Japan SDF 'UFO Response Policy' (Kono, 2020).
documentedpolicyInternational UAP Agencies
September 2020 directive by Defense Minister Taro Kono ('UFO taisho houshin') instructing Japan's Self-Defense Forces to record, photograph, and analyze unidentified aerial objects entering Japanese airspace.
Followed the US DoD's April 2020 release of the FLIR1/GIMBAL/GO FAST videos, an Esper-Kono meeting in Guam, and the August 2020 US UAP Task Force stand-up. Kono cited drone threats (e.g., 2019 Saudi oil-facility attack) as the main rationale; he personally expressed skepticism about UFOs. Issued at a press conference rather than as a single canonical document.