Twin pandas born in Tokyo zoo named Xiao Xiao, Lei Lei

TOKYO, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said on Friday that the twin giant pandas born at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens in June have been named Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei.

When put together, their names have the meaning of "leading to the future from a bright dawn," Koike told a news conference.

The twin pandas are expected to make public debut in January next year.

Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, male and female respectively, were born on June 23. Their births marked the first time for Japan's oldest zoo to witness the birth of twin pandas.

The two cubs' mother Shin Shin and father Ri Ri are on loan from China. The pair were also parents to four-year-old female panda Xiang Xiang.

The Ueno Zoological Gardens received its first pandas in 1972 from China in commemoration of the normalization of bilateral ties.