The US military has identified Japan as a global centre for UFO sightings.
This comes as public and official interest in the phenomenon has grown, with encounters having been reported by reputable witnesses, including military aviators. The US Congress has held hearings into the issue.
The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office recently published a map detailing sightings of UFOs around the world since 1996.
Western and Southern Japan stood out as relatively frequent locations for sightings. Interestingly, it is in these regions that the only military use of a nuclear weapon was made, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Another area that has reported numerous sightings is territory in the Middle East encompassing parts of Iraq and Syria. These have been the sites of armed conflict.
A third is in the United States itself, over South Carolina.
The Japanese military has been collecting information on the phenomenon since 2020, although it denied having had any contact itself.
The town of Iinomachi has a reputation for sightings and has been given the moniker of UFO Town. The municipal government has leveraged this with UFO themed city infrastructure. The town also hosts the International UFO Lab, which conducts research into the phenomenon.