Campaign goes on to present panda to children in northeast Japan

My father has started to attend a class in a lifelong learning centre and the name of the class is ‘Class Crane’. He said, “Mr Kim next door is a student of Class Turtle.” His little grandson added, “I’m in the Class Panda.” Oh my, what are those names!  

East Japan’s campaign for pandas  

 An interesting campaign is being conducted in Japan to comfort the children in the disaster-stricken region using panda, an animal being loved by
many people in the world. In connection with this, two celebrities — Masahiko Kondo and Tetsuko Kuroyanagi — and Deputy Mayor of Sendai visited Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda last December and asked his cooperation in bringing in the cute animals from China. Noda promised to do his best to help
realize children’s dream. The governments of two countries are also showing positive attitude toward the matter currently.  

Masahiko Kondo was an idol singer  in the 1980s. His songs were so famous that every single teenager of Japan knew the lyrics. He also enjoyed popularity in Chinese-speaking countries, including Hong Kong. I can still vividly remember how popular he was because I lived in Japan at that time. 

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi needs no introduction. She was the first Asian to become Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and Honorary President of Japan Society for the Panda Protection. Above all, she is an author of “Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window,” a best-selling book in Japan. 

Kondo said, “when I thought what to do with my fans’ donation, pandas came to my mind. If they appear in Northeast Japan, children in the region will be very happy.” The Deputy Mayor also said “we are determined to bring in pandas for the children in suffering and make the cute animals become a beacon of hope for them.”    

Kondo’s agency Johnny & Associates Inc. announced its plan to give financial support needed for renting two pandas for five years as a part of “Marching J,” an earthquake relief project. Kuroyanagi collected 100 signatures from children of the earthquake-hit region aspiring to be able to meet pandas in a nearby zoo. Support for the campaign has been coming from all walks of life. Furthermore, the Sino-Japan Panda Friendship Committee has expressed their willingness to support orphans in earthquake-hit regions both in China and Japan. 

China’s panda diplomacy  

China’s panda diplomacy started in the middle of the Sino-Japanese War in 1941 when Chiang Kaishek sent a pair of pandas to the United States as a show of gratitude and friendship. Mao Zedong gave pandas to Russia and North Korea, then China’s closest allies. When China’s relation with Russia went sour, Mao
took advantage of the animal as a tool to approach to Western countries such as Great Britain and West Germany. 

It was in 1972 when China donated a pair of pandas to the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo to celebrate the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Since then, pandas have become a symbol of the Sino-Japanese diplomacy and gave rise to an expression that “one panda is mightier than ten diplomats.”

Recently, China sent a pair of three-year-old pandas to the Beauval Zoo in Saint Aignan in Central France to be welcomed greatly and they have come to be called “a symbol of the Sino-French Friendship.”  Currently, the number of pandas being raised outside of China is only 38 in eight countries.

A panda is not something that can be purchased. China currently has only 1600 pandas. Since the Washington Convention, an international treaty designed to protect endangered species of wild fauna and flora, came into effect in 1983, it has become impossible for China to sell or donate pandas to foreign countries. Therefore, the Chinese government has begun to lend pandas with charge in the name of “research purpose.” 

The amount for leasing panda is quite huge. It cost about 100 million yen a year to lend a pair of pandas. If a panda happens to die, the country responsible has to pay 50 million yen for compensation as long as being unable to prove that it was a natural death. Tens of million yen of extra charge also has to be paid for each of new-born pandas. Some 80 million yen of  maintenance fee is also needed in a year.

 Panda effects? 

 Japanese fervent love for panda is not the only reason to use it as a symbol of revival. In addition to that, having a panda was proved to be profitable as well as being fun. After the Hanshin earthquake in 1995, China sent a pair of pandas as a show of consolation and the male panda was named “Kou Kou,” meaning revival. The Oji Zoo where the pandas were housed, attracted two million people, twice as many as the previous year.

Prof. Miyamoto of Kansai University estimated that the economic effects the pandas can bring about on Sendai will reach around 3.5 to 4 billion yen a year.
The Yagiyama Zoo in Sendai where the pandas are to be housed, has about 500,000 annual visitors a year at present, but if pandas come, the number of visitors is expected to rise to 800,000. “Considering the favorable psychological effects it can have on children and regional people, the benefit from the pandas will be far higher than we can imagine,” he said.  

This year marks the 40^th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese diplomatic normalization. It also means that 40 years have passed since a pair of pandas set their first foot on Japanese soil. Now, Japan wants to bring in another pandas for the heartbroken children in northeast Japan and it is hoped to serve as a new milestone to deepen friendly relationship between the two nations.  

However, pandas from China have not always been welcomed in Japan. When a panda died in 2008 shortly before President Hu Jintao’s scheduled visit to Japan, Hu suggested to give another panda on lease and asked  to pay 100 million yen of annual fee. At the suggestion, anti-Chinese sentiment mounted among the Japanese and Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara declined the offer, saying that “we have not enough budget for it.” Hu’s offer came to be realized three years later in 2011 after a substantial cut of the lending fee. 

So, it is no wonder that there are people opposing to the idea of having panda for northeast Japan . Various voices are spring up ranging from “can’t we use the donation for something else?” to “Is it really possible to generate more than 100 million yen annually with pandas?”  Some others say that
“why should we send our donation, collected for the purpose of helping disater-stricken people, to China?” 

By the way, have you ever seen padans with your own eyes? In my case, I have gone to the Ueno Zoo just to see pandas. It was a hot summer day and the bulky animals were only sleeping in an air-conditioned room. I stayed quite a long time there watching them. But it was hard for me to imagine the scene of  bulky panda rolling playfully on the lawn, often seen in a picture book or TVs. Slightly disappointed. To me,  the 60-year-old turtle Tarowa Gamekichi or tall and graceful cranes were far more beautiful. где взять самый выгодный потребительский кредит