The inhabitant of the panda house

 In September 2020, panda forest had been completed at the west garden of Ueno Zoo. This is a new giant panda house. I have not gone to see it yet.

 In 1972, to commemorate normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China, two giant pandas, Kang Kang and Lan Lan, arrived from China to Ueno Zoo, and the zoo started to exhibit them at the panda house of the east garden. After that, some giant pandas arrived at the zoo, and some giant pandas were born at the zoo. Since the first pandas arrived, the zoo always had at least one panda, and they had always been popular. But in 2008, the zoo had no giant pandas when Ling Ling died.

 There were no giant pandas at Ueno Zoo for about three years.
What happened to the panda house during those three years?
At that time, in 2009, I had gone to the zoo.
Was there nothing there?
No, there were animals.
What kind of animals were there?
There was a red panda (lesser panda) there. It was not a giant panda, but certainly this was also a panda. I did not know the panda’s name, and I was not sure that it was male or female. The panda was eating bamboo leaves hard, but there were few people at the place.

 In 2011, two giant pandas, Li Li and Zhen Zhen, arrived from China to the zoo. And the zoo started to exhibit them in April at the panda house of the east garden again. The place had regained its bustle.

 Thank you very much for the red panda who was staying at the panda house.