Document · 27 February 2018
Japanese Cabinet written answer on the government's view of unidentified flying objects (House of Representatives, 27 February 2018)
Also known as 内閣衆質一九六第八四号, 未確認飛行物体にかかわる政府の認識に関する質問主意書, Japan 2018 UFO answer
The Cabinet's written answer (内閣衆質一九六第八四号) to a question from Seiji Osaka, a Constitutional Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives, prompted by the December 2017 reports of the Pentagon's AATIP program. It repeats the 2007 position that the government has never confirmed a UFO from outside the Earth, and declines to comment on the U.S. program or on any sharing of information with Washington.
Two years later, in September 2020, Defense Minister Taro Kono ordered the Self-Defense Forces to record and report unidentifiable objects in the air. Our copy is a PDF capture of the question and the answer as published on the House of Representatives website.
Sources: House of Representatives of Japan (2018)
Facts and claims
- documented Lower-house member Seiji Osaka's written question of 16 February 2018 quotes the Cabinet's 2007 answer and a Newsweek report of 17 December 2017 on the Pentagon's “Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program”, and asks whether the government knows of the program, whether Japan and the United States share information on such sightings, which agency would deal with an object from outside the Earth entering Japanese airspace and under which laws, and whether an attack by one could count as an armed attack or a survival-threatening situation under Japan's security legislation. Source: doc-japan-cabinet-ufo-answer-2018.pdf
- documented The Cabinet's answer of 27 February 2018, sent under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, says the government has never confirmed the existence of “unidentified flying objects thought to have come from outside the Earth”, declines to answer on individual press reports (the questions on the Pentagon program and information-sharing with the U.S.), and says it has made no particular study of how to respond if such an object came to Japan. Source: doc-japan-cabinet-ufo-answer-2018.pdf
Connected files
Documents
- Japanese Cabinet written answer on unidentified flying objects (House of Councillors, 18 December 2007) (follows) — The question quotes the 2007 answer that the government has not confirmed UFOs from outside the Earth
Events
- Japan's Defense Ministry issues a UAP protocol to the Self-Defense Forces (followed by) — Two years later, in September 2020, Defense Minister Taro Kono ordered the Self-Defense Forces to record and report unidentifiable objects in the air
Programs
- Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (prompted by) — The question cites Newsweek's December 2017 report on the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program
Mentioned in this file
- Department of War (Department of Defense) (Organization)
- Taro Kono (Person)
- Ministry of Defense (Japan) (Organization)
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- George Knapp, written testimony to the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, 9 September 2025
- National Archives of Australia: "Flying saucers – fact or fiction?" (2018)
- CEFAE annual report 2018 (Argentine Air Force), including the resolution of the Bariloche case
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 21 June 2013 (25 files)
- The National Archives: guides to the Ministry of Defence UFO files (2008–2013)
Links
- House of Representatives — question no. 84 (196th Diet), Seiji Osaka, 16 February 2018 (Japanese)
- House of Representatives — Cabinet written answer, 27 February 2018 (Japanese)