Introduction:
On February 23, 1975, around 7pm two 7-year-old grade-school boys encountered a terrifying extraterrestrial. Masato Kawano and Katsuhiro Yamahata were roller-skating near the Hinode Housing Estate near Kofu City, when they saw a pair of glittering orange UFOs hovering in the sky above. One of the objects shot up toward Mt. Atago, while the smaller object descended into the vineyard.
The boys would go investigate and what they would see would haunt them for the rest of their lives. In this article we will examine one of Japan’s most famous UFO cases, an Incident that came to be known as the Fanged Humanoids of Kofu.
The Sighting:
As the astonished boys saw the smaller object descending into the field, the boys who had been rollerblading, threw off their rollerblades and ran into the vineyard. The spaceship was slowly descending into the crops.
As the boys came closer to the craft, they realized it was now a silver, domed shiny disc which stood about 7-feet high and was 15-feet in diameter. The saucer had three ball shaped legs and also had strange letters on it the metallic surface of the hull. The boys began walking around the craft and getting a better look at it. The boys later said that both crafts emitted an odd crackling or “ticking” sound, similar to a Geiger counter which measure radiation.
The Alien Encounter
They noticed a hatch that was open and suddenly a ladder began to extend down. Something began heading down the ladder. The strange extraterrestrial got off of the craft and began walking around the surrounding area. It was close to the boys, but The Humanoid on the ground seemed unaware that the boys were staring at it.
At this time the boys would spot a second humanoid inside the control room as well.
The boys described the being as having dark brown skin with thick wrinkles. The wrinkles were so dense that they blocked most of the facial features. The creature had 2 long pointed ears. The being was long-armed, almost 4-feet tall, and was clad in a “glowing” or reflective silver uniform. The boys did remember the most notable feature, the being had three silvery fangs, around 2 inches each
As the oblivious creature was walking right next to the boys, somehow it suddenly became aware they were there. It quickly turned around and patted Katsuhiro on the shoulder. It patted him twice then released a series of bizarre sounds that were similar to a tape recorder going backwards. Whatever it did, Katsuhiro collapsed to the ground and was paralyzed.
Once Katsuhiro collapsed, Masato picked up his friend on his shoulder and got away from the strange entity as soon as possible.
The Aftermath
The boys headed home and frantically told their parents about what had happened to them. The mothers were in disbelief but were curious and agreed to follow their sons back to the vineyard where the sighting occurred. There, the mothers would be shocked to see the craft. The four witnessed the orange light pulsating from a distance. The boys tried to convince their moms to move in closer, but the mothers refused. After around 5 minutes, the UFO let out a burst of bright light and flew away.
While the boys were the only ones to see the Fanged Humanoid, another boy would witness the craft.
Another Witness
Ichiro Minegishi an eight-year-old said he witnessed a shining object flying toward the Hinode Housing Estate while he was in the car with his parents near the Kōfu Bypass. Ichiro said he saw the craft around 6:30 pm, about one half-hour before the boys saw the UFO.
The Investigation
As Katsuhiro and Masato headed to Yamashiro Elementary School the next day, they would retell their story to classmates. The two drew pictures of the craft and the beings. Soon word spread around school and school officials decided they needed to head out to the vineyard and investigate.
As the school officials reached the site, they found two solid concrete posts had been “pushed over” at the landing site. It was obvious that the boys couldn’t have been capable of pushing these posts over. Investigators would find other things though. There was a ring pattern in the soil near the broken concrete posts where the UFO landed. Also, one teacher alleged to have discovered radioactivity within the circular patch.
As the situation was deemed not a prank, investigators decided to probe further. The boys were separated and interviewed by the principal at the school and UFO investigator Masaru Mori. The boy’s stories were found to be remarkably consistent.
Credibility of the Story
The Kofu fanged Humanoid incident is one that is deemed quite credible by many. While the boys seemed to enjoy the attention, it’s clear that it would be incredibly difficult for the boys to create a story like this and keep their accounts consistent. They’ve never wavered on their stories and details have stayed consistent over the years. Like other UFO incidents involving children, like the Zimbabwe Ariel School Incident, UFO sightings involving children are unique. While many children might fabricate a story for attention or something else, there’s virtually no chance a child could stand up and tell a consistent lie to an investigator.
Even an average investigator, would be able to ask probing questions for details, which a child would have immense issues detailing consistently.
Theories
There are generally only two theories with this case.
The first and most popular is the boys interacted with an Extraterrestrial. While this alien type is not a popular Alien typically witnessed, there are other cases with much stranger Aliens.
A second theory is that the boys encountered some type of military experimental craft. From here they went on to exaggerate the story. Still, this is a less popular theory and as discussed earlier it’s tough to imagine the boys would be able to keep their story straight in an investigation.
This isn’t the first famous UFO incident from Japan involving children.
The 1972 Kera UFO Incident
Read about this story in detail here
In Late August 1972, just outside Kochi City in Japan, five boys would report an encounter with a tiny UFO, one just inches in size. We have covered this case on a prior post, and it was a fascinating one as the boys trapped the object multiple times, but the tiny UFO kept disappearing. The boys also documented the object with multiple photos of it.
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Conclusion
To date the story of Kofu Fanged Humanoids remains one of Japan’s most famous, and its easy to see why.
