馃嚡馃嚨 Country Profile
Disclosure in Japan
Japan has moved further on UAP in eighteen months than in the preceding seventy years. A cross-party parliamentary league of more than eighty Diet members, a formal proposal to the Ministry of Defense, a closed-door investigation into a nuclear-plant incident, and the first on-record cabinet confirmation that Japan holds its own UAP footage. Sourced from cabinet press briefings, parliamentary league records, and the Iino civilian community.
What Japan Is Doing
For decades the Japanese government's position on UAP was to defer to the Ministry of Defense and otherwise say very little. The Ministry maintained a quiet response framework for aviator and radar reports but did not publish findings and did not accept public reports. That posture began shifting in 2020 when the then-defence minister directed the Self-Defense Forces to record and report unidentified encounters. It shifted decisively in 2024 when more than eighty Diet members from multiple parties formed the Parliamentary League for Unraveling Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena from a National Security Perspective.
The league delivered a formal proposal to Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on 16 May 2025 calling for the Ministry of Defense to establish a specialised division to collect and analyse UAP data, disclose findings publicly, and report regularly to the Diet. Nakatani responded that the ministry would "make efforts to meet the expectations of lawmakers and the public." On 30 March 2026 the league finalised a further proposal at its fourth general meeting to create a specialised government UAP office sitting directly under the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management. This is the most concrete national-level UAP government structure proposed by any country outside the United States.
For context: the United States passed the UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 and launched the PURSUE document release programme in 2026. The United Kingdom closed its Ministry of Defence UFO desk in 2009 and has not reopened it. Australia closed its programme in 1996. France maintains GEIPAN, operating continuously since 1977. Brazil's National Archives released the SIAN files. Japan went from saying nothing in public to proposing a dedicated government UAP office in twenty-two months.
The Kihara Statement
On 11 May 2026, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara used his regular press briefing to confirm two things on the record. First, that Japan possesses its own UAP video footage. Second, that Tokyo is analysing the United States Department of War's Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) corpus alongside allied partners. The 8 May 2026 PURSUE tranche included at least two videos shot near or over Japanese-relevant airspace: a USINDOPACOM clip from 2023 running close to two minutes, and a nine-second 2024 clip filmed over the East China Sea showing what the Pentagon describes as a football-shaped body with three radial projections.
The Kihara statement was the first time a serving Japanese cabinet minister formally placed Japanese UAP imagery into the public record. He did not commit to a public release timeline. As of the date of this profile, no Japanese files have been released. The policy door is open.
The Genkai Incident
On 26 July 2025, four security guards at Kyushu Electric Power Company's Genkai Nuclear Power Station in Saga Prefecture reported three drone-like lights near the main entrance. Officials first described the objects as drones, then corrected the statement to say the lights "appeared to be drones" without confirmation. The lights disappeared. Nothing was found on the grounds. Watchdog officials called the incident extremely unusual.
On 7 August 2025, Yasukazu Hamada and other league members held closed-door hearings in the House of Representatives to review the incident. The league has subsequently cited Genkai as a driver for the 30 March 2026 proposal, noting that Kyushu Electric Power Company's operational records and the Saga Prefectural Police's official explanation of the incident are, in the league's framing, irreconcilable.
Parliamentary Activity
The Parliamentary League for Unraveling UAP was formed on 6 June 2024. It is chaired by Yasukazu Hamada, head of parliamentary affairs for the Liberal Democratic Party and a former Defence Minister. The Secretary General is Shinjiro Koizumi, former Environment Minister. Advisers include Shigeru Ishiba, former Defence Minister and former Prime Minister; Kei Endo, chair of the Japan Restoration Party; and Yoshiharu Asakawa. At the press conference announcing the group's creation, both Endo and Asakawa stated they had personally witnessed UAP.
The league has now met formally four times. It has delivered two written proposals to the executive branch, one to the Defence Minister and one to the Cabinet Office. Its membership crosses the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan Restoration Party, and other opposition groupings, making it one of the most cross-party national legislative bodies on UAP anywhere in the world.
Anchors of the Japanese Community
The Diet members, cabinet voices, and civilian researchers whose work on UAP in Japan is documented on the public record. Each name links to a full profile page.
Civilian Research Organisations
The Iino civilian community has organised around the UAP question continuously since 1992, decades before the parliamentary league formed. The archive catalogues the three institutions at the centre of that work.
The original municipal UFO museum, built jointly by the city of Fukushima and the former Iino Town following decades of reported luminous-object sightings around the 462-metre pyramid-shaped Mount Senkanmori. Houses a collection of witness drawings, photographs, government documents, and physical evidence catalogued since the early 1970s.
Japan's only dedicated UFO research institute, opened in 2021 as an extension of the UFO Interactive Hall. Directed by Takeharu Mikami of Monthly Mu magazine. Runs research expeditions to Mount Senkanmori, maintains the witness catalogue, and coordinates with the parliamentary league.
The third annual festival in November 2023 drew approximately 4,000 visitors to a town of 5,000. Features an Alien Costume Contest on the main stage, research presentations, civilian witness panels, and a guided trail up Mount Senkanmori to the UFO Contact Deck at the summit.
In the Archive
The Japanese record in the archive: country profile, posts, timeline events, and PURSUE documents that the Disclosure Network references.
