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From: =?ISO-2022-JP?B?Zm92XzQzNjIxMDAwMQ==?=
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 1997 17:42:38 +0000
Fwd Date: Sat, 04 Jan 1997 08:56:14 -0500
Subject: Project 1947 - 1947 Japanese Sighting

Osaka, Japan, January 1, 1997.
Jun-Ichi Takanashi, Chairman
Japan UFO Science Society (JUFOSS)

C.P.O. Box No.1437,  Osaka, 530-91, Japan.

Dear Jan,

Thank you for your kind welcome message.
Here is my New Year's present to you all!:


                  A UFO Sighting in July 1947 in Japan

                    By Jun-Ichi Takanashi, Chairman

On the first day of the already half-a-century-old UFO Mystery, June 24, 1947, I
was a science teacher in a junior high school in Osaka, Japan.  Kenneth Arnold's
sighting was reported in Japanese newspapers, too, and as I had been keely
interested in all the space-related problems, such as the construction of the
Universe, the movement of the heavenly bodies composing it, and the physical
conditions of each of those heavenly  bodies, etc., as well as all the Mystery-
related subjects, such as the Roch Ness monster, ghosts, apparitions, etc.,
I was
naturally tremendously attracted by this news, as the newspaper report posed a
very romantic implication,"Are They Visitors From the Space ?"

As my family subscribed to the Mainichi Newspaper (Mai-nichi means <every
day>), I
saw this news in it, but as the school also subscribed to English language
Japanese newspaper, <English Mainichi>, it contained a few more related
news, such
as the sighting in Hanshu, China and a doubledecked flying object sighting from
Amsterdam, Holland. I also remember seeing another interesting news that the
similar mysterious object had been sighted in the sky over Tokyo, during the
severe B-29 bombing in WW II. Unfortunately, I have misplaced the clippings
and I
can not quote it here. Since that time, I have become keenly interested in this
subject and began collecting all the materials concerning this facinating
subject
up to this date.

But, even after I have established my present UFO research organization, I had
never known any other worthwhile UFO sighting which occurred in Japan in the
early
part of UFO history.... until one of our members, Mr. Sukemichi Obashi, sent
me a
small pamphlet entitled, "Saiun" meaning <coloured clouds>, No.17, 1981. This
publication was the members' journal of the Matsukuu-Koushu 14th Group, which
means 14th Ko-class (Class A) Preparatory Flying Trainee Group of the former
Matsuyama (place name) Navy Flying Corpse. These trainees were those young
student
flyers urgently enlisted during the latter part of the last war, known by the
abbreviated name of <Yokaren>.

According to our member who sent me this pamphlet, who was also a member of this
group, "We were enlisted in the Matsuyama Flying Corpse on June 1, 1944, at the
age of 15 - 20, and after three hours lessons every day about the flying, but
without much training in flying, transfered to the Army Corpse. But fortunately
none had died in the battle and could return home after the war. There are now
many such groups of this kind, who are publishing similar kind of group
journals,
but this group is rather outstanding as they are publishing this journal three
times a year regularly."

Now, in this 68-pages pamphlet, which includes various essays, memoirs, etc., by
various members of the group, there is one essay, entitled, "The Orange Glowing
Object" by Soonosuke Martsuda, in which I found a very interesting UFO
sighting in
Japan in 1947.  I will relay you the details of the sighting hereunder:

Almost two years after the WW II, the defeated Japanese society was begining to

regain its composture, when Matsuda, having reached 20 years old now, was living
in a small village in Kyushu district of western Japan, named Iino-mura (mura
means village), Kumamoto Prefecture, and on that day, he was on his way to the
neighboring village of Takagi-mura, with two friends, as the friend there
invited
them to come as 'there  are many nice girls'.

Three were walking on the counrtry road, spreading out roadwide, singing various
popular songs. It was a splendid nice evening with the clear moon, and stars
shining brilliantly in the sky. Even each small stone on the road could be
discerned in the bright moon light.

Suddenly he noticed a strange light in the sky. It was an orange light in
the size
of a soybean and situated on the left of the moon.

He stopped his walk and gazed at it.......10 seconds......20 seconds.....
suddenly
the orange light began to move and increasing its speed,  began to proceed
toward
his direction.

In 30 seconds, its size became bigger than the moon, and proceeded further
toward
him with the smooth motion but with no sound. The shape of the object became
apparent now. It was shaped like a rugby ball in  the horizontal position.
And it
appeared to be glowing in the transparent orange light, and having increased its
brightness, it looked so beautiful, as if drawn in a picture, that he could not
find the words to describe it.

As he had had the specialized lessons about the aeroplanes of all kinds in his
<Yokaren> days, he thought he had enough knowledge about the aeroplanes of
U.S.A.,
England, France, Germany, and of course, Japan, etc., but this strange
object was
what he had seen for the first time in his life.

Is it a meteor ? He questioned himself in his mind,  but, no, not a meteor, he
concluded. Then, is it a weather baloon lifted up from the weather station ?
No,
again, as there is no weather station in the vicinisty, and besides if it is a
balloon, it is proceeding with the light of the moon on its back and can not be
glowing so bright.

As he was contemplating hard in such fashion, it increased its speed further and
descended from the altitude of 5,000 meters to 3,000 meters and then to 1,000
meters, and became bigger and bigger, and became about 10 times bigger than the
moon, and rushed toward him with the increased speed.

As he was afraid that it would crash onto him, he was taking the defending
position with his left hand and was still thinking hard in his brain what that
object could be, judging from his past experiences. Many past experiences danced
and run around in his brain. But he could not find any plausible explanation.

He was thinking further, speculating as hard as he could. First of all, it is
approaching in such a stupendous speed, but with no sound... and although the
shape is very beautiful, ellipsoidal in form, but without any visible window,
which he thinks necessary for the body of the flying object..... It is
glowing so
brightly but with no effect to the surrounding area..... All are so
enigmatic and
mysterious.....

Finally it came down to the height of only about 700 meters above him, and its
transparent orange light filled his eyes....

At that moment, a single-winged plane, which he thinks may have been a Bycount
plane of the occupied forces at that time, appeared in the sky and approached in
the direction of the moon with the propeller sound.

Matsuda, who had been bracing himself in a big strain, glanced at its direction
for a moment in spite of himself, when at that instant, the bright object
suddenly
changed its course, and began to distance itself from him, 1,000
meters.....3,000
meters..... and then 5,000 meters.... , just as if seen through a zooming
lens....

At that moment, his two friends, who were walking in front of him, at last
noticed
him standing still in his step just as if totally absent-mindedly, and run back,
crying, "What are you doing ?"

"Don't you see that ?" Matsuda pointed out the object in the sky, but already
nothing but the moon and the aeroplane flying slowly at the 2,000 meters
altitude
could be seen in the night sky.

Just as if snearing him, who was repeating absent-mindedly, "See there ! You see
.....", the shape of the orange glowng object became smaller and smaller, and
having finally became the size of a soybean, disappeared at the left side of the
moon.

According to his two friends, it was only seveal minutes that he was standing
still there, but in his own remembrance, it was like more than 30 minutes.

Although he gazed further in the neighborhood of the moon, he could no
longer see
anything but the single-winged plane flying leisurely.

Although later on, Matsuda insisted on the genuineness of his experience to his
two friends, they wouldn't take it seriously and when he was speaking about it,
they always looked at him as if he was affected by some bad dream.

But, two days later, he read in the local newspaper, Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbun
(Kumamoto Daily News), which always reached him one day later due to the remote-
ness of the place, that four or five persons, living in the neighboring
districts
of Tamana-gun and Kamoto-gun, observed the "strange object flying in the sky" at
around the same time as he encountered the glowing object. As those places were
more than 50 kms.distant from his sighting place, he speculated that the strange
orange glowing object was a very big object.

Of course, the word, "Flying Saucer" was not known at that time, and Matsuda
says
he had heard it only several years later. But, he says he can still not
forget the
time when the geometrically exact ellipsoidal object, glowing with the brilliant
orange colour, approached him soundlessly with smooth motion, and finally filled
his eyes on that day.

[Afterwords]

This person, who had experienced such outstanding sighting in such early days in
Japan, is now living in Osaka, and engaged in the apparel manufacturing
business.

Beside the above experience, his essay contains three other equally strange
experiences. In fact, when the glowing object approached him he recalled back
those past experiences and compared it with them and sought to find the
solution,
as all of the other experiences also concerned with eerie glowing object or
fire.

Two of them concerned with what is called "Hitodama" in Japan, which means (as
Hito means Human, and Dama means Soul) Human Soul, or rather Soul Light or Soul
Fire, which is traditionally believed in Japan to appear when a man or a woman
dies, slipping out of the body or slipping out of th tomb, and burns in an
eerie cool blue fire. Historically there were many instances in which such fires
were observed in the night flying away over the house where some one died
there by
the neighbors, or such fires burn in the cemetry. These may be specially
observed
phenomena in Japan and I have rarely heard the similar occurrences in the other
countries. In modern times, scientists explain them as the burning of the
sulphur
resulting from the decompositon of the human bodies. But it has not yet been
fully
proved. And the more recent researchers speculate that they are the plasma
vortex
or the 'fireball',  but it is also not yet proven either. Matsuda had had
two such
experiences before the above experience, and he compared those two experiences
with this  one in an effort to find the cause of the present one.  But, the
"Hitodamas" he experienced were in pale blue or in darkish red and quite
different
from the present one. So perhpas the different phenomenon.

His third experience is what is called, "Kitsunebi" (Fox Fire) and is the
phenomena in which many phantom lights appear in the distance when a person is
walking late in the night on the deserted country road or in the lonely mountain
area, and mislead him and make him lose the way, and then suddenly vanish
leaving
him in the totally unexpected places. But this glowing light is different
from it,
too, he concluded.

From these past experiences, you may judge him as the ocult-prone or phantasy-
prone person. But, on one of the occassions when he saw the "Soul Fire" from the
second story window of his house, his father also saw the light and actually the
old invalid man on the next door died on the next day.

So, the story goes, and it is difficult for me to evaluate this experience now,
and if you have any opinion on this case, I will be very much delighted to hear
it.

Best wishes.