Defence Japanese defence specialists and lawmakers urge closer look at UAPs

Research into UFOs, or relatively unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), is increasingly seen as a vital part of Japan's defence strategy. The focus is less on visitors from outer space and more on human-made threats such as drones, spy tools, and surveillance balloons. Reports of UAP near sensitive sites across Japan have grown, sparking calls from security experts and lawmakers for more systematic research and monitoring. Recent concerns have been heightened by suspected Chinese surveillance balloons and the use of drones as weapons in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Japan has begun to treat UAP not as superstition but as a national security issue. On 7 August, a closed-door session at the Lower House members' office building in Tokyo's Nagatachō district discussed the appearance of three unexplained lights over Kyushu Electric Power's Genkai Nuclear Power Station in Saga Prefecture.

In late July, four security guards near the plant's main gate spotted three drone-like lights in the night sky. However, no drone was physically found, and the exact nature of the lights remains unknown. Concerned lawmakers held hearings with officials from the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the Defense Ministry and the land ministry. Yasukazu Hamada, a Lower House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who is a former defense minister, was one of the concerned lawmakers. "If we cannot identify what it is, it's impossible to determine whether the Defense Ministry or the National Police Agency should handle it," he said.

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Hamada heads a parliamentary group that examines UAPs from the standpoint of national security. The group, formed in 2024, has already convened twice, bringing in U.S. officials involved in UAP policy to share their insights online. In May, the group formally urged the Defence Ministry to set up a specialised unit dedicated to collecting and analysing UAP data. Reports of UFOs have long circulated within Japan's Self-Defence Forces, with many accounts describing "three-coloured objects moving in zigzag patterns before disappearing" in the vicinity of nuclear power plants. Abroad, too, UAPs are increasingly recognised as a serious matter of security rather than mere curiosity.

Doesn't 'UAP' stand for 'unidentified anomolous phenomenon', because they're supposedly found on the ground and under the sea? I have heard both versions but assumed 'aerial' was a misquote that's 'taken off' ().

It doesn't really matter because they're a load o' boll*cks.

If they watch earth news.