Panda cub Xiang Xiang to 'work overtime' for Japanese fans

Xiang Xiang, the female giant panda born in Japan last year, will have to "work" four more hours to meet the fanatical Japanese fans as Ueno Zoo in Tokyo extended the cub's viewing sessions to accommodate more public.

The cub has been put on display for five 30-minute sessions daily between 9:45 am - 12:15 pm. The zoo decided to extend the viewing hours to 16:45 pm from February, after judging that the animal was getting more accustomed to the crowd.

After the time adjustment, the zoo is expected to receive close to 10,000 panda viewers each day, fivefold that of the current daily figure. Currently, it accepts 80 groups of up to five people per session, or up to 400 visitors in total.

To avoid congestion, each visitor will get a look at the cub - along with her 12-year-old mother Shin Shin - for around two minutes. There are no limits on viewing Xiang Xiang’s father Ri Ri.

Xiang Xiang made her first public appearance on Dec 19, becoming the zoo’s first cub to debut in 29 years.