Hundreds of Japanese panda lovers bid an emotional farewell to the country's last two giant pandas, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, as they left Tokyo's Ueno Zoo for China on Tuesday.

Spectators, braving the winter cold and some wearing panda hats and waving flags, held up their smartphones to record the moment as a truck carrying the zoo's star attractions left for Narita Airport.

The departure of the four-year-old twins for a breeding facility in China leaves Japan with no giant pandas for the first time in more than five decades.

Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei have been beloved by so many people, and so my feelings are complicated," said Ueno Zoo's director, Yutaka Fukuda. "I feel gratitude and also anticipation at the possibility of future breeding endeavours, but I also feel sadness at their departure."

While their move to China has been planned for some time, the pandas' departure has been viewed as a reflection of deteriorating China-Japan relations in recent months.

In November, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese military response. That triggered a furious response from Beijing, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory.

China, in what has been called panda diplomacy, has a history of loaning out pandas to reward its allies, though it has sometimes taken them back to express displeasure. Native to China, giant pandas typically return home after the loan agreement ends - and cubs born overseas are no exception.

The twins were born in the zoo in June 2021 and have been its top draw since their parents departed in 2024.

Giant pandas first arrived in Japan from China in 1972 following the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

-Tom Bateman/Reuters