Shops Buzzing for Public Debut of Ueno’s Giant Panda Cub

December 17, 2017

Tokyo- Shops and restaurants near Tokyo's Ueno Zoo are buzzing for Tuesday's planned start of a limited public display of Xiang Xiang, a female giant panda born at the zoo in June, with some offering panda goods and others organizing events.

This will be the first public debut of a baby panda at the zoo in Taito Ward in 29 years since Yu Yu, which was born in the zoo in 1988. The odds of winning a ticket for the limited viewing for Xiang Xiang reached up to one in 144.

"The welcoming mood bears comparison with 1972," when the zoo had its first giant pandas, Kan Kan and Ran Ran, Susumu Horiuchi, 74, who has been working for more than 50 years at Cha no Kiminoen, a green tea shop in the famous Ameyoko shopping street.

Green tea and "senbei" traditional Japanese rice crackers featuring images of Xiang Xiang are popular among elderly people and students on school trips, he said. "I look forward to seeing her."

Many shops in the Parco-ya commercial facility in the Ueno Frontier Tower, which opened last month, sell foods and other products featuring pandas.

"Gyutan" beef tongue restaurant Rikyu offers "panda manju" steamed buns. The buns are popular among women and foreigners as being instagenic, said Takayasu Fukuda, the 32-year-old manager of the restaurant. Jiji Press