TOKYO - A pair of giant pandas, "Xian Nu" and "Bi Li," from southwest China's Sichuan province arrived at their new home in Tokyo's Ueno Zoo late Monday.

They left their home in China earlier Monday for a 10-year stay in Japan, under a joint research agreement on the endangered species.

A female giant panda named Xian Nu (in a cage) is carried out by ground crew upon its arrival from China by a Boeing 767-300ER airplane (background) named "FLY! PANDA" with a panda-shaped pattern on its body at Narita international airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Feb 21, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

A Japanese keeper, Tatsuko Hara, said the pair were tired after the long journey and they wanted a good rest. Teruyuki Komiya, director of the zoo, told reporters that his zoo would cherish the two giant pandas.

The pandas, accompanied by two keepers from Wolong, stopped in Shanghai before heading to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. Panda keepers prepared 80 kg of fresh bamboo and 8 kg of dim sum for the animals to eat on the journey.

The Ueno Zoo was closed Monday, but a giant panda poster at its entrance caught the attention of many locals during the day.

Kanami Matsumoto, a student from Tokyo's Nihon University, said she was looking forward to the arrival of the giant pandas. "I have seen pandas only on TV in the past. I'll certainly visit Xian Nu and Bi Li when they're ready to meet the public."

Matsumoto said she hoped the pandas would help improve Japan-China relations.

Ueno Zoo has spent 90 million yen (about $1 million) decorating its 1,160-square-meter panda house. Zoo authorities estimated last week Xian Nu and Bi Li would be on public show in late March, if they could be easily adapted to the new environment.

Tokyo is yet to choose Japanese names for the two pandas out of more than 40,000 recommendations from the public.  

The zoo received its first pair of pandas from China in 1972. But Bi Li and Xian Nu will be the zoo's first pandas since the 2008 death of Ling Ling, 16 years after he arrived from China.

Bi Li and Xian Nu, both aged 5 years, go to Japan under an agreement between the Tokyo metropolitan government and the China Wildlife Conservation Association signed last July.

The document was a follow-up to a 2008 agreement on joint panda research, reached between Chinese President Hu Jintao and then-Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda during Hu's visit to Japan.

The female giant panda Xian Nu eats inside the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo after its arrival to Japan Narita International Airport on Feb 22, 2011. China sent two giant pandas, a male called Bi Li and a female Xian Nu, both 5-years-old, to Janpan on Feb 21, 2011. They'll be the zoo's first since the 2008 senile death of its beloved giant panda Ling Ling. [Photo/Xinhua]