Kera Incident: Amazing Japanese Boys Who Captured a Small UFO in 1972 [Part 6]

Source MYSTERY PHOTONICLE (May 2016), 40-41, Digital Ultra Project

This is a true story of nine Japanese boys who captured a small UFO about 50 years ago.

Kera Incident: Amazing Japanese Boys Who Captured a Small UFO in 1972

In the following article, I introduced the amazing story of nine Japanese boys who captured a small UFO in 1972 in Kera, Kochi City and recorded detailed sketches and measurements of it.

According to the boys, this small UFO showed them a series of mysterious phenomena that could not be explained scientifically.

The small UFO then disappeared without a trace, never to be reappeared in front of the boys again.

The local adults assumed that their UFO capture was a prank and did not believe the boys’ story.

However, the “Kera Incident” became widely known throughout Japan as it was picked up by prominent comet hunters, TV directors, and writers.

After that, the truth of the Kera Incident was shrouded in mystery until around the mid-2000s.

However, around 2010, about 40 years after the incident, some people re-examined the Kera Incident, and new evidence and facts came to light one after another.

Nevertheless, Nishimoto’s theory claiming that Kera’s UFO was a prank by some boys was just a guess and had long been ignored by many UFO researchers because there was no physical evidence.

However, in recent years, a cast ashtray almost identical in shape to the Kera’s small UFO has been discovered and has attracted attention as physical evidence of the prank theory.

Now that physical evidence has been found, the Kera incident theory was a prank played by a few boys seems convincing.

However, it is still too early to jump to the conclusion that Kera’s UFO was a hoax.

This is because there are many inexplicable mysteries related to the Kera Incident that cannot be explained by the boys’ prank.

In this article, I would like to introduce various puzzling phenomena related to the Kera Incident, which cannot be simply explained by the prank theory, including the 2nd Kera Incident.

On July 7, 2021

OTAKUPAPA

We cannot investigate the bona fides of any of these people.

We have to rely solely on deduction.

That, to me, makes the matter very much more interesting.

There is no routine work.

It is a matter of the intellect.

Hercule Poirot

Mysterious Small UFO Sighted Just After the Kera Incident

On October 26, 1972, nearly a month after the last disappearance of Kera’s UFO, Sadao’s mother, Kiyoko Fujiwara, witnessed a small UFO.

A little after 6:30 p.m. that day, on her way back from picking up Sadao’s younger sister at the nursery, Kiyoko looked up at the sky and saw a strange flying object coming from the north at a low altitude.

According to Kiyoko, it was a rather small object and had the shape of a typical flying saucer, like a sphere with a ring.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

It flashed red and blue light on the bottom side and slowly flew away in the direction of Kera Fuji (Mt. Kofuji) to the south, moving up and down soundlessly.

Kera Fuji seen from the road near Kochi-shi Aizen Nursery School in Kera to the south.

Could this be the ‘flying saucer’ that the children were making so much fuss about before?

Kiyoko thought that for a moment.

Mulder Ryoma’s Report

As a matter of fact, Kiyoko was not the only adult who witnessed the mysterious flying object in Kera at that time.

Mulder Ryoma is a Japanese UFO researcher and head of the Kochi branch of JSPS (the Japan Space Phenomena Society).

Mulder has been in the field investigating the Kera Incident for more than 40 years since it occurred.

According to an article on the Kera Incident in the April 2014 issue of the Mu magazine, at the time of the incident, Mulder visited Kera with Kazuo Hayashi, the head of the Osaka branch of JSPS, to investigate the Kera Incident.

A little after 7:00 p.m., Mulder was approaching the residential area where the boys lived, with Hayashi on the back seat of his motorcycle.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

When Mulder and Hayashi happened to be facing the southern sky at the same time, they witnessed a strange glowing object falling from the sky.

It was a small object glowing a white light color.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

According to Mulder, it was at a height of about 15° angle of elevation, as seen from them, and was falling rapidly towards the back of a low hill about 2 kilometers (about 1.2 miles) away.

He clearly remembered the object’s light trail snaking in small, regular increments across the sky.

What the hell was that?

Nevertheless, for some reason, neither Mulder nor Hayashi wondered much about the strange object at that moment.

Mulder is regretting that he hadn’t paid more attention to the strange object at the time.

As for the reason, he said,

That was the very flying saucer that Hayashi and I would ask the middle school boys about shortly later!

According to Mulder, there were other witnesses to Kera’s UFO.

In fact, several adults who were in the vicinity of the site at the time reported seeing a UFO floating over the rice fields from a distance.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

The Capture of a Small UFO in Okinawa

Furthermore, Mulder reported a UFO capture incident similar to the Kera Incident that occurred in Okinawa in an article on the Kera Incident in the April 2014 issue of the Mu magazine.

According to the report, more than a decade before 2014, a child of elementary school age in Okinawa caught a small UFO flying at a low altitude with an insect net.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

Then the child buried the small UFO in the sand or put it in a box, but it escaped each time.

Interestingly, Keikou Fujimoto, who was one of the boys involved in the Kera Incident, later reported to his students in an ethics class at Kochi Ote Mae High School that when he was a boy, he caught a small UFO with an insect net and put it in his wardrobe, but it had disappeared.

The 2nd Kera Incident

About four years after the Kera Incident, a sighting of a small UFO occurred in the same Kochi Prefecture where Kera is located.

The incident took place in mid-June 1976.

A little after 8:00 p.m., Sachiko Oyama, then 9 years old and living in Agawa Village (now Niyodogawa Town), Agawa County, Kochi Prefecture, went outside her house to look for her cat that had run away.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

At this time, Sachiko noticed a yellowish glowing object in the sky near the slope on the east side.

So she walked toward the slope where the light could be seen.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

Sachiko was about 40-50 meters (about 44-55 yards) away from that slope.

To her left, the woods were thickly overgrown.

Sachiko reached the slope and stopped to look at the mysterious glowing body.

To her surprise, the object eventually crashed into one of the trees in the woods and fell right under her.

Oddly enough, the slope was paved with concrete, yet the object did not make any crashing sound as it fell.

When she looked at the object up close, she saw that it was silver in color and a dozen centimeters (about one foot) in diameter.

According to Sachiko, the object was in the shape of a “small hat.”

She touched the top part of the object with her index finger out of curiosity, and it felt sticky.

Her index finger went about an inch or two into the object, but underneath it was hard.

Sachiko had no idea what it was.

She felt creepy and wanted to go back to her house.

On her way home, Sachiko looked back and saw that the object was glowing a vague yellow.

To her surprise, the object spun counterclockwise around three times and then flew away diagonally to her right at a high speed.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

The incidents described above are all cases of sightings of small UFOs.

And the last case, in particular, is called by some the Second Kera Incident, in that a child witnessed and touched a small hat-shaped UFO in the same Kochi prefecture.

The last two cases in particular are both independent cases of small UFO sightings, not directly related to the Kera case.

So even if the Kera Incident was due to pranks by the boys, it does not explain these incidents in which similar small UFOs were seen.

Therefore, there could be no denying the possibility that small hat-shaped UFOs were flying around in various areas in Japan in the 1970s.

Kazuo Shimizu’s Report in 2005

There is another interesting report on the Kera Incident.

Kazuo Shimizu (1954-2009) was a Japanese writer and paranormal researcher.

Kazuo Shimizu (1954 – 2009).

Source Kazuo Shimizu (November 1990). UFO no Uso (Lies in UFO Reports), Data House Co.

Shimizu examined many Japanese TV broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, and other media reports on UFOs from a skeptical standpoint.

Shimizu published “UFO no Uso (Lies in UFO Reports)” in December 1990, which exposed the misperceptions, lies, and make-believe routinely perpetrated by the Japanese mass media and UFO researchers.

In this book, Shimizu revealed the deceptions of UFO reports on Japanese TV programs and scathingly criticized the problems of Junichi Yaoi, the big-name Japanese director of these UFO programs.

Junichi Yaoi (born 1935).

Source Junichi Yaoi (July 1978). Zenkoku UFO Mokugeki Tahatsu Chitai (UFO Sighting Zones in Japan), 272-277, Futami Shobo

As a skeptical UFO researcher, Shimizu exposed the lies of Japanese UFO reports and criticized them bitterly.

But he honestly admitted that some aspects of the Kera Incident could not be explained as a prank by the boys.

When the late-night program “11 PM” featured the Kera Incident, Shimizu, together with Shinichiro Namiki, President of the Japanese Society for Cosmic Phenomenology (JSPS), met and interviewed two of the three boys, Hiroshi, Sadao, and Toshiaki, who came to the Tokyo studio of “11 PM.”

At that time, Shimizu handed the boys a large ashtray and asked them,

Was the size of the UFO like this?

A replica of the small UFO created by Kazuo Hayashi of JSPS based on the accounts of the boys.

Source Junichi Yaoi (June 2006). Yaoi Junichi no UFO Taizen (Junichi Yaoi’s Complete UFO Collection), 254-256, Lyonsha.

Then one of the boys said,

Yeah. That’s about what it looked like!

But the other boy quickly countered his remarks,

No, no!!!

Then, to Shimizu’s surprise, the two boys began to argue furiously over the exact size of the UFO.

If it was a made-up story, the boys would have arranged beforehand to make the story consistent.

Therefore, as Shimizu saw two boys arguing earnestly over the exact size of the UFO, he thought,

Oh, something really happened to them!!!

Shimizu couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread.

Shinichiro Namiki’s Report in 2014 

Shinichiro Namiki (born 1947) is a Japanese author and paranormal researcher.

Shinichiro Namiki (born 1947).

Source MYSTERY PHOTONICLE (May 2016), 40-41, Digital Ultra Project

Namiki is the president of the Japan Space Phenomena Society (JSPS) and the main writer for the prominent Japanese occult magazine Mu.

So, he is considered to be one of the leading researchers in the field of occultism in Japan, including UFO research.

In particular, as president of the JSPS, Namiki conducted many in-depth interviews with the boys involved in the Kera Incident and field research soon after it occurred.

And since then he has been working to uncover the truth about the Kera Incident for about 50 years.

Thus, Namiki is the foremost researcher on the Kera Incident.

However, according to Namiki, as of 2014, it was no longer possible to interview all nine members involved in the Kera Incident.

This is because most of them refused to be interviewed.

Nevertheless, when Namiki, together with Kazuo Hayashi and Mulder Ryoma, visited the yakitori shop run by Hiroshi Mori, who played a central role in the Kera Incident at the time, for an interview for the April 2014 issue of Mu magazine, Hiroshi agreed to be interviewed.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

At that time, 42 years had already passed since the incident, and Hiroshi, who was 14 at the time, was already over 50.

Hayashi took the replica of Kera’s UFO from his case and showed it to him, Hiroshi looked at it nostalgically.

Source MYSTERY PHOTONICLE (May 2016), 40-41, Digital Ultra Project

I think it’s a little thicker here …

Hiroshi said, holding the replica of the UFO in his hand.

According to Hiroshi, there was no falsehood or change in the accounts he had given so far.

In fact, in the 42 years since the incident occurred, Hiroshi’s statement that the Kera Incident was what actually happened had been consistent and had not changed at all.

Hiroshi said the following.

I was in middle school at the time.

But the incident was definitely true!

Anyway, if you ask me about it, I can’t tell you any more than I told you before.

If you ask me now, I can’t tell you exactly what happened.

But I’m sure that it really happened!

While physical evidence of the prank theory has been revealed one after another, and criticism of the central persons in the case has increased, Hiroshi’s claims have remained the same and consistent since he was a boy.

Is it possible for a person to continue to lie for more than 40 years?

Hat-Shaped UFO Photographed in Hiroshima in 2008

By the way, hat-shaped UFOs are not as well known as the famous saucer-shaped or spherical UFOs, but in Japan, hat-shaped UFOs have been sighted many times and photographed.

Takashi Tahara, a Japanese amateur photographer living in Shimane Prefecture, reported in an article in the July 31, 2009 issue of Friday magazine that he photographed a hat-shaped UFO near the Nukui Dam Park in Akiota-cho, Hiroshima Prefecture on October 29, 2008.

One of Tahara’s UFO photos from the July 31, 2009 issue of Friday magazine.

Source Friday magazine (July 31, 2009 issue). “Iwakuni Kichi de Beigun Heli wo Tsuiseki! Hoka UFO Shogeki Shasin (Tracking a U.S. Military Helicopter at Iwakuni Air Base! and Other UFO Shocking Photos)”, 90-91, Kodansha

According to the report, Tahara was not aware of the existence of the UFO at the time he took the photos, but only later, when he was sorting through the photos on his home computer, did he realize that a UFO was in the picture.

Below are photos that Tahara took in front of the Nukui Dam.

Source Shinichiro Namiki, MU Magazine, April 2014 issue, 172-177, Gakken.

According to Tahara, he did not like his photos to be out of focus, so he would always release the shutter twice when he photographed a scene.

One day, Tahara was looking at the photos he had taken near the Nukui Dam on his home computer when he noticed that one of the photos had something that looked like dust in it.

At first, he suspected that the dust was on the photo.

However, of the two photos of the same scene, the other photo showed nothing, and only that one photo showed an “object.” 

Source Shinichiro Namiki, MU Magazine, April 2014 issue, 172-177, Gakken.

So, being suspicious, Tahara enlarged the photo in question and was surprised to see a hat-shaped object in it!

Source Shinichiro Namiki, MU Magazine, April 2014 issue, 172-177, Gakken.

This is a UFO!

Source Shinichiro Namiki, MU Magazine, April 2014 issue, 172-177, Gakken.

So, Tahara asked a UFO researcher via the Internet to evaluate the photo in question.

Kiyoshi Amamiya (born in 1944), the author of “The History of UFO Research in Japan” and one of Japan’s oldest and most experienced UFO researchers, says that this object is definitely a real UFO.

According to Amamiya, in Japan, another hat-shaped object was photographed in Kobe City in the 1980s.

Amamiya also said that hat-shaped UFOs are thought to be unmanned reconnaissance drones.

Therefore, some Japanese UFO researchers believe that the truth about the UFO captured in the Kera Incident is that aliens converted an Earth-made ashtray into a UFO and used it as a recon drone.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It is clear from the above that even if the Kera Incident was a prank by the boys, many puzzling mysteries cannot be explained by that.

Was the truth about the Kera Incident just a prank by the boys, or was there really an extraterrestrial UFO captured?

One truth prevails.

is a line from a famous Japanese detective.

Which is the truth?

It may be YOU who will solve the mystery of the Kera Incident.

Who Benefits the Most?

Where would a wise man hide a leaf?

In the forest.

Father Brown

Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla, a Roman consul in 127 B.C., gained fame by formulating the following question as a principle of a criminal investigation.

Cui bono?

(Who benefits?)

If the Kera Incident is due to the pranks of the boys, who will benefit the most?

Here, the following scenario^*1 can be considered.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

You are a space engineer belonging to the 346th Reconnaissance Team of the Orion Frontier Force of the Galactic Empire, monitoring the developments of an outlying Planet T820 in its developing stages.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

In recent times, Planet T820 has been designated as one of the most important planets to be monitored by the Galactic Empire, as the humans living there have succeeded in developing nuclear weapons and have sent manned spacecraft to its only satellite, T820-L1.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

The main mission of your recon team is to monitor the technological progress of Planet T820 and its expansion into space and report back to your home Planet X in the center of the galaxy.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

However, considering the warlike and unpredictable temperament of the humans on Planet T820, it is preferable to monitor them with unmanned UFOs without directly interfering with them, according to the analysis of the most advanced central AI collective.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

So your recon team set out to develop a small AI-powered recon drone that could fly autonomously through the atmosphere of Planet T820 and gather information.

However, the behavior of AI on the unknown Planet T820 is unpredictable, and the recon drone may be spotted by humans on Planet T820 while gathering information, and in the worst cases, captured.

For this reason, the development of small drones disguised as flying creatures such as birds and bees was considered, but the bird-like shape and materials may not have the stability and strength necessary for irregular, ultra-high-speed anti-gravity flight.

Another technical problem, according to anti-gravity experts, is that the power output of the anti-gravity engine will not be stable unless the drone’s matrix has a center-symmetrical shape.

The idea of incorporating a self-destruct mechanism in case of capture was also proposed but rejected because it might violate Article 1404-2 of the Galactic Empire’s Biological and Environmental Protection Regulations for Monitored Planets (GE-BEPR-MP1404-2).

But one day, you come up with a brilliant idea.

Oh, yeah!  

We should build a recon drone by incorporating an anti-gravity engine into one of the many commercially available products that are mass-marketed on Planet T820!

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

This way, even if the drone crashes due to a malfunction of the AI and is captured by the humans on Planet T820, there is a good chance that it will be ignored as one of the large amount of junk on Planet T820!

Fortunately, due to the Galactic Empire’s remarkable technological advances in recent years, the anti-gravity engines could be made surprisingly small, although they had the disadvantage of emitting a blue light during operation.

Nevertheless, your idea was adopted by your superiors, and immediately your team developed a recon drone using an ashtray, a commodity in circulation on Planet T820, which had been obtained by special agents who had infiltrated there beforehand.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

Furthermore, because of the potentially unpredictable behavior of the latest autonomous flight AI in the gravity of the Planet T820, the experimental flight zone for the recon drone was limited to an unpopular rural area chosen by the team, avoiding big cities such as New York, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

Then, as you feared, due to an AI malfunction, the recon drone crashed and was captured by the children of Planet T820.

However, according to the report of the drone recovery team that had infiltrated Planet T820, the body of the captured drone was the same shape as the commercially available ashtray on Planet T820, and its existence was eventually dismissed as the result of a mere children’s prank!

So, no matter how much the children tried to convince the adults, the adults took the commercial ashtray as proof of the children’s prank and would never accept the existence of UFOs created by aliens.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

Your ploy of disguising the recon drone as a cast ashtray circulating on Planet T820 has worked!

Your achievements are obvious, and you have achieved an exceptional rise in the ranks of the Galactic Empire’s organization, and have been allowed to return to your home Planet X after 50 years.

As you boarded the homeward-bound UFO, you talked to yourself.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

I feel a little bad for the nine children on Planet T820 who captured the recon drone.

But I also have my loving family waiting for me to return!

When the UFO started warping from Planet T820 towards the Galactic Empire’s home Planet X, 25,000 light-years away, you went to sleep with a smile on your face.

*The above image is simulated for illustrative purposes only.

For those who are interested in the Kofu Incident, which is considered one of the two major UFO incidents in Japan along with the Kera Incident, please refer to the following article.

Published on July 7, 2021

Written by OTAKUPAPA

References:

1. Tsutomu Seki (May 1973). Kera-mura ni Ochita Enban (The Flying Saucer That Fell on Kera Village), Michi no Hoshi Wo Motomete (Searching for Unknown Stars), 187-194, Sankei Shobo.
2. Shinichiro Namiki, Kazuo Hayashi (Field Investigator) (April 1973).– JSPS Special Report–Soratobu Enban Ikedori Misui!! Kochi-shi Keramura de Okotta Kisou Tengaina Enban Soudou …… ??? (Attempted Live Capture of Flying Saucer! A Bizarre Flying Saucer Incident in Kera Village, Kochi City …… ???) Unidentified Flying Objects – Information and Research – Vol.1, No. 1, 48-50, Japan Space Phenomena Society (JSPS).
3. Mokuyou Special Gendai no Kaiki Tuikyu Daisandan Utyujinwa Tikyuni Kite Iru!! (Thursday Special: Modern Weirdness, Pursuit #3: Aliens are Coming to Earth!!), Nippon Television Network Corporation, broadcast on October 10, 1974.
4. Shusaku Endo (1976). Kera-Cho no Soratobu Enban (Flying Saucer in Kera Town), Boku ha Koukishin no Katamari (I Am a Curious Man), 36-44, Shinchosha.
5. Junichi Yaoi (July 1978). Zenkoku UFO Mokugeki Tahatsu Chitai (UFO Sighting Zones in Japan), 272-277. Futami Shobo
6. Mulder Ryoma (November 2002). Kochi Kogata UFO Hokaku Jiken Tenmatsu Report by Mulder Ryoma (Report on Capture of a Small UFO in Kochi by Mulder Ryoma), http://www.youneeds.com/xfiles/ufo/kela_ufo_catcher.htm
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8. Junichi Yaoi (June 2006). Yaoi Junichi no UFO Taizen (Junichi Yaoi’s Complete UFO Collection), 254-256, Lyonsha.
9. Friday magazine (July 31, 2009 issue). “Iwakuni Kichi de Beigun Heli wo Tsuiseki! Hoka UFO Shogeki Shasin (Tracking a U.S. Military Helicopter at Iwakuni Air Base! and Other UFO Shocking Photos)”, 90-91, Kodansha
10. Kenichi Nishimoto (May 2009). Kochi-ken Kera-Cho“UFO Hokaku Jiken” no Shogeki (The Impact of the “UFO Capture Incident” in Kera Town, Kochi Prefecture), Nihon “Kaiki” Taizen (The Complete Book of Japanese “Weirdness”), 239-253, Million Shuppan
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12. Shinichiro Namiki, Tanbo de Chugakusei ga Kogata Enban wo Hokaku Nazo no ‘Kera UFO Jikenno Ima wo Ou!! (Junior High School Students Captured a Small Flying Saucer in Rice Fields: Now Tracing the Mysterious ‘Kera UFO Incident!!’), MU Magazine, April 2014 issue, 172-177, Gakken.
13. Miyabi, (November 8, 2015), Kera Incident, UFO Jikenbo (UFO Case Files), http://ufojikenbo.blogspot.com/2015/11/kera.html
14. Kenji Sato, Radio Adventure, Kikai Isan (Odd World Heritage), NHK Radio 1, broadcast on May 3, 2016.
15. MYSTERY PHOTONICLE (May 2016), 40-41, Digital Ultra Project
16. Kozo Niwa, Kazuo Hayashi (June 2016). Nihon no Juyo UFO Jiken: Kochi Keramura UFO Hokaku Jiken (Important UFO Incident in Japan: Kochi Kera Village UFO Capture Incident), https://ameblo.jp/entry-12168532537.html
17. Tatsuya Honjo, ASIOS (August 2017). UFO Jiken Chronicle (Chronicle of UFO Incidents), 138-145, Saizusha.