Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura of Japan said he believed in UFOs.
 
Japan's top government spokesman said Tuesday that he believes in UFOs.

"Personally, I absolutely believe they exist," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura after an official statemet was released, saying that the government had not confirmed the existence of UFOs.

He said there was no other explanation for how the Nazca Lines were drawn¹ in the Peruvian desert. The vast, ancient drawings can really only be properly appreciated from the air, which has led some to claim they are the work of extraterrestrials.

In a written response issued Tuesday to a question from an opposition² lawmaker, who argued Tokyo should try to confirm what UFOs are as many people have said they have witnessed them, the government said the air force had often spotted³ "birds and other objects beside aircraft," but no UFOs.

"The government has not confirmed the existence of 'unidentified flying objects believed to have flown from outside the Earth'," it said.

"The government is not collecting information on them, exchanging information with other countries or conducting a particular study," the government said in its first official comment on UFOs.

"We are not considering what measures to take in case 'unidentified flying objects' fly over our country," it said.

The statement was formally endorsed⁴ at Tuesday's cabinet meeting.

Sceptics say UFO sightings are merely aircraft or meteors re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, rather than visitors from another planet.

 
日本最高政府发言人于本周二表示，他相信不明飞行物（UFO: Unidentified Flying Object）的存在。

日本内阁官房长官町村信孝说：“我个人坚信UFO的存在。”在他发表这番言论之前，日本政府发表了一份官方声明称，政府目前尚未证实不明飞行物的存在。

町村信孝说，（如果没有UFO的存在），就无法解释秘鲁的纳斯卡沙漠中“纳斯卡图案”的成因。古老而巨大的纳斯卡图案只能从空中鸟瞰才可识别，所以有些人认为这是外星人所为。

为了回应一位反对党立法委员有关UFO问题的质询，日本政府于本周二发表书面声明称，日本空军经常在飞行器附近发现“鸟类和其它物体”，但从未发现过不明飞行物。这位立法委员称，既然很多人称自己亲眼见过UFO，那么政府应该想办法确定是否存在UFO。

声明称：“政府目前无法确定所谓‘来自外星的不明飞行物’的存在。”

“目前政府没有搜集有关UFO的信息、未与其它国家交换过这方面的信息，也没有开展这方面的专门研究。”这是日本政府首次就UFO问题发表官方声明。

声明中提到：“政府还没有考虑万一UFO‘来访’，应采取何种应对措施的问题。”

该声明在本周二的内阁会议上正式通过。

怀疑论者称，人们看到的所谓“不明飞行物”只不过是飞行器或是闯入地球大气层的流星，并不是什么外星人。

Vocabulary:

extraterrestrial:来自地球以外星球的物体、生命或力量