Adventure World in Wakayama has opened a 90-minute “Panda Love Club” experience in which visitors pay ¥8,000 (about $50) to dress as zookeepers, take part in animal-care tasks and feed staff wearing panda hats. The program arrives after the park returned its last four pandas to China in June 2025. With Ueno Zoo’s twin pandas due to return later in January, Japan will briefly be without resident pandas for the first time since 1972. The move comes against a backdrop of strained Japan–China ties and reflects the end of temporary panda loan agreements.
“Panda Love Club”: Zoo Staff Dress As Pandas And Are Fed By Visitors After Japan’s Pandas Return To China
ABCTVnewsZookeeker dressed as panda in Adventure World amusement park in Wakayama, Japan
Staff at Adventure World in Wakayama, south of Osaka, have launched a tongue-in-cheek new attraction after the park returned its last resident pandas to China. The offering—called the “Panda Love Club”—has workers wearing black-and-white panda head hats while visitors pay to take part in panda-care activities and even feed staff members small pieces of apple.
What The Program Includes
For a fee of ¥8,000 (about $50), guests join a 90-minute session designed to mimic zookeeper duties. Adventure World says participants will don zookeeper clothing and take part in activities such as preparing meals, observing panda behavior, filling out daily care reports and checking the safety of exercise areas. As an unusual twist, some activities involve visitors feeding apple pieces to caged staff members who are dressed as pandas.
ANTOINE BOUREAU/Hans Lucas/AFP via GettyAdventure World theme park in Wakayama, Japan
“This special attraction will allow visitors to learn about the relationship between pandas and care staff … and experience the significance of passing on the lives of giant pandas to the future,” the park said, according to media reports.
Adventure World has worked on giant panda protection and breeding programs in both Japan and China for more than 30 years, according to the park. It returned its final four pandas in June 2025. Japan’s remaining pair of pandas — Ueno Zoo’s twin siblings Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei — are scheduled to be repatriated to China later in January, which will leave Japan temporarily without resident pandas for the first time since 1972.
Context And Reaction
Observers note the panda departures come amid strained relations between Japan and China, a period that has included trade measures and cultural restrictions. China has a long history of lending and occasionally gifting pandas abroad—an approach often described as “panda diplomacy.” Under typical loan agreements, the animals return to China when the terms end; media reports say China has gifted or loaned more than 30 pandas to Japan since 1972.
People magazine reported it contacted Adventure World for comment. The park’s new attraction blends hands-on education with a lighthearted attempt to maintain public interest in giant pandas as the animals are repatriated to China.
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