‘Panda Kuroshio’ – a special train service, will continue to run after the Pandas’ have departed Japan.

The Japanese town of Shirahama, which was been the home of the Panda’s, has recently bid adieu in tearful eyes to the last four – Rauhin, age 24, and her daughters Yuihin, 8, Saihin, 6, and Fuhin, 4; most empathetically, they were born in this picturesque town. The pandas ultimately belong to China, which began lending pandas to Shirahama in 1994. This year, China declined to extend the agreement and summoned them back to their ancestral home. No more are due to take their place, after Japan’s public went bereft, since the Panda capital, was facing a future without its bears.

Separation from the bears will be tough for Shirahama, a resort destination tucked away on the southern coast of Japan just 90 miles south of Osaka. Reminders of their fluffy, black-and-white faces are everywhere, from trains and buses to restaurants and souvenir shops. Known as Panda Town, it has long hosted crowds of visitors seeking panda-themed vacations, the highlights of which are watching their favourite bears hugging trees, munching on bamboo and somersaulting in their enclosures. The bears — also called “panda” in Japanese — have for decades been an economic lifeline for the town’s 20,000 people. With the departure of the final four pandas, the town is in limbo.

Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a professor emeritus of economics at Kansai University, estimates that the town has generated 125.6 billion yen ($870 million) in revenue from the panda economy over the past three decades. “The pandas are the biggest draw for tourism, and without them, the number of tourists will drop”, he have expressed his anguish. Without the animals, the town could lose up to 6 billion yen ($41 million) per year, equivalent to 40% of Shirahama’ s annual budget, he says. It would further lose 200,000 tourists per year, he estimates, and that decline will cause job losses and accelerate depopulation, forcing younger generations to move to other cities for better work opportunities.

A walk around the town lays bare how heavily Shirahama’ s tourism industry relies on these bears loaned from China. Hotels offer panda-themed rooms. Vending machines are covered in manga versions of the bears. Restaurants serve bowls of ramen and desserts with panda-tastic twists.

Scenic Shirahama was once famous for its onsens, or hot springs, said to be among the oldest in Japan. But after their lure began to fade in the late 20th century, the town reinvented itself by centering its appeal around Youhin and Eimei, the first two pandas it received from China in 1994.

In the last thirty one years, the Japanese people’s love for the cuddly animals was apparently good for the pandas, too: Rauhin’s partner, Eimei, fathered a total of 16 cubs with her and a previous female panda, Meimei, seen as the most successful panda breeding program outside of China.

China usually lends pandas to countries, including the US, as goodwill ambassadors and to strengthen trade ties for 10 years, while cubs born in zoos overseas are returned to China by age four. Beijing’s decision to offer or extend existing panda agreements is based on various factors — a move experts say can be linked to deteriorating diplomatic ties.

While it’s unclear why China declined to extend the contract with Shirahama, Masaki Ienaga, an associate professor of international relations at the Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, believes politics may be at play. Last year, Shirahama elected Yasuhiro Oe, a politician who takes a pro-Taiwan stance. That may have upset China, Ienaga says. Cross-strait relations have long been a sensitive issue, with China’s ruling Communist Party claiming the self-ruling democracy of Taiwan as its own. “China thinks the Taiwan issue is something it cannot ignore”, says Ienaga.

Despite the bears’ departure, the Japanese train operator JR West has said it will continue to operate a panda-themed service ‘Panda Kuroshio’ connecting the town with Kyoto and Shingu with a stop at Osaka, Shin-Osaka, Tennoji, Wakayama, and other stations. The train was created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of JR West, and the 40th anniversary of the opening of Adventure World (Shirahama Town, Wakayama Prefecture) in 2018.

Team Maverick.