The skies above Japan are alive with extraterrestrial activity, according to the nation’s foremost UFO research group and its fearless leader. Matt Wilce examines the evidence.

Every January more than two million people crowd the grounds of Harajuku’s Meiji Jingu to celebrate the New Year, but these revelers aren’t the only beings checking out the shrine. On October 11, 1999, roughly 60 transparent rings appeared in the sky over the shrine and were witnessed and photographed by Junichi Kato and his OUR-J UFO group. On other occasions, unidentified shapes and lights have been spotted in the area with remarkable frequency, leading to its reputation as one of Japan’s alien hotspots.

“I’d seen groups of six or seven objects several times before, but nothing like that,” says Kato, leader of the UFO research group, describing October 1999 sighting. The sense of excitement Kato felt on witnessing the scene is evident in the smile that spreads across his normally serious face as he lays out pictures of the unusual aqueous-looking rings in the small office the group rents in Suidobashi. “It was the first time I’d seen anything like it and everyone just gasped. There were so many we couldn’t count,” says Toshie Nakagawa, one of “several hundred” members of the OUR-J group that was founded in January 2000. “We were speechless—all we could think was ‘UFOs really do exist,’” adds Kato. The group’s pictures of the rings were later published in UFO Magazine and the sighting remains one of their most impressive.

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