A Brief History of UFOs in Japan

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2021-07-03 04:00:07

On June 24, the International UFO Laboratory was established in the UFO Interactive Hall in the Iinomachi district of Fukushima Prefecture, in commemoration of World UFO Day. The laboratory is Japan’s first and only research institute devoted to unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and the interactive hall exhibits some 3,000 materials related to UFOs, attracting as many as 30,000 visitors annually. Mikami Takeharu, the editor-in-chief of Mu Monthly, a Japanese occult magazine, became the director of the research institute. It has been reported that UFOs have been witnessed from time to time around Mount Senganmori, a pyramid-shaped hill with a strong magnetic field, near the laboratory.

The number of those who claimed to have witnessed UFOs is relatively low in Japan in comparison with the United States, but there are tales and legendary stories about extraterrestrials and UFOs in Japan. One of the oldest stories is “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” (Taketori Monogatari), also known as “The Shining Princess” (Kaguya-hime) by an unknown author, created in the early stage of the Heian period (794-1185).

According to the story, an old bamboo cutter found a baby girl (Princess Kaguya) inside a shining bamboo stalk. She grows up to be a mysteriously beautiful woman. With unearthly charm, Kaguya attracts all people around her, and quite a few men, including the Emperor, propose to marry her, but she turns down all of them. Kaguya explains that she does not belong to the Earth, and needs to go back to the moon. In the end, a delegation from the moon arrives on the Earth to take Kaguya back home. Soldiers of the Emperor try to guard Kaguya, but she is eventually taken back to the moon.