questions, please contact the relevant Chinese authorities. We know there are many panda fans in Japan, and we welcome Japanese people to come to China to see the pandas.
KUHN: Panda superfan Takahiro Takaoji (ph) has done that. He says he's been to Sichuan Province to see the pandas on their home turf, and he's been coming to Ueno Zoo every morning for the past 15 years to snap millions of pictures of pandas in every adorable pose.
TAKAHIRO TAKAOJI: (Through interpreter) They're like family to me, and I love them dearly. Even after they return to China, I want to continue watching them grow.
KUHN: Kobaiashi and Takaoji have been around long enough to see cycles of ups and downs in Japan-China relations, and they're both confident that the pandas will be back eventually. For now, they both plan to keep coming to Ueno Zoo to marvel at other cute animals. For Takaoji, that means red pandas. For Kobaiashi, it's pygmy hippos. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Tokyo.
(SOUNDBITE OF TOO MANY ZOOZ'S "PIECE")
INSKEEP: Pass the bamboo. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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