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Agencies

A baby panda born six months ago made its debut before the cameras in Japan Monday, a day before a doting public gets an eagerly-awaited glimpse of the cuddly animal.
The panda named Xiang Xiang – derived from the Chinese character for “fragrance” – has sparked a media frenzy since its birth on June 12 at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo.
Broadcasters aired live footage of the cub nimbly climbing a tree and chomping on bamboo in a special cage.
Along with local schoolchildren, selected media and special guests were permitted to watch and film the panda through a glass shield.
Wang Wan, the wife of Chinese ambassador Cheng Yonghua, joined Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike at the event.

Sino-Japanese ties are often strained by the bitter legacy of the second world war and regional rivalry, but panda diplomacy sometimes offers a touch of friendship to the relationship.
“This year marks the 45th anniversary of the normalisation of ties between China and Japan. I think the birth of Shan Shan – pronounced Xiang Xiang in Chinese – is truly auspicious,” Wang said.
The public will get their first chance to see Xiang Xiang on Tuesday, the zoo’s first baby panda exhibition since 1988.
“Xiang Xiang has been thriving with the loving nurturing by mum Shin Shin,” Koike said at the ceremony, describing the baby as “a new treasure of Tokyo”.
The panda cub weighs 12.3 kilos and is the size of a medium-sized dog, zoo officials said, adding that it is in good health.
To reduce stress on the panda and avoid crowds, the zoo will limit the maximum number of visitors to 2,000 a day for a one- to two-minute slot until the end of January.
The zoo received nearly 250,000 applications for a lottery to see Xiang Xiang.
For avid panda fans who miss out, the zoo will offer a live stream of Xiang Xiang’s daily life from Tuesday for a year.
Mother Shin Shin, which mated with Ri Ri in February, had previously given birth in 2012 – the zoo’s first panda delivery in 24 years – only for the cub to die from pneumonia six days later.
Zookeepers have since given the adult pandas some private space in a bid to create an environment for the bashful creatures to mate successfully – a notoriously difficult process.
Until recently considered an endangered species, it is estimated that around 2,000 giant pandas remain in the wild, in three provinces in central China.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters


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Japan

Xiang Xiang the ‘auspicious’ cuddly panda cub makes public debut at Tokyo zoo

Baby panda Xiang Xiang plays in her enclosure at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

Baby panda Xiang Xiang plays at its enclosure at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on December 18, 2017. The baby panda born six months ago in Japan made its debut before the cameras on December 18, a day before a doting public gets an eagerly-awaited glimpse of the cuddly animal. / AFP PHOTO / Toshifumi KITAMURA

Japanese zoo mourns death of penguin that fell in love with anime character

Grape the penguin staring at a cardboard cut-out of cartoon character Hululu. Photo: AFP

This handout photo taken on September 27, 2017 and released on October 14, 2017 by Tobu Zoo shows Humboldt penguin Grape Grape who shot to fame in Japan after falling in love with a cardboard cut-out of a cartoon character Hululu has died, at the ripe old age of 21, around 80 in human years. / AFP PHOTO / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / TOBU ZOO" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Indonesian zoo welcomes new arrivals thanks to China’s latest act of ‘panda diplomacy’

Hu Chun, the female giant panda, will be housed in a safari zoo with the male Cai Tao. Photo: Xinhua/Du Yu

(170928) -- JAKARTA, Sept. 28, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Male giant panda "Cai Tao" arrives at the airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 28, 2017. "Cai Tao" and female giant panda "Hu Chun", both seven years old, were flown from China to Indonesia on Thursday for a 10-year research cooperation project. (Xinhua/Du Yu) (yk)

An Indonesian worker opens doors of a truck when a male giant panda from China named Cai Tao sits in a cage upon arrival at Taman Safari in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept, 28, 2017. Can Tao, and its female companion Hu Chun arrived from Chengdu to fanfare in Indonesia where a new "palace" like home that cost millions of dollars has been built for them. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Tokyo governor gives baby panda the fragrant name: Xiang Xiang

A September 20, 2017 photo of the female giant panda cub at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. Photo: AP

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike attends a news conference to announce the name of the new panda cub, born from mother panda Shin Shin at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens on June 12, 2017, at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, Japan September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

In this Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017 photo released by Tokyo Zoological Park Society, a female giant panda cub gets a dental checkup on the 100th day since her birth, at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. The baby giant panda now has a name: Xiang Xiang in Chinese, or Shan Shan in Japanese, announced on Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. The name, whose Chinese characters mean fragrance, is chosen from more than 320,000 candidates from the public and was also approved by the Chinese authorities. (Tokyo Zoological Park Society via AP)

It’s a girl!: Tokyo zoo gives more details on its new panda cub

Female cub of giant panda Shin Shin at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. Photo: AFP

Ueno Zoological Gardens official Mikako Kaneko shows images of the female cub of giant panda Shin Shin during a press conference in Tokyo on June 23, 2017. A baby panda recently born in Japan is a girl, the Tokyo zoo said on June 23, adding that the little cub appeared to be in good health. / AFP PHOTO / Kazuhiro NOGI

Giant panda Shin Shin gives birth to first cub in five years at Tokyo zoo

Giant panda Shin Shin with her baby. Photo: AFP

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 24, 2017 shows 11-year-old female giant panda Shin Shin taking a rest in her cage at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. The Japanese zoo celebrated the birth of a baby panda on June 12, 2017, the first in five years. Shin Shin gave birth just before noon, officials at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo said in a statement. / AFP PHOTO / Kazuhiro NOGI

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Asia

East Asia

The wife of China’s ambassador to Japan and the governor of Tokyo turned out on Monday to help mark this week’s public debut of Japan’s popular panda cub


Pandas

Xiang Xiang the ‘auspicious’ cuddly panda cub makes public debut at Tokyo zoo

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The wife of China’s ambassador to Japan and the governor of Tokyo turned out on Monday to help mark this week’s public debut of Japan’s popular panda cub

The wife of China’s ambassador to Japan and the governor of Tokyo turned out on Monday to help mark this week’s public debut of Japan’s popular panda cub