Defense Ministry asked to launch office on UFOs
Japan's Defense Ministry has been urged to set up an office tasked with tackling UFOs at a meeting with a cross-party group of lawmakers.
The group, chaired by former Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, handed a proposal to the current defense chief on Friday, describing such sightings -- formally referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP -- as realistic and serious national security concerns.
"Our country has fallen behind in responding to UAP, while securing safety in territorial airspace and waters is an urgent matter," the group said, calling for the establishment of a Japanese version of the U.S. All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
The Pentagon office was founded in 2022 to lead U.S. efforts to address UAP through a rigorous scientific framework and a data-driven approach.
The lawmakers also proposed that a new office regularly report the progress of UAP investigations to parliament and disclose information to the public, in addition to conducting scientific analysis of collected data and identifying potential threats.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said, "We will make efforts to meet the expectations" of the group, which was formed last year.
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Kyodo News
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- Kyodo News
Kyodo News Digest: July 21, 2025
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The Mainichi
an hour ago
- The Mainichi
Japan ruling camp loses upper house majority, PM vows to stay on
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Kyodo News
an hour ago
- Kyodo News
Japan ruling camp loses upper house majority, PM vows to stay on
TOKYO - Japan's ruling coalition lost its majority in the House of Councillors in Sunday's election, an outcome that will add pressure on embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who vowed to stay on despite yet another heavy blow to his party. The cards are stacked against Ishiba, with all major opposition parties ruling out joining the Liberal Democratic Party and its partner Komeito party in an expanded coalition. Despite his intention to remain as prime minister, calls for Ishiba to resign from within the LDP may grow. The ruling camp failed to meet its pre-election goal of winning at least 50 of the 125 contested seats to reach the majority threshold in the upper house. The LDP and Komeito now have 122 seats, down from 141 before the election. The coalition has now been deprived of majority control in both houses of parliament, the upper house and the House of Representatives -- a very rare situation for a government in postwar Japan. The LDP appears to have lost favor among some conservative voters, with the right-leaning populist party Sanseito emerging as an alternative. Despite its "Japanese First" mantra and nationalistic policy agenda targeting foreigners -- seen by critics as xenophobic -- it increased its share of upper house seats from two to 14, a level that enables it to submit bills in the chamber. As early returns and media projections came in, Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki said that forming a coalition with the ruling camp is "out of the question." His party, which has engaged in policy coordination with the ruling coalition, holds 17 seats, up sharply from nine. The leaders of the major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Japan Innovation Party took a similarly negative stance on joining the coalition. After the race, the CDPJ holds 22 seats, compared with 38 earlier, and the JIP secured seven seats, down from 18. Upper house members serve six-year fixed terms, unlike those in the lower house, which can be dissolved by the prime minister. Half of the 248-member upper house goes up for election every three years to avoid a complete turnover of seats. Of the 125 seats, including one to fill a vacancy, 75 were elected from electoral districts and 50 through proportional representation. Around 520 candidates were vying for the seats. Voters cast two ballots -- one to select a candidate for their electoral district and the other for proportional representation, under which seats are allocated based on the total number of votes received by each group and its listed candidates. Voter turnout stood at 58.51 percent, higher than the 52.05 percent recorded in the previous upper house election in 2022. A record 26 million people cast early ballots in the election, which took place in the middle of a three-day weekend.
