"Have the pandas gone back to China already?" a young schoolgirl asked last spring at Yagiyama Zoological Park in tsunami-hit Sendai.
Zookeeper Toshikazu Abe was at a loss for words.
Indeed, Japanese and Chinese leaders had agreed in December 2011 for China to lease two giant pandas to the zoo and the architectural design for the pandas' new home had been decided. Yet the pandas have yet to arrive.