Spy balloon, UFO or Dragon Ball? Japan baffled by iron ball washed up on beach

Police and residents in a Japanese coastal town have been left baffled by a large iron ball that has washed up on a local beach, with authorities admitting they have no idea what it is – only that it isn’t about to explode.

The sphere, measuring about 1.5 metres in diameter, has been at the centre of fevered speculation since it washed up on Enshu beach in the city of Hamamatsu on the country’s Pacific coast, local media reports said.

Fears that it could be a stray mine were dismissed after experts used X-ray technology to examine the object’s interior and found that it was hollow.