Twin pandas make their public debut at Tokyo Zoo to the delight of a lucky few

Tokyo (agencies).- The twin giant pandas, the cub Xiao Xiao and his sister Lei Lei, who were born in June at the Ueno Zoological Garden in Tokyo, appeared to the public for the first time with their mother Shin Shin, to the delight of a number limited number of lottery winners.

Unfortunately, the fun fuzzy balls for Japan’s hundreds of thousands of panda lovers will only be on public display at the zoo for a few days.

Also, much to the frustration of the thousands of fans who would simply love to catch a glimpse of Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, both weighing roughly 13-14kg, as they explore, climb and eat leaves in their enclosure, a cap on the number of visitors allowed to see the twins is set, due to the rampant spread of COVID-19 in Japan, including in the capital.

Visitors could only see the pandas through a lottery system and lucky winners began entering the panda area at the zoo around 10 a.m. Wednesday.

However, each winner was given only one minute to gaze at the beautiful creatures, before making way for the next visitor, in a bid by the zoo to prevent the spread of infections.

“They were fluffy and cute. It was a miracle that I could see them bite leaves and climb a tree.”said Naoko Kawazoe, 55, a Tokyo resident who became the first visitor to meet the pandas after lining up at the zoo from 5 a.m.

The two cubs’ mother, Shin Shin, and father, Ri Ri, both 16, are on loan from China. The two were also parents to four-year-old panda Xiang Xiang.

The twins’ birth was the first at Ueno Zoo, Japan’s oldest zoo, since it opened in 1882.

In commemoration of the normalization of bilateral relations, China first gave pandas to Japan in 1972.