Japan's Roswell

Above, image from Iino Town Promotion Public Corporation.

There's a town in Fukushima Prefecture that could be Japan's version of Roswell, New Mexico even though no UFO had crashed there.

It has its own flying saucer (UFO) history and the town is capitalizing on this history to make it a tourist attraction. In fact, it held its own UFO Festival for the first time last year, just like in Roswell. The also have a UFO museum and UFO village.

Kyodo News reported:

FUKUSHIMA, Japan - A tiny rural community in northeastern Japan known for numerous UFO sightings is promoting itself as a "home to aliens" in a bid to revitalize its local economy and put itself on the intergalactic map.

By displaying its many pieces of UFO paraphernalia and holding events that appeal to enthusiasts, Iinomachi, once prosperous through 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 hot spot and speak of repeated appearances of unknown luminous flying objects over the past four decades near the conical 462-meter-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 area, formerly categorized as the town of Iino and integrated into the city of Fukushima in 2008, has a dwindling population of some 5,000 people. Senganmori, which the locals speculate is a possible ancient pyramid due to its shape and the large rock formations in its surrounds, dominates the scenery.

Visitors to Iinomachi cannot avoid having close encounters with extraterrestrial life everywhere, including UFO-shaped streetlights, bus stops, flags and even an alien statue.

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