Saturday, June 1, 2024

The Japanese government and UAP

In recent times, members of various Countries' parliaments have shown interest in the topic of UAP. These include the U.S.A., Canada, the European Parliament, with the latest being Japan.

Japan Times article

An article dated 28 May 2024 on the Japan Times website was titled "Japan lawmakers to create group for government probes into UFOs." Here is the text of that article:

"Japanese lawmakers met on Tuesday to create a nonpartisan group that will ask the government to establish an organization for investigating unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, also known as UFOs.

Yasukazu Hamada

The lawmaker group will be chaired by Yasukazu Hamada, parliamentary affairs leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Former Environmental Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, also from the LDP, will serve as Secretary-General. The group will hold its founding general meeting on June 6 after Tuesday's preparatory meeting, which was held in parliament. The U.S. government has created a specialized organization in the Defense Department to probe UAP.

The lawmaker group will urge the government to gather and analyze information on UAP and pursue cooperation with Washington by forming a counterpart organization. In its founding statement, the group said that if UAP, which have been witnessed many times over Japanese territory, are cutting-edge secret weapons or unmanned spy drones from other countries they would present a major security threat to Japan. The group is asking members of parliament from all parties to join."

South China Morning Post article

Another article, this time on the South China Morning Post website, dated 30 May 2024 by reporter Julian Ryall, also reported the story and added a few further details, as follows:

"The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Clarification League for Security-Oriented National Security will be officially formed at a meeting in the Diet on June 5."

"Former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba will be an advisor to the panel, which will also include Kei Endo, Chair of the Japan Restoration Party, in the House of Representatives and Diet member Yoshiharu Asakawa."

"At a press conference to announce the creation of the group, both Endo and Asakawa claimed to have seen UFOs...themselves."

"Questions about UFOs over Japan emerged in April 2020 when the defense minister Taro Kono denied that Japanese military pilots had reported encountering alien spacecraft. '...I don't believe in UFOs,' Kono said at a press conference in Toyko, but added 'We would like to establish procedures in the event an encounter takes place with a UFO.' "

Minister Taro Kono

A follow up to the April 2020 statement by defense minister Kono was reported in a The Japan Times website article, dated 14 September 2020. In part it read:

"Protocol for UFOs? That's exactly what Defense Minister Taro Kono ordered the Self-Defense Forces to follow Monday as he issued standing orders for dealing with unidentified aerial objects that could pose a threat to Japan's security. In a statement, Kono asked SDF members to record and photograph any such objects that they encounter or enter Japanese airspace and take steps for the 'necessary analysis' of the sightings, including information provided separately by the public."

"In February 2018, the Japanese government made public its official position on UFOs, saying that 'no confirmation has been made of their existence.' "

A 2007 statement

The above reported Japanese government in 2018, follows a much earlier official comment in 2007. An 18 December 2007 article by Reuters, was titled "Japan government spokesman says UFOs do exist." The story read:

"Yes, UFOs do exist, Japan's top government spokesman said on Tuesday. The comment by Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutako Machimura drew laughter from reporters at his regular briefing on general policy.  Earlier the Cabinet, responding to an opposition lawmaker's question, issued a statement saying it could not confirm any case of unidentified flying objects. 

'This is an issue that the nation is interested in - it is a defense issue and a confirmation operation needs to take place,' Rynji Yamane, a lawmaker from the main opposition Democratic Party who submitted the question to the Cabinet, told Reuters. 'But the government does not even try to collect information necessary for the confirmation.' 

Machimura, asked about the government's view on UFOs at a regular press conference, told reporters that the government can only offer a stereotyped response. 'Personally, I definitely believe they exist,' he said apparently tongue in cheek. 

But the Prime Minister stuck to the official view - 'I have yet to confirm (that UFOs exist)' Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters later in the day."

Update from Christopher Mellon 5 June 2024


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