UFO hotspot hopes to make ‘bright lights’ in the sky a tourist draw – and reverse long economic decline

‘Home to aliens’ – that’s how a rural community in northern Japan bills itself after four decades of sightings of unknown luminous flying objects overhead

Iinomachi hopes to revive its economy through UFO tourism, and build on the 30,000 annual visitors to its UFO museum

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A statue resembling an alien in Iinomachi, northern Japan, which bills itself as “home to aliens” because of decades of UFO sightings in the area. Photo: Twitter@info_ufo

Published: 12:45pm, 14 Mar 2023

A tiny rural community in northeastern Japan known for numerous UFO sightings is promoting itself as a “home to aliens” in a bid to revitalise its economy and put itself on the intergalactic map.

By displaying its many pieces of UFO paraphernalia and holding events that appeal to enthusiasts, Iinomachi, which owed its erstwhile prosperity to silk production and weaving industries, hopes to build a new future by drawing visitors with a passion for the extraterrestrial.

Residents believe they live in a UFO hotspot and speak of repeated appearances of unknown luminous flying objects over the past four decades near the conical 462-metre-high Senganmori mountain.

Recent headlines about airborne objects with unclear origins, including a suspected Chinese spy balloon, have created geopolitical tensions, but a Fukushima municipal government official said their focus is considering possible extraterrestrial life from a more “romantic” viewpoint.

The Iino UFO Museum in Iinomachi houses 3,000 exhibits. Photo: Twitter@info_ufo

The area, administratively part of the city of Fukushima, has a dwindling population of some 5,000 people. Senganmori, which the locals speculate is an ancient pyramid because of its shape and the large rock formations in its surrounds, dominates the scenery.