Locals in central Japan near Mount Fuji count on UFO craze for tourism

Good for them, a bit of fun. Hopefully this initiative will boost tourists to Yamanashi prefecture - a region that has traditionally been a bit off the beaten track in terms of foreign tourism.

UFO sightings and abductions almost stopped immediately after the widespread availability of smartphones with cameras. :)

Kofu City - nobody is interested in UFOs anymore.

Local residents in Yamanashi Prefecture, at the foot of Mount Fuji, are striving to make their city Kofu a tourist magnet with extraterrestrial help from an alien

Simple to do:

Step 1: Build a fake UFO Model positioned with a view of Mt Fuji behind it.

Tell Instagram.

Bring in lots of tourists.

Done.

Step 2: Complain of "over-tourism".

Build a wall blocking the view of Mt Fuji.

Tell tourists to f-off.

Done.

Like Roswell these UFO themed tourist attractions are a thing of the past.

However.....

METATTOKYOToday  06:36 pm JST

Kofu City - nobody is interested in UFOs anymore.

Yes. No one.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/08/politics/us-military-developing-ufo-detection-kits/index.html

UFO sightings and abductions almost stopped immediately after the widespread availability of smartphones with cameras. :)

Not even close.

American believe this UFO stuff to the point,were they become clinical insane

the areas around Mt Fuji have made it clear they don’t want tourist. Surprised to read this story.

The probability is extremely near to zero, but not exactly zero. lol

LOL.

Then once the Gaijin hordes swoop on them they'll complain and build a big curtain around their town.

Patient ZeroToday  06:58 pm JST

UFO sightings and abductions almost stopped immediately after the widespread availability of smartphones with cameras. :)

Not even close.

According to a 2019 report by the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), the number of reported UFO sightings has been declining steadily since 2012, which is around the time when smartphones became ubiquitous.

Also, you may have heard of the "Roswellian Syndrome" in 2012, which suggests that the number of UFO reports dropped off significantly in the early 21st century, partially due to the rise of camera phones.

According to a 2019 report by the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), the number of reported UFO sightings has been declining steadily since 2012, which is around the time when smartphones became ubiquitous.

Sounds very impressive. Until you realize what the "National UFO Reporting Center" is. It's literally, one man sitting in an office, with a phone, and a filing cabinet. (Although, there might be two people, now.)

It's not a big office in the Pentagon.

It's not in a secret base underground.

It's just a rented office space, with originally one -now possibly two- UFO geeks logging reports. And how many people report a sighting to the "nAtiOnAl uFo RePoRtiNg CeNTer"? Most likely call the police, or post them on social media themselves. (Say, maybe we should look at the inversely proportional relation between the drop in calls to the "nAtiOnAl uFo RePoRtiNg CeNTer", and the increase in posts on social media, including official footage from the US Navy & Air Force.

Are the two ladies on the photo supposed to be aliens too ? Or are they supposed to have been impregnated by their alien friend ?

Jonathan PrinToday  08:42 pm JST

Are the two ladies on the photo supposed to be aliens too ? Or are they supposed to have been impregnated by their alien friend ?

I suspect they are suppose to be a reference to Pink Lady from 1977.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdhzASa2DQM&ab_channel=%E3%81%A8%E3%82%88%E3%82%84%E3%82%93

Why is anyone even debating the existence of UFOs (now UAPs) when photos and documents have been released now been released to the public by the US military?

Kofu can never be described as being, "at the foot of Mount Fuji". There is a sizeable mountain range between it and the mountain which means that you can barely see it from most of the city, and even then just the top few hundred feet.

That said, I did see some UFOs flying over the mountains from Kofu last autumn, so maybe it's a legit J-Roswell.

Patient ZeroToday  08:23 pm JST

According to a 2019 report by the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), the number of reported UFO sightings has been declining steadily since 2012, which is around the time when smartphones became ubiquitous.

Sounds very impressive. Until you realize what the "National UFO Reporting Center" is. It's literally, one man sitting in an office, with a phone, and a filing cabinet. (Although, there might be two people, now.)

It's not a big office in the Pentagon.

It's not in a secret base underground.

It's just a rented office space, with originally one -now possibly two- UFO geeks logging reports. And how many people report a sighting to the "nAtiOnAl uFo RePoRtiNg CeNTer"? Most likely call the police, or post them on social media themselves. (Say, maybe we should look at the inversely proportional relation between the drop in calls to the "nAtiOnAl uFo RePoRtiNg CeNTer", and the increase in posts on social media, including official footage from the US Navy & Air Force.

lol

And yet he's been recoding UFO sightings since 1994, and numbers have been steadily decreasing since 2012.

So either he's been slacking off, or the widespread use of smartphones has caused a decline in sightings, mainly because if you 'see' a UFO, nobody is going to believe you without a photo or a video.

Competition here too - Japan itself has its own history of UFO sightings. Stories of a hollow saucer-shaped ship landing off the coast of northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture, where Mount Senganmori is located, date as far back as 1803, over a century before the sightings in Iino, known for many UFO sightings, unexplained lights, and mysterious events.

The Iino UFO Museum is located in Iino in southern Fukushima City. The museum was opened in 1992 and contains a wide range of documents and exhibits relating to UFOs and other mysteries, a 3D virtual theatre, and onsen facilities with a view over the local area.

American believe this UFO stuff to the point,were they become clinical insane

What a dumb thing to say.

OssanAmericaMay 19  09:18 pm JST

Why is anyone even debating the existence of UFOs (now UAPs) when photos and documents have been released now been released to the public by the US military?

because some of us understand the fermi paradox and that multicellular life forms are rare and short lived, and require a stable planetary system, which is even more rare?

Americans lap up this nonsense. Let's not do the same.

METATTOKYO May 19  11:03 pm JST

And yet he's been recoding UFO sightings since 1994, and numbers have been steadily decreasing since 2012.

All this means is that the numbers of people reporting to him have been decreasing. That's all you can draw from that information.

And you think the proliferation of personal cameras has resulted in a decrease of sightings? Have you seen what's out there online?? More than I've ever seen in over 50 years of following the phenomenon.

Alleged abductions are a separate issue, as -smart phones, or not- none have ever been recorded, but we are certainly willing to believe that they occur.

So, now examine the decrease in reports to the NFUORC, with the increase of social media. I wonder what kind of relationship we'll find.

I was out in the country with my girlfriend once and took a snapshot of her. Almost immediately a strange, off-blue object, oval shaped and bulging top and bottom descended. A humanoid figure stepped out (it looked to be a robot) and, seeing us, stepped back in to the object which rose and almost immediately disappeared. When we looked at my phone the picture of my girlfriend was there. But the object and robot weren't there at all. My phone was obviously working but the object wasn't there. I believe it had the ability to block photos. Of course, we told no one. No one would believe it. The decline of UFOs might be due to technical advances of the beings who show up. Believe it or not.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of an incident in which two elementary school children claimed to have encountered unidentified flying objects and an alien. It is dubbed one of "three major UFO incidents" reported in Japan.

As the father of three kids, the youngest of whom is in her last year of elementary, I find it hard to believe that any unverified claim made by an elementary-age child should be worthy of commemoration fifty years later. I suppose it is to Japan's credit that a child's testimony can be given such reverence.

I'll have to get our youngest to tell a nice policeman that she's sighted Yuki Onna, a real life Kappa, or some other creature from Japanese folklore. You know, do our bit for local tourism :)

UFO sightings and abductions almost stopped immediately after the widespread availability of smartphones with cameras. :)

No surprise there. As soon as the aliens realized smartphones were around, they switched on the invisibility button.

Japan freak, I love you..

Please never change..

UFO sightings and abductions almost stopped immediately after the widespread availability of smartphones with cameras. :)

No, not true. There are plenty of cell phone videos of UFOs/UAPs including many claiming to be of the US's TR-3B (if such a craft really exists) along with all those sensor images from US Navy F/A-18s operating on both coasts, and sensor images of same from US Navy surface ships. The Chilean Navy also has a long video of some un-explainable UFO/UAP detected on new sensor being tested on a helicopter off the Chilean coast.

Japan freak, I love you..

Please never change..

That quirkiness, what I call Glorious Japanese weirdness, is what makes Japan special. So unlike the rest of Asia, and thank goodness for that.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/groundbreaking-ufo-video-just-released-from-chilean_b_586d37bce4b014e7c72ee56b

This is one of many articles now available describing the observations of a Chilean military helicopter of a UAP using an on board camera. It is very interesting. Near the bottom is the full ten minute video of the encounter.

now available article is from 7 years ago about something 10 years ago with a “new” sensor system that may not have been reliable.

somebody just show an ashtray or door knob from off one of these things. :)

Maybe they should whack a screen up all around town so that Mt Fuji can’t be seen, it’ll save the hassle in the future if they get too many tourists.

Peter NeilToday  12:34 am JST

OssanAmericaMay 19  09:18 pm JST

Why is anyone even debating the existence of UFOs (now UAPs) when photos and documents have been released now been released to the public by the US military?

because some of us understand the fermi paradox and that multicellular life forms are rare and short lived, and require a stable planetary system, which is even more rare?

You are arguing against extra-terrestrial life forms visiting earth in flying saucers. That is not what I am advocating.

That UFOs (UAPs) exist is now pretty much established. They have been photographed, and encounters documented by the US military.

But what they are, their origins and purposes, are still unkown. IThere is nothing known that establishes any connection to "alien life". But the fact they they are still not identfied poses a security threat.

ou are arguing against extra-terrestrial life forms visiting earth in flying saucers. That is not what I am advocating.

That UFOs (UAPs) exist is now pretty much established. They have been photographed, and encounters documented by the US military.

But what they are, their origins and purposes, are still unkown. IThere is nothing known that establishes any connection to "alien life". But the fact they they are still not identfied poses a security threat.

If someone who sees and describes a nation's most advanced and most secret system is dismissed as a kook, and the vehicle seen is dismissed as a "balloon", or something else, that is very good for your national security. That means you can operate your system and not worry too much about adversaries studying it and maybe figuring out your secrets. Why? Because anyone who says they saw it is written off as a kook and the veracity of what they claim to have seen is immediately questioned.

I think the US and possibly another nation have figured out how to build an anti gravity propulsion system. Those "Tic-tacs" and "TR-3Bs" one sees in videos are real and are probably of terrestrial origin. But it is a very good thing for whomever operates them if sightings of these craft are not taken seriously.

...and once they get the tourist flood, they will complain about the problems that creates.

With the current tourist boom in Japan, anything that gets the tourists off the beaten path must be a good thing. And Yamanashi is a great place to visit anyways, so if this gets them some more tourists then great.

And when the tourists do come in droves, will they too start whinging and whining about them being a nuisance and making a mess?

Still ..... Glorious Japanese Weirdness O_O May it never change. It is part of what makes Japan special :)