The town of Shirahama, in the Nishimuro district of Wakayama Prefecture, is blessed with a natural environment and climate perfect for caring for and breeding giant pandas. Today Shirahama is well known as "Panda Town," and the people of the region love our panda family. The town hall hosts exhibits on the pandas and you'll find pictures and illustrations of them throughout the town as well.

Around 3.4 million tourists visit Shirahama each year (this number fell to around 2.4 million in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). According to Nanki Shirahama in Tourism Data,* to the questions of what tourists know about Shirahama and what they believe the most popular location is, the top answer was Adventure World's panda family. The park is recognized among such attractions as hot springs which have flowed for 1,350 years and the wonderful fresh seafood and other cuisine of Shirahama.

* Data taken from survey by Nanki Shirahama Tourism Association published in March 2020.

Today the pandas play a great role in regional revitalization efforts, with bamboo lanterns made of the bamboo the pandas feast on, "panda rooms" arranged in collaboration with local hotels, and vehicles featuring pandas in wrap advertising jointly operated by JR West and Meiko Bus.