The Crown Prince and the Crown Princess on Sunday attended an annual tree-raising ceremony held in Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture.
Some 7,000 people, mainly from the forestry industry and including Yoichi Tani, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, attended the ceremony, the 24th of its kind.
"The preservation of the global environment is an important task for humankind in the 21st century and it is our duty to pass on forests to the future that bring abundant benefaction," the Crown Prince told the participants.