Dressed in a black suit and tie, a man asked a roomful of mourners to bow their heads. For a minute, they all stood and faced the brightly lit altar in silence.

On a stage, piled in a pyramid and surrounded by white daisies and lilies, sat the dead -- dozens of eggs in clear, plastic cartons.

Having been arranged by the agriculture ministry and poultry industry officials, this solemn sendoff Wednesday at a Tokyo hotel honored hundreds of thousands of chickens slaughtered since bird flu was discovered here in January.

"We want to express our regret to chickens for having to kill them, while also giving thanks to them for providing us with food," said Hideyuki Shimada, a director at the Japan Poultry Association. "I don't know how chickens feel about it, but humans should show appreciation."

The ceremony was nonreligious, though it featured an altar and flowers commonly found in Japanese funeral rites. Primarily, it demonstrated Japan's fondness for rituals and marked what poultry producers hope will be a recovery in chicken and egg sales.

Since emerging late last year, avian influenza has ravaged flocks across Asia and killed 24 people in Vietnam and Thailand. To stem the spread of the disease, authorities across the region destroyed about 100 million chickens, ducks and other birds.

After several poultry farms in western and southern Japan reported cases, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry imposed quarantine restrictions on farms in the area and their produce. Some 300,000 birds were destroyed.

While no humans were sickened in Japan's first outbreak of bird flu since 1925, it spooked consumers and depressed chicken prices and sales.

The government declared Japan free of bird flu earlier this month.