50th Anniversary of Japan, "Giant Pandas Bring Ueno Zoo to Life"

(Text / Guo Dan, Jiang Qiaomei, Li Guangzheng) How popular are giant pandas in Japan? If you don't come to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo to communicate with panda fans, it may be difficult to appreciate how much the Japanese people love giant pandas.

On October 28, 1972, as a friendly envoy for the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, the first batch of giant pandas "Kang Kang" and "Lanlan" in Japan arrived at Ueno Zoo escorted by more than 100 security personnel. On the first day of meeting with the audience, more than 3,000 people poured into Ueno Zoo, and they had to queue for five hours to catch a glimpse of the panda. The Japanese people's enthusiasm for giant pandas began, and in 1973 it set a record of 9.2 million visitors to Ueno Zoo.

For half a century, giant pandas have been the "friendly messengers" loved by the Japanese people. Recently, in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of giant pandas, the Ueno Tourism Alliance specially held the "Ueno Giant Panda Festival" in Ueno Park. Located at the main entrance of Ueno Zoo in the park, the Japan Post Office has a special "Panda Post Office", which is decorated with giant pandas from stamps to postmarks to mailboxes. In the early morning of October 28, before the Panda Post Office opened, tourists began to line up just to be able to buy a limited edition "50th Anniversary of the Arrival of Giant Panda Stamps".

73-year-old Kuheng Kikue told reporters about her visit to Ueno Zoo 50 years ago to see giant pandas. "At that time, I heard that I could see giant pandas, so I specially asked for leave to run to line up to see." Today, retired Hisashi Jiujie has become a giant panda volunteer at Ueno Zoo, visiting the zoo several times a week in order to see giant pandas often, and to let more tourists and more children understand and fall in love with giant pandas.

"Giant Panda Reporter" Mifan Nakagawa was at the front of the line. She told reporters that she has been in love with giant pandas since she can remember watching giant pandas with her mother. Up to now, in order to see giant pandas, she has been to 23 countries and regions, and in 2019, she also published a monograph about pandas "Panda World, We Love Giant Pandas", telling you the stories of pandas around the world. Today, she is a full-time journalist, coming to the zoo every day to take various panda-related photos, and timely conveying this happiness to the Japanese people through social networking sites.

Japan's famous rakugo (stand-up comedian) Hayashi Kasanhei also brought his wife to participate in the "Ueno Giant Panda Festival". Lin Jiasanping is also very famous in China, as a "giant panda support ambassador", he has a deep relationship with giant pandas. "When I was 5 years old, my dad took me in line to see the pandas, and the queue was long and when it was finally time to see the panda, my dad was hungry and exhausted. He held up bread and shouted 'panda' 'panda'. This word, which has the pun meaning of 'giant panda' and 'bread' in Japanese, suddenly caused everyone to burst into laughter. Today, as a father, he often comes to Ueno Zoo with his wife and children to see giant pandas, and eats at the restaurant he loved 50 years ago to experience the happiness brought by pandas with his son.

Giant pandas are zoo heroes

Tadao Niki is the honorary president of the Ueno Tourism Alliance and a "Panda Full-time Ambassador". He seriously told reporters: "Ueno cannot do without pandas, it is the pandas that make Ueno full of vitality." ”

Mitsuki Tadao is not false, since 1972 Ueno Zoo has raised 15 giant pandas. Following "Kangkang" and "Lanlan", giant pandas "Huanhuan", "Feifei" and "Mausoleum" have successively settled in the park. But since the death of 24-year-old "Lingling" in 2008, the zoo has not had a giant panda for nearly three years.

Erki told reporters: "You can feel that the surrounding shops have suddenly become deserted and have lost popularity. Later, everyone analyzed the reason and was surprised to find that it turned out to be the lack of giant pandas. As a result, led by Niki, everyone actively raised the problem with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. However, he did not expect that Shintaro Ishihara, then governor of Tokyo, believed that "it is the same whether there are pandas or not", and it was not until the Ueno Tourism Alliance sent tens of thousands of Japanese children's paintings of giant pandas to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that the authorities changed their policy and actively communicated with the Chinese side.

In 2011, the young giant pandas "Bili" and "Fairy" were sent to Ueno Zoo, and Japan once again set off panda fever. In order to choose a nice Japanese name for the cute giant pandas, the zoo publicly solicited names from the public, received about 40,000 application letters in just one month, and finally named "Bili" and "Fairy" as "Lili" and "Zhenzhen".

"Riri" and "Makoto" are the heroes of Ueno Zoo. Although their first baby died in infancy, since the birth of their daughter "Xiangxiang" in 2017, Ueno Zoo has ushered in an unprecedented climax of love for pandas.

Coffee, curry rice, and souvenirs with the theme of fragrant fragrance are endless. Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a Japanese economist and professor emeritus at Kansai University, once estimated that Kaka brings economic benefits to Ueno Zoo and surrounding stores a year by 26.7 billion yen.

In June 2021, "Lili" and "Zhenzhen" made new achievements, adding a pair of dragon and phoenix fetuses - "Xiaoxiao" and "Leilei" to Ueno Zoo. "Xiaoxiao" as a boy's name means the rising sun, and "Leilei" as a girl's name means beautiful flowers that are about to bloom. Nikki said: "Now because of the epidemic, everyone's faces are gray, and what is missing most is a bright smile. I hope Xiaoxiao and Lei Lei can bring hope and healing to people in the epidemic. ”

"Ambassador of Peace and Happiness"

Speaking of the reasons why Japanese people love giant pandas, Toshimitsu Doi, former director of Ueno Zoo and president of the Japan Panda Conservation Association, analyzed that in Japan, people treat giant pandas like their own babies. Everyone watches them give birth and grow up. "A bit like the relationship between celebrity idols and fans, every move of giant pandas touches the hearts of the people. It is precisely because of the investment of a lot of emotions that the relationship between giant pandas and the people is inseparable. ”

Toshimitsu Doi said that over the past 50 years, Ueno Zoo has made a lot of efforts to breed pandas, which is also inseparable from the strong support of the Chinese side. "Before the pandemic, we went to China every year to attend seminars related to giant pandas. When the panda is produced, we will also invite Chinese instructors to come to the field for guidance. Whether it is helping pandas produce milk or helping red pandas maintain body temperature, the Chinese instructors are very skilled and professional in details, and they are also very knowledgeable in technology. ”

Regarding the role of giant pandas, Doi said: "50 years ago, everyone's understanding of giant pandas was only that it was a rare animal. But now, as more and more people learn about giant pandas, you will find that giant pandas have a more important role in Japan - a symbol of nature conservation. Through giant pandas, people can not only deeply understand the habits of an animal, learn about animal biology and animal protection, but also deeply think about the harmony between species and nature, and the harmonious coexistence of species and humans. ”

"Panda is an ambassador of peace and happiness. We will always love pandas. Niki and Nakagawa said.

Caption: Tourists watch giant pandas at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, on October 28. (Xinhua News Agency)

Source: Reference News Network