In the name of security, Diet group planned to study UFOs

Ruling and opposition lawmakers looked to the heavens and finally found something they could agree upon: the need to prepare Japan for unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

The politicians, including former Cabinet members, held a meeting in the Diet on May 28 to address the UFO issue in terms of national security. They plan to establish an official parliamentary group as early as June.

So far, they have agreed that the nonpartisan group’s name will include “unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP),” a term used by agencies in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Defense and NASA both have specialized teams for UAP research, according to the group’s prospectus.

Former Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Diet Affairs Committee, is expected to chair the UAP parliamentary group.

Hamada was absent from the May 28 meeting.

So former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi read out Hamada’s message: “Leaving something unknown is a problem for national security. We’ll discuss what we haven’t discussed.”

Other former defense chiefs, such as Shigeru Ishiba and Gen Nakatani of the LDP, will join the nonpartisan group.

Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, a veteran opposition lawmaker, will also be a member of the group.