Shoebill Becomes Ueno Zoo's New Star: How a Motionless African Bird Is Replacing Pandas in Tokyo's Most Famous Zoo
After Japan returned its twin pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei to China in January 2026, Tokyo's iconic Ueno Zoo lost its star attraction for the first time in 15 years. Visitor numbers dropped two months in a row. Now Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is championing an unlikely successor: the shoebill, a motionless African bird with a fearsome stare that she calls kimo-kawa (creepy-cute). Here's why this seemingly impossible casting choice might actually work.