UFO stands for unidentified flying object, unless you prefer the more current terminology of UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena, or unidentified aerial phenomena). Tourism built around UFOs is not a new concept. Venues from Roswell, New Mexico, to Rendlesham Forest, UK, invite starry-eyed tourists to examine the scenes of reported landings and extraterrestrial encounters.
Kofu, Japan, and nearby Mount Fuji, are UFO hot spots within Japan. Photo: Mei Yi/Shutterstock
In recent years, this concept has taken hold in Japan, with destinations blending national folklore and reports of strange sightings into New Age vacation options created to bring travelers to struggling rural areas.
Currently, the main, self-promoting focal points for Japanese UAP tourism are Iino in Fukushima Prefecture north of Tokyo, Kofu in Yamanashi Prefecture to the west of Tokyo, and Hakui, sitting to the north on the Sea of Japan.
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Robin Perreault is the director of the Japan chapter of MUFON: the Mutual UFO Network. He says the country is a relative newcomer on the international UAP scene. “As far as its association with MUFON, Japan has not traditionally been a hotspot over the years,” Perreault explained. “Only recently have reports started on a fairly regular basis. We’re seeing one or two a month now.”
Japan’s rich folklore both inspires and anchors Japan’s growing UAP culture, laying a fertile foundation for those incoming UAP sightings – and the tourist destinations growing up around them.
“There are ancient stories of the original Yellow Emperor and a Mother Creator that descended from the sky in flying craft,” Perreault says. It was enough to grant Japan its own brief episode of the well-known show Ancient Aliens, aired in 2017.
As for the legitimacy of these more recent Japanese sightings, it’s up to the individual to make a decision. While it’s safe to assume that anyone willing to travel to the beautiful green wilds of rural Japan to visit a New Age-centric UFO attraction sides with the believers, some skeptics think people often see what they wish to see.
That includes Nick West, a science writer for the Center of Inquiry, a US-based nonprofit that promotes science and leads efforts to combat and debunk pseudoscience. He’s also the author of the Japanese edition of the conspiracy-debunking book Escaping the Rabbit Hole. West studied the events that inspired these Japanese mystery spots and wonders if so many eyes looking to the skies are bound to spot something to report, eventually.
Some skeptics think believers will see whatever they want to see when it comes to aerial phenomena. Photo: etaearth/Shutterstock
His prime examples are the frequent Iino sightings and the village’s proximity to the Fukushima nuclear disaster site. Now internationally famous after the 2011 earthquake and reactor explosions, Fukushima is already a grim dark tourism destination, with countless photos taken of the reactor’s remnants and the surrounding countryside. West assumes any lights or other unidentified subject matter showing up on those images are immediately marked down to UAPs without much evaluation.
“There’s everything from tourism photos to webcam images taken of [the Fukushima reactor site] every day,” West says. “With the lore that builds up around a nuclear disaster site combining with the stories of UFOs over Iino and Senganmori, any light or anything out of focus will be credited to a sighting. When it’s important to an area to have UFO sightings,” he adds, “you’re going to find UFO sightings.”
As for Kofu, Mount Fuji, and any other region of Japan looking to build itself into a UFO Mecca, West says fishing for ET-minded tourists is not a new idea.
Alien tourism is nothing new, as seen in Roswell New Mexico. Photo: Kit Leong/Shutterstock
“As for Japan’s new status as a UAP hotbed, I’d draw parallels to concentrations of public sightings over the years from Mexico, Russia and Belgium,” West added. “I credit the clustering of reports to believers wanting to participate in the craze, or changing local superstitions into alien legends.”
While West stands in as the skeptic in the otherworldly claims from Iino and Kofu, there is one major player in the Land of the Rising Sun that isn’t dismissing the locals’ claims of UAP action: the government.
The Japanese government clearly takes the ongoing UAP reports very seriously. On May 28, 2024, members of the national legislature of Japan met to form an 80-plus member, bipartisan body to investigate increased UAP sightings within the country, especially around Fukushima and Iino. The group is chaired by Yasukazu Hamada, Affairs Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.
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While the UFO festivals in Kofu and the museums in Iino and Hakui bring in enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of a visiting craft, the new governmental body is not so amused. It claims one of its major goals is to lock in on possible national security threats of UAP reports over nuclear reactor sites.
Still, any traveler looking to explore UAP activity in the farther flung corners of Japan likely shares the open mind and curious spirit expressed by former defense minister Yasukazu Hamada, when Japan’s government established the new investigative body.
“It is extremely irresponsible of us to be resigned to the fact that something is unknowable,” he said, “and to keep turning a blind eye to the unidentified.”
These are Japan’s top UFO sites for those ready to add a unique, niche destination to their Japan travel itineraries.
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Iino calls itself the UFO Village and is home to the Iino UFO Museum. Built to resemble a hybrid of a pagoda and flying saucer, the museum celebrates persistent reports of strange lights and visitations throughout the area. Most reports are centered around the misty climes of Senganmori Mountain, a cone-shaped rock the locals say was built by aliens as a visitation point. In addition to supposed artifacts and displays of the crafts and creatures some say stopped by for a bit, the space is also used as a meeting point for UFO events. Considering the village of Iino saw a steady decrease in population over the years, any attention and revenue the museum brings to the region is rain in the desert.
Iino UFO Museum: Otegamimori-1-299 Iinomachi Aoki, Fukushima, 960-1303, Japan
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The UAP attractions at Kofu in Yamanashi Prefecture feed off the mystique of nearby iconic Mount Fuji. And 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the country’s most famous alleged UFO incident.
In February 1975, two elementary school boys reported seeing a “glowing orange object” land in a vineyard. They claimed that a human-type figure exited the craft, saying it had dark brown skin and was dressed in a silver suit. Authorities investigated the site and found two melted concrete spots and radioactivity levels slightly above normal. Multiple reports of flying saucers preceded claims, but this particular incident is often considered the country’s most credible.
To commemorate that close encounter, Kofu declared itself “UFO City” for 2025, with a schedule of events listed throughout the calendar to celebrate the tale and, hopefully, boost the towns economy while revitalizing it as a tourist destination.
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Like its related attractions in Iino and Kofu, the Cosmo Isle Hakui Space and UFO Museum in Ishikawa Prefecture was established to bring more tourism yen to its surrounding economy. Unlike those rival UAP hotspots, Cosmo Isle blends very earthly relics of the human space program with more fantastical looks at possible visitors from outside the solar system. A NASA Mars rover waits alongside Soviet space capsules, while displays examine Japan’s history of UAP sightings stand nearby.
Cosmo Isle Hakui: Japan, 925-0027 Ishikawa, Hakui, Tsurutamachi, Menda−２５ 