UFO investigation launched in Japan after U.S. report designates region as "hotspot" for sightings

UFO sightings should not be dismissed because they could in fact be surveillance drones or weapons, say Japanese lawmakers who launched a group on Thursday to probe the matter. The investigation comes less than a year after the U.S. Defense Department issued a report calling the region a "hotspot" for sightings of the mysterious objects.

The non-partisan group, which counts former defense ministers among its 80-plus members, will urge Japan to ramp up abilities to detect and analyze unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), more commonly known as UFOs, or unidentified flying objects.

Although the phenomenon is often associated with little green men in the popular imagination, it has become a hot political topic in the United States.

The Pentagon said last year it was examining 510 UFO reports — more than triple the number in its 2021 file.