NARRATOR: While the
United States officially Denied investigating
UAPs until 2017, Some nations had always
been ahead in their approach To the subject. Leading the world
in UAP research Is the South American
country of Chile. In 1997, the Chilean
government officially Instructed air traffic
control and military personnel To create the
Committee for the Study Of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena. The Committee studies all
reports of UAP activity By commercial, military,
and civilian pilots. One of the most well-publicized
was a shocking incident That occurred in 2014, when
Chilean naval officers, Flying along the
coast of Santiago, Captured video of a UAP. ALEJANDRO ROJAS:
There was an incident In 2014 where a
military helicopter Got video of a strange object. It kind of looked like a
rocket with some sort of plume Behind it. And they said they were
at about 4,500 feet. RICHARD DOLAN: They have nine
minutes of fairly clear video That exists on this. The Chilean military
studied it for two years, And they were not able
to identify this at all. MAN: Chile, like many other
South American countries, Seem to be far more
open to the idea That there are objects
coming into our airspace. I think one of the reasons
why South American countries are More open minded
about the UFO and The extraterrestrial question
is because it is part Of their cultural heritage. In fact, Peru and
Bolivia, they're
Treasure troves for the
ancient astronaut theory. The whole pre-Inca culture
and even the Inca culture Spoke of these beings of light
that descended from the sky. And so these
countries essentially Grew up with this
intrinsic knowledge Of someone up in the sky. Brazil has had a history of
really dramatic UFO encounters. Chile, I think
Uruguay maybe as well, But the whole world didn't
pay much attention to it. NARRATOR: In addition
to South America, Now other parts of the world
are also starting to disclose Information about UFOs. Governments are
openly investigating Encounters reported
by both civilians And military personnel. But many researchers believe
the most noteworthy country To join this international
effort is also One of the most skeptical– Japan. In 2018, the Japanese government
released an official statement Denying the existence of UFOs. For the longest
time in Japan, those In charge, those at the top
of the defense departments Have denied UFOs, showed
a disinterest in UFOs– Basically a complete dismissal
of the UFO topic completely. GREG SULLIVAN: The Japanese
government made a sudden press Release that said they would
not recognize any UFO encounters Or extraterrestrial
presence on Earth Or in the airspace of Japan. I thought this was very strange,
as we had already interviewed Two pilots who had several
incidents and testimonies That they gave us
regarding various pilots' Encounters in the air
and from the ground Over the years when they
were active in the military.
NARRATOR: Mamoru Santo,
a former wing commander In the Japanese
self-defense force, Said that he regularly
heard stories From other pilots as well as
civilians about UAP sightings. [speaking japanese] INTERPRETER: Some
people said, there's Something strange out there. There were a lot
of opportunities To see inexplicable
things, such as UFOs, That were monitoring the
sky and training in the sky. And it was my subjective view
that we should make a report And organize these
things as correct data. But even when this
happened, it was Only shared among colleagues
and not reported publicly. NARRATOR: According to
Santo, numerous pilots Have reported highly
unusual encounters With what they described
as cigar-shaped objects. During one such
incident, a student In his fighter pilot course
even lost control of his craft. [speaking japanese] INTERPRETER: He said, the
aircraft started going crazy. The alarm rang to
indicate that something Was wrong with the machine. I saw a cigar-shaped
object flying about 1,500 Meters high from east to west. The anomaly continued
until it disappeared. NARRATOR: For years, pilots
in the Japanese military Were instructed to remain
silent about such incidents. But in September 2020,
Japan's decades-long policy Of secrecy and
denial came to an end When defense minister
Taro Kono tasked The Japanese self-defense
forces to make A visual recording
of any encounter With an unexplained craft.
Many believe this very
public shift in policy Was prompted by a meeting
held one month earlier Between Minister Kono
and his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Mark. Esper. NICK POPE: The Japanese,
after this meeting, Gave a press conference. And they said one of
the topics that came up Was unidentified
aerial phenomena. And we talked about the
need to cooperate on this. That's a major
development, I think, When you have close allies
like the US and Japan Openly speaking
about the UFO issue And agreeing to cooperate. We've come so far in such
a short amount of time. RYAN SPRAGUE: The fact that
Japan denied that there was UFO activity happening
in their country And now they're establishing
the Japanese Space Operation Squadron says to me that there
clearly is something going On over the skies of Japan. NARRATOR: Ancient
astronaut theorists Suggest governments
throughout the world Are finally beginning
to acknowledge That there may be
objects in our skies That are not of this Earth.
