Tachikawa-Ykota AFB, Japan, January 1958January 1958

On January 2, 1958, multiple witnesses at and near Tachikawa Air Base and Yokota Air Base in Japan reported seeing a series of unusual objects in the night sky. The sightings occurred over a period of several hours and involved five separate incidents, each with distinct characteristics.

The first object was described as bright red, resembling a welding torch with a fuzzy appearance and roughly one inch in length when viewed at arm's distance. The second sighting involved an object shaped like a pinhead that glowed red with a bright red tail approximately twenty feet long, concentrated in an arc. A third object appeared yellow, about the size of a pea, and traveled with sparks trailing behind it, presenting a fuzzy or blurred appearance. The fourth sighting was of a bright reddish-white object with a tail the size of a dollar bill and an estimated length of fifty feet. The final object was red, sharply outlined, with an estimated diameter of fourteen inches. All the reported objects disappeared suddenly, as if a light had been switched off.

The Air Force investigators noted that Earth was entering a meteoric shower called the Quadrantids at the time of the sightings, and the objects' paths and speeds were consistent with meteor activity. Weather conditions at Tachikawa Air Base were documented as calm winds at the surface and nineteen knots from 270 degrees (west) at six thousand feet, with a ceiling of twenty thousand feet. The Air Force concluded that the sighted objects were probably meteors or other meteorological phenomena. Information about the sightings was forwarded to the Oriental Astronomical Society in Japan, which tracks and publishes data on meteors and astronomical objects.

This case file, consisting of 49 pages of declassified records held by the National Archives, documents the investigation and witness statements in full.