It began with a pair of pandas and ended with an anecdote about an unwavering Chinese Buddhist monk who spent 10 years trying to travel to Japan to preach Buddhism more than a thousand years ago.
President Hu Jintao's much-hyped trip to Japan, which he called a 'warm spring journey', was all about goodwill gestures and rebuilding a friendship that had worn thin after years of tension.
But as the president returned home last night, some were left doubting whether the gestures by both sides would be translated into solutions to issues that have been bothering the two countries.
Some observers and media in Japan were disappointed that major issues such as the right to explore for gas in the East China Sea, the case of the contaminated mainland-made dumplings, and China's human-rights record were sidestepped.
Officials from both sides touted the trip, the first by a Chinese state leader in a decade, as a fruitful one.
A pair of pandas from Sichuan will, if all goes well, soon replace the popular Ling Ling, who died at the end of last month, to make Tokyo's Ueno Zoo their new home.
A joint declaration was signed by Mr Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on the principal guidelines for two countries' development and co-operation. The two sides also agreed in the declaration to move on from their troubled past.
