A giant panda fondly nicknamed "Super Papa" for fathering 16 cubs at a Japanese theme park will return to China with two of its offspring.

Eimei and female twins Ouhin and Touhin are among the seven pandas kept at Adventure World in the town of Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture.

Eimei was born in China. He is now 30 years old, the human equivalent of 90. Ouhin and Touhin are both 8 years old.

Eimei arrived in Japan in 1994. In 2014, he became the world's oldest panda to produce offspring through natural mating in captivity. He set the record again in 2020.

The three pandas will quarantine at a facility for about a month starting in mid-January. Their keepers will allow visitors to observe the animals through glass barriers during this period.

They will then be moved to a facility in China's inland province of Sichuan next February for breeding and research purposes.