Japan’s military pilots are ordered to report UFO sightings

Japan’s military pilots are ordered to report UFO sightings

  • Japan’s Defence minister Taro Kono said unusual sightings should be reported
  • Government insists that Japanese pilots have never encountered any UFOs
  • It comes only weeks after the Pentagon set up a new task force for odd sightings 

Japanese military pilots have been ordered to take pictures of any UFOs they encounter in the country’s airspace. 

Defence minister Taro Kono said mysterious sightings should be submitted for analysis, while the military will also investigate reports by the public. 

The new protocol, reported by the Japan Times, comes despite official insistence that there is no evidence UFOs exist and that the Japanese military has never encountered any. 

It also comes only weeks after the Pentagon set up a new task force under the US Navy to investigate UFO sightings. 

An unexplained balloon-like object in the skies above Sendai in Japan earlier this year, which prompted theories about UFOs or North Korea 

Earlier this year, the Japanese defence minister told a press conference that ‘I don’t really believe in UFOs’ after the Pentagon released footage of unexplained encounters. 

‘It seems that [Japanese military] pilots have never encountered a UFO, but I would like to establish a procedure in case of an encounter,’ he said at the time. 

‘I have heard that even the pilots of the Self-Defense Forces have never encountered such a scene.’ 

Asked about a book which included examples of UFO sightings, the minister said that ‘if there is such a concrete example, I would love to hear from you’.  

The new protocol is partly aimed at unconventional aircraft including new drone technology, it is believed.

In response to questions from a lawmaker last year, Japan’s government admitted it had ‘not considered in any specific manner what will be done should a UFO be spotted flying toward Japan’. 

However, it added that ‘no confirmation has been made of their existence’. 

Earlier this year, a mysterious balloon-like object appeared in the sky over northern Japan, sparking speculation about UFOs. 

Japan’s weather bureau admitted it had ‘no idea’ what the object was, with theories including a North Korean balloon used to drop propaganda leaflets. 

Previous mysteries have included a flashing green orb in the skies near Niigata in 2016 and unexplained ‘white globes’ in Osaka a year earlier. 

In April 2020 the Pentagon released footage from three sightings of unidentified objects. One of the videos was captured off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, in 2015 (pictured)

In April 2020 the Pentagon released footage from three sightings of unidentified objects. One of the videos was captured off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, in 2015 (pictured)

In 2009, the wife of Japan’s incoming prime minister wrote in a book that ‘my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus’ while she was asleep. 

Miyuki Hatoyama described the ‘very beautiful’ planet in a book called Very Strange Things I’ve Encountered.  

In April this year, the Pentagon released three videos taken by US Navy pilots showing mid-air encounters with unexplained objects.

The grainy black and white footage had previously been leaked and the Navy had acknowledged they were genuine videos. 

One of the videos was shot in November 2004 and the other two in January 2015.

In one, a weapons sensor operator appears to lose lock on a rapidly moving object which seconds later suddenly accelerates away to the left and out of view.

In another video which is tracking an object above the clouds, one pilot wonders if it is a drone.   

In August, the Pentagon said it was setting up a new task force under the US Navy to investigate UFO sightings. 

With the creation of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), the Department of Defense hopes ‘to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs,’ it said.