THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP|ENTITY ENCOUNTER REPORT

1973: Hokkaido, Japan UFO Sighting | Bay Water Encounter Case Archive

Alone on the night shift at a lumber yard on Hokkaido’s south coast in July 1973, a university student working as a night watchman looked up from his car to see a baseball-sized orange light blink out and back on, then spiral down toward a cement factory, fire intermittent green beams north, and finally descend over the bay — where it extended a glowing, glass-like tube into the water, apparently drawing it up with a low, cicada-like hum. The light then grew as it approached him, changing color and revealing small windows around its middle, behind two of which he saw indistinct shapes he himself was careful to describe as “too small and deformed to be called the shadows of men.” A separate, elongated object — like three fuel drums joined end to end — appeared nearby, absorbed several more round lights, and sped off north. The whole thing lasted, by his own estimate, eleven or twelve minutes; his body went numb, his head ached, and his car radio dissolved into noise.

The investigation behind this account is unusually solid for a single-witness case — conducted by APRO’s own Japan representative and published in Flying Saucer Review — even though the witness himself asked to remain anonymous. This entry keeps his own careful hedge about the figures front and center, rather than flattening it into a simple “humanoid” label.

Date: July 1973 (witness could not recall the exact date)

Sighting Time: Undocumented precisely; occurred at night, after the witness completed his rounds

Day/Night: Night

Location: A lumber yard overlooking a bay, in a small industrial town on the south coast of Hokkaido, Japan

Urban or Rural: Rural — described as “a deserted lonely place with only a few dark warehouses and chimneys in the distance”

No. of Entity(‘s): 2

Entity Type: Corrected from “Humanoid” — the witness explicitly described the figures as “too small and deformed to be called the shadows of men,” directly qualifying against a humanoid identification. See Researcher’s Notes.

Entity Description: “Eerie, shadow-like figures,” glimpsed through two of several small windows around the midsection of the lighted object at a distance; the witness was explicit that they were too small and deformed to confidently call human silhouettes

Hynek Classification: CE-III (Close Encounter III) — retained as the closest available category, though the identification of the observed figures as genuinely animate/humanoid beings is significantly uncertain; see Researcher’s Notes

Duration: 11 to 12 minutes, per the witness’s own estimate, though he said it felt considerably longer

No. of Object(s): 4 to 6 across the full sequence — an initial lighted orb, a separate elongated object, and 3–4 further round lighted objects; see Researcher’s Notes for the sequence

Height & Speed: Descended to just above a cement factory’s dome at one point; later to about 20 meters (65–75 ft) above the bay’s surface; approached the witness at approximately 50 meters altitude; departed north at what the witness described as tremendous speed

Size of Object(s): Initially appeared the size of a baseball at a distance, growing in apparent size to “as large as a volleyball” as it approached to roughly 50 meters — reflecting decreasing distance rather than necessarily a change in the object’s actual physical size

Distance to Object(s): Approached to within approximately 50 meters of the witness at closest

Shape of Object(s): Round, smooth (“as smooth and round as a ping-pong ball”), with small windows visible around its midsection at closer range; a separate object was elongated, resembling three cylindrical drums connected end to end

Color of Object(s): Initially orange; changed to white as it approached, illuminating the surroundings “like daylight”

Number of Witnesses: 1, given the pseudonym “Masaki Kudou” by the investigator at the witness’s own request for anonymity

Special Features/Characteristics: Object extended a glass-like, transparent tube down to the surface of the bay, its tip glowing as it appeared to draw up water, accompanied by a low, cicada-like sound; witness reported severe physiological effects afterward — full-body numbness compared to the aftereffects of prolonged yoga posture, a severe headache, and an inability to sleep that night — along with his car radio emitting “meaningless sounds”; the source situates this case within a broader documented pattern of UFOs reported hovering over or interacting with bodies of water

Case Status: Insufficient Data

Source: Jun’ichi Takanashi (Chairman, Modern Space Flight Association; APRO’s Representative for Japan), Flying Saucer Review, Vol. 21, #3/4

Summary/Description: In July 1973, a university student working as a night watchman at a lumber yard on Hokkaido’s south coast reported an orange, baseball-sized light that maneuvered, descended over a nearby bay, extended a tube apparently drawing up water, then approached him while growing in apparent size and revealing small windows with indistinct figures inside. A separate elongated object then absorbed several additional round lights before departing north at high speed. The witness reported severe physiological aftereffects and requested anonymity from the investigating researcher.

Related Cases: This archive’s 1974 Lomé, Togo entry describes a broadly similar theme of a UFO apparently interacting with a body of water (producing a depression in the sea beneath it). The two cases are unrelated incidents, presented here as thematic context rather than a documented connection.

Detailed Report

The case was investigated by Jun’ichi Takanashi, Chairman of Japan’s Modern Space Flight Association and the official Japan representative for APRO (the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization), and published in Flying Saucer Review. The witness, a university sophomore from the Kanto district working a summer job as the sole night watchman at a lumber yard on Hokkaido’s south coast, asked not to be identified and was given the pseudonym “Kudou” by Takanashi.

Sometime in July 1973 — the witness could not recall the exact date — Kudou finished his rounds of the deserted, poorly lit lumber yard, returned to his car, switched on the radio, lit a cigarette, and was looking up through the driver’s window at a clear night sky when a streak of light crossed it. Assuming a shooting star, he was surprised when the light reappeared at the exact spot it had vanished from, blinking on and off “as a bulb would be switched.” It appeared the size of a baseball, orange, and began drifting to and fro within what he estimated as roughly a meter’s range of motion, frightening him.

The light then spiraled downward, coming to rest just above the dome of a distant cement factory, where it began emitting intermittent green light rays toward what Kudou judged to be north. He described the whole scene as feeling “science-fiction-like,” hoping it might prove to be imagination. The light then swept in a wide, fast arc down over the waters of the bay, which lay within his sightline, descending to about 20 meters above the surface and stopping. From its underside, a transparent, glass-like tube extended down; where its glowing tip touched the water, it appeared to draw the water upward, accompanied by a sound Kudou likened to a cicada’s call, though lower-pitched and less monotonous. Overwhelmed, he lowered his head; when he looked up again, the object appeared to have finished and was holding steady in place.

The light then began moving toward him, growing larger as it approached — by his estimate reaching an altitude of about 50 meters near his position — until it appeared “as large as a volleyball.” Its color had shifted from orange to white, and although it seemed dimmer than before, Kudou attributed this to the surrounding area now being lit up “like daylight” by its glow. At this closer range, he could make out that it was smooth and round, “like a ping-pong ball,” with small windows visible around its center. Through the central window, and a second window two positions to the right, he saw two “eerie, shadow-like figures” — but was careful to specify that they were “too small and deformed to be called the shadows of men.”

Kudou bowed his head onto the steering wheel, gripping it with both hands, feeling as though he were “bound hand and foot,” yet unable to stop watching. He then noticed a separate object to the left: a dark, blackish-brown silhouette resembling three cylindrical drums connected end to end, hovering silently. The lighted, windowed object began moving toward this elongated shape, and Kudou spotted three or four more round, white lighted objects positioned to either side of it. One by one, these round objects appeared to be drawn into the elongated object, which then accelerated away to the north at what he described as tremendous speed.

As it departed, Kudou realized his entire body had gone numb — he compared the sensation to the aftereffects of sitting too long in a yoga posture — and his head had begun to ache severely. His car radio, he noted, was emitting only “meaningless sounds.” By his own estimate, the whole episode had lasted eleven or twelve minutes, though it felt far longer to him at the time. He was unable to sleep after finishing his shift that night.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

The Hokkaido Lumber Yard Sighting — Japan 1973 and a Witness Who Hedged His Own Description

Entity Classification Correction: The original field labels the two observed figures “Humanoid,” but the witness’s own words explicitly hedge against this: he described them as “too small and deformed to be called the shadows of men.” This is a direct, source-based qualification against a simple humanoid label, and this entry preserves that uncertainty rather than the flatter “Humanoid” designation.
Changing Apparent Size, Not Necessarily Actual Size: The object’s growth from “baseball” to “volleyball” sized reflects its decreasing distance from the witness, consistent with ordinary changes in apparent/angular size, not necessarily a claim that the object itself physically changed size.
A Multi-Stage Object Sequence: The “4 to 6” object count reflects a sequence rather than a simultaneous group: an initial lighted orb, later joined by a separate elongated object resembling three connected drums, and three or four further round lighted objects that appeared and were then “absorbed” into the elongated object before its departure. This entry presents that structure explicitly rather than a flat count.
Legitimate Institutional Sourcing, Anonymized Witness: The case was investigated by Jun’ichi Takanashi, Chairman of Japan’s Modern Space Flight Association and APRO’s official representative for Japan, and published in Flying Saucer Review — a credible chain by this archive’s standards. However, the witness himself requested anonymity and was given a pseudonym, meaning no independent follow-up with him is possible, and the account cannot be corroborated beyond the original investigator’s report.
A Documented Water-Interaction Theme: The source frames this case within a broader pattern of UFOs reported hovering over or interacting with bodies of water, describing the object extending a glass-like tube to apparently draw water from the bay. This archive’s separate 1974 Lomé, Togo entry describes a broadly similar water-related theme; the two cases are unrelated but share this general motif, noted here as context rather than connection.
Reported Physiological Effects: The witness described full-body numbness, a severe headache, radio interference, and an inability to sleep afterward — effects consistent with those reported in other CE-II/CE-III cases in this archive, though, as with all single-witness accounts, unverifiable independent of his own testimony.

What stands out about this account isn’t just its strangeness but its precision — a witness who tracked altitude, color, and duration carefully, and who was honest enough to say the shapes he saw weren’t quite human-shaped rather than reaching for the easier word. That same honesty is why this entry declines to call them “humanoid” outright. Filed as Insufficient Data, given a single, anonymized witness and no means of independent follow-up, this remains a detailed and carefully qualified account rather than a confirmed encounter.