1947: Yokohama Japan Sighting

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THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date:  January 15 1947

Sighting Time:  10:00

Day/Night:  Morning

Location:  Yokohama Japan

Urban or Rural: – Urban

No. of Entity(‘s):  

Entity Type:  

Entity Description:  

Hynek Classification:  CE-I (Close Encounter I) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness (i.e. within 500’)

Duration:  A long time

No. of Object(s):  1

Height & Speed:  It was not high, probably several thousand feet in the air. This would put it under any cloud cover. 

Size of Object(s):  

Distance to Object(s):   That was about one mile away.

Shape of Object(s):  soccer shaped

Color/Description of Object(s):  “metal-like, but the underside was somewhat darker. The edge of the soccer was sharp, not rounded. It had no windows or such.

Number of Witnesses:  2

Source:  Jerome Clark, Extraordinary Encounters 

Summary/Description:  I am making this report to make sure it is recorded. I learned of this event around June of 1947. The person who told me was my good friend ((name deleted)). As a background, understand that after WWII, many American Officers brought their families to Europe and Japan as a part of the Dependents of the Occupation Forces. I was one of these dependents, my age was 10 years old. We lived in the ((deleted)) Compound on the Bluff, by the horse racing track and POW camp, at the edge of Yokohama, Japan. We, the ((family name deleted)) lived in House ((deleted)) and the ((family name #2 deleted)) lived in House ((deleted)) Compound. The houses were two story with flat roofs. The roofs were made to use, much like a top deck. ((name deleted)), son of Colonel ((name deleted)), 8th Army in Occupation, was with his father one morning. They had a Japanese brass telescope Colonel ((name deleted)) brought home for his son. They also had a 7X binocular.

They were experimenting with the telescope, at the time this occurred. I will paraphrase what ((name deleted)) told me, for it is worth being recorded. They were taking turns looking through the telescope and binocular when ((name deleted)) father noticed a dark shape in the sky. A perfect target on which to experiment with. Colonel ((name deleted)) first looked at it through the binoculars, then took the telescope and brought the object into its field of view and focus. I was soccer shaped. (( ((name deleted)) said he and his dad took turns watching this object through both the binocular and the telescope. It was traveling toward them. It traveled over to and above the race track and paused. That was about one mile away. It paused. ((name deleted)) said it was not high, probably several thousand feet in the air. This would put it under any cloud cover. 

I asked what did it look like?

It looked like a soccer, it was “metal-like, but the underside was somewhat darker. The edge of the soccer was sharp, not rounded. It had no windows or such. I asked what did it do? It move around and then stopped in the sky and just hovered. Then it would move to another location and again hover. For the record, at the time (1947) Yokohama showed the full brunt of many B-29 strikes. The city was 90% burned out with an occasional structure standing amidst a totally destroyed area, block after block. Down toward the harbor, the canals were chocked with sunken wooden junks. Out in the harbor several large ships were sunken in the harbor. The dock facilities were equally damaged. The city was totally destroyed. Many of the people who lived in the hills surrounding Yokohama were really the only houses spared by the bombing strikes. The race track wa also spared, probably because it was a POW camp. ((name deleted)) said this “craft” was slowly crossing across the destroyed city. It looked like it was inspecting the damage. Where did it go? I asked. It went across us and slowly made it way across the city heading toward the harbor. Did you see it by eye and in the binocular and telescope? Oh sure, it was easy to follow. I was in good view, especially in the telescope. What did it look like? Like a soccer. It was round, it was soccer shaped. Did it make a noise? No, not at all. I was totally perplexed. This was the first time I ever heard of a flying machine shaped like a soccer. All flying machines had wings and big motors and they dropped bombs and shot machine guns and made lots of noise. None hovered! How long did you watch it? I asked in perplexed wonder.

A long time, we watched it go out toward the harbor. It moved around, paused and then turned off toward the left(toward Mount Fujiyama) It slowly moved off. we watched it until we could not see it any more, even in the telescope. What was it? I don’t know. It wasn’t an airplane. What did your dad say? He said it wasn’t an airplane. He didn’t know what it was, but it was real, we could see it. The binocular and telescope gave us real good views. With that, we went on to other things that 10 year boys do. We probably went over to the open field where we played baseball with the Japanese children. I played right field. I seem to remember ((name deleted)) was a baseman. Anyway that was the end of our conversation about the unidentified flying object. I left Japan in August of 1947. I believe ((name deleted)) was still living in House # ((deleted)). I do remember asking him about this strange soccer. I asked what his father did. He reported it. I asked, what happened? He said, “Nothing. We never heard another thing.” As far as I know, that is where it ended. His father being a full bird colonel in the 8th US Army, like mine were pretty VIP. He reported it through channels and that was that. They did not receive any feed-back, as of August 1947. However make no mistake, the US Army was duly notified of the sighting. That’s as much as I know. I hope ((name deleted)) or his father have already made this report. In this case, I prefer to defer to that that said. At any rate, this is as much as I know, as close to the actual conversations as I can remember. ((name deleted)) Dependent, Army of Occupation Yokohama, Japan 1947.