Last month at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, after receiving thousands of tearful goodbyes from Japanese fans, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were put on a plane bound for China - the latest symbols of the deteriorating relationship between China and Japan.
The two giant Chinese pandas had to return home after Beijing announced it was taking them back, leaving Japan without any Chinese pandas for the first time in decades.
Since Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made comments that have plunged ties with China to their lowest level in years, Beijing has been piling on the pressure in a wide range of ways - sending warships, throttling rare earth exports, curbing Chinese tourism, cancelling concerts and even reclaiming its pandas.
As Takaichi begins a new term as PM after winning a historically strong public mandate from a recent snap election, analysts warn that both sides will find it difficult to de-escalate - and the China-Japan relationship will not recover anytime soon.
The row began in November, when Takaichi appeared to suggest that Japan would activate its self-defence force in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
