A white globe that appeared to many to simply be a large balloon sparked mystery yesterday after many noticed over northern Japan that the object did appear to make some strange movements. Social media in Japan quickly picked up on it and the item soon trended.
Television footage taken in the northeastern city of Sendai showed a balloon-like object above a cross, on which propellers seemed to be turning. Officials in the Sendai Weather Bureau said it had appeared near dawn and hung in the sky for hours, largely unmoving, until obscured by clouds.
Theories as to what it was included UFOs and North Korean balloons used to drop leaflets. One user said it could be spreading novel coronavirus, adding, “This gives me a very bad feeling, as if Godzilla might suddenly appear.”
Police could not be immediately reached for comment and a Sendai government official said inquiries were still proceeding
“We have absolutely no idea what it is. It may be some kind of weather monitoring equipment, but it definitely isn’t ours.”
“It is not something flown by the meteorological agency, and we don’t have a clue what it is,” an agency official said. “We checked with the Sendai Municipal Government and the Self-Defense Forces, but they don’t know either.”
