Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Twin giant pandas will leave a Japanese zoo in late January to go home to China, leaving Japan pandaless.

Two pandas at a Tokyo zoo will be returned to China in January, the Tokyo government said on Monday, potentially leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century. Loaned out as part of China's "panda diplomacy" program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship…

TOKYO (AP) — Popular twin pandas at a Tokyo zoo are set to return to their homeland in China in late January, officials said Monday, leaving Japan without a panda for the first time in about half a century. Prospects for their replacement are not favorable either as ties between the two countries have deteriorated. […]

Twin pandas at a Tokyo zoo are set to return to China in late January, leaving Japan without a panda for the first time in about 50 years.