A baby panda has made a special appearance before Tokyo's governor, a group of local schoolchildren and the media one day ahead of its official public debut.
The six-month-old female giant panda, Xiang Xiang, will debut Tuesday in a limited public viewing for avid fans who obtained tickets through a highly competitive lottery process, reports the Associated Press.
Xiang Xiang, or "Fragrance" in Chinese, was born June 12 to a resident panda at Japan’s Ueno Zoo in Tokyo and now weighs more than 12 kilograms (26 pounds).
The Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, who was all smiles after coming out of the zoo's panda house on Monday, told reporters that the baby panda was "just adorable."
Zoo officials said Xiang Xiang's appearances will be limited to 2 1/2 hours a day for the time being to minimize stress.
Giant pandas have recently been considered as an endangered species and nearly 2000 pandas still remain in the wild, according to sources.