Japan Lawmakers Plan to Propose Establishing Specialized UFO Department to Government

The Yomiuri Shimbun

19:30 JST, March 31, 2026

A bipartisan group of Japanese lawmakers decided on Tuesday to propose establishing a specialized department to deal with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) to the government.

The group held a general meeting in the Diet Building on the day.

Chairman Yasukazu Hamada, a former defense minister, spoke about the phenomenon in July last year when suspicious lights were spotted at the Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture.

“This exposed the vulnerability of our crisis management systems in critical infrastructure,” he said.

The group said they plan to lobby for the establishment of a specialized department directly under the deputy chief cabinet secretary for crisis management at the Cabinet Secretariat.