Eight crested ibises were released into the wild, decades after the birds went extinct in the country.
The endangered birds took off from each of their wooden cages at a ceremony on Sunday in Hakui city in the Noto region, where they were last seen in the wild.
Residents cheered when the birds soared into the sky the moment Crown Prince Akishino, his wife Kiko and other officials cut a ribbon around the cages.
The eight birds have been raised at a conservation centre on Sado Island in Niigata prefecture, following a successful captive- breeding programme. Ten more birds are waiting to be released.
The white birds, called Toki in Japan, are native to East Asia and admired for their orange-pink hues under their wings and bright red marks around their eyes.
They went extinct on the Honshu main island in the 1970s, by overhunting and environmental degradation. The last remaining native ibis died in 2003. — AP
