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A baby panda born at a Tokyo zoo has become the new star of Japan, as a record-smashing 322,581 proposals have been submitted for the cub's name, according to a report by Asahi Shimbun.
As the first cub born at Ueno Zoo for five years, the rare birth of the female panda has triggered a frenzy of media and public excitement.
Tokyo Zoological Park Society photo
The Ueno Zoo has solicited names from the public either via online or in-person from July 28 to August 10 and the public has shown their record interest in naming the country's new favorite.
Since October 1972 when China gave a pair of pandas, Kang Kang and Lan Lan, to Japan as gifts, two panda cubs born at the zoo have been named by the public.
The previous record was about 270,000 suggestions in 1986 for a panda named Tong Tong.
According to the zoo, the naming committee will narrow down the candidate names to 10 from the top 100 most popular names at a meeting on August 30 and then will announce the new name for the cub in late September, when the cub turns 100 days old.
One tip to have higher possibility of being chosen as the name is to use repetitive characters, disclosed the zoo official.
"Repeating of words and creating repetitive sounds appears to have an image of cuteness in China," the official explained.
The final decision will be made with Chinese collaborations, added the committee.
(CGTN)
