Giant panda twins celebrate 2nd birthday in Tokyo

TOKYO, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Twin giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, both born in Japan, turned two on Friday at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens.

Many fans flocked to the zoo even before opening time to celebrate the twin cubs' birthday on Friday, taking pictures of them, and cheering at the two playing together and sharing a bamboo stick.

"I was happy to see them stick together. I want to continue to see them," Seiko Mizobuchi, a 53-year-old housewife from Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, was quoted by local media as saying.

Born in June 2021 at the zoo, male cub Xiao Xiao and his sister Lei Lei appeared to the public for the first time with their mother Shin Shin in January last year.

Since March, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei have been living away from their mother.

Naoya Ohashi, chief of the zoo's education division, said that he felt "grateful as (the cubs) have grown without problems," Jiji Press reported.