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The Mystery of Senganmori Mountain: How isolated Japanese village became UFO hotspot

The secluded village of Iino, located on the side of the massive 1,515 ft mountain, has also been associated with extra-terrestrial mysteries

FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN: The Senganmori mountain that towers over the Fukushima prefecture - the region worst hit by the devastating 2011 Tohoku tsunami, has always remained under a cloak of mystery. The impact of the tsunami was so dire that it caused nuclear reactors to go into meltdown and has since led to the origin of many tales related to mutant plants and insects across the prefecture.

However, the secluded village of Iino, located on the side of the massive 1,515 ft mountain, has also been associated with extra-terrestrial mysteries for over three decades, with thousands of travelers making the pilgrimage every year to witness it for themselves. According to the many extra-terrestrial afficionados, almost 3000 items of alien origin are said to have been recovered from the location, which makes the situation even more unfathomable for an individual. 

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Origin of the story

The origin of the story dates back to 1972 when several witnesses reported an incident where they claimed to have seen a large light-emitting cone-shaped object near the mysterious Mount Senganmori. Among the onlookers was Tsugio Kinoshita, who was 25 at the time, and was convinced that he saw something otherworldly while hiking with friends.

"This thing stuck out in front of me," he told VICE World News last year. He added, "Starting and stopping in the blue sky. Then all of a sudden, it was gone." Kinoshita then went on to dedicate his life to the research of unidentified flying objects after the sighting. Since then, the tiny little village of Iino has steadily grown to become one of the major hotspots for alien sightings and enthusiasts.

From 1992 till now, the UFO-shaped Fureaikan museum on the side of Senganmori mountain ha curated 3,000 artefacts, which are possible evidence of extra-terrestrial life. It includes classified CIA documents containing records of UFO research. With the help of government funding after being handed out in between 1988 and 1989 the museum was helped to sustain. But these days, some 30,000 people each year undertake a pilgrimage to the museum, around which residents have built their community.

What's more interesting is the fact that the village even has its own mascot - a little gray alien, with big and dark eyes, who appears in different statue forms around the village to guide tourists to the summit. However, many tourists did not consider it to be a trap rather many believe that Iino provides believers with a foundation of research and investigation to understand their beliefs. "Senganmori is no joke. They (UFOs) really show up in the area,"  a Japan Forward reporter was told while speaking to Fukushima residents in 2020.

Iino became home to the International UFO Lab

The village became home to the International UFO Lab in 2021, a national set up to collect and share reports of otherworldly sightings after Japan issued guidelines on the research of "aerial occurrences." The lab has also helped to revive the dying village after the population halved in 1955. The new tourism industry has helped put Iino back on the map with the lab being one small step for Japan but a giant leap for Iino, which now welcomes six times its population in tourists each year.

It has motivated the lab's staff to maintain records and blogs of the area's extra-terrestrial history and mythology. Earlier, they explained that the "mysterious pyramid-like shape of Senganmori and the strong magnetic field in its underground part are related," and the mountain acts as a kind of antennae for space visitors.

Sometimes, they even suggest that the strange sphinxes around the mountain all form a "ley line," supposedly an ancient track used to guide alien travelers. The village website published a statement in Japanese last year that translates to: "Information dissemination is essential, and I believe that it is important to always strive for transparency rather than putting a lid on smelly things." 

A flying saucer was possibly witnessed in 2021

The UFO Lab was cited as an authority who "authenticated" the sighting of a possible flying saucer photographed by an elementary school first-grader in August 2021. The photo shows a disk shaped object around the Senganmori mountain. On 25 June, 2022, the director of the lab said that the objects in the photos were not aeroplanes or helicopters. Moreover, they received 452 reports of sightings in and around Japan last year alone. Furthrhey were able to authenticate that evidence had not been doctored in 149 of the cases.