A large migrating butterfly known as the chestnut tiger, or "asagimadara" in Japanese, has been confirmed over 1,200 kilometers from where it was earlier seen with dozens of others.
The butterflies, which have a wing span of about 10 centimeters, travel across Japan from season to season.
Every summer, they arrive in Tsumagoi Village in Gunma Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo.
In August, villagers marked the wings of 40 butterflies and released them back into the wild.
Village officials say one of the 40 was confirmed in late October in Amami Oshima Island, in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima.
Officials said they were very surprised because they did not think the butterflies travel such a distance. They added that they will continue to monitor the butterflies' migration patterns.