Mysterious light in sky spotted across swath of Japan

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:22 JST, December 31, 2022

A mysterious cone of light in the sky was spotted across a swath of the nation shortly after 6 p.m. Friday, causing a stream of Twitter posts as one expert speculates it could have been the glow of a rocket exhaust.

Reports of the sighting came from Kyushu to as far as the Kanto region, including the Kinki and Shikoku regions. In all areas, the tweets described the light as suddenly appearing in the sky and seeming to descend to earth before slowly fading away.

“I was surprised and started filming it right away,” said Rumina Kai, a 31-year-old female company employee in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, who posted a video. “I received responses from people in Fukuoka and Hyogo prefectures saying, ‘I saw it.’”

Tatsuo Minobe, director of the Tachibana Astronomical Observatory in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, said, “From the way it spread out at the bottom, the light could be rocket exhaust that was glowing as it was hit by sunlight.”