At approximately 9:00pm on 23 January, reports started coming into the Okinawa Times about a strange array of lights over their capital city Naha. Japan’s Self Defense Force and astronomical experts are without answer, yet witness accounts and videos claim a dozen or so bright orange lights appearing to hang and shift around in the sky could be see in the area.

The Japan Air Self Defense Force said that all their training exercises had finished at 7:20pm on that day and they never run exercises at such an hour as this phenomenon was said to occur.

Witnesses from the areas around Naha claimed to see “very bright lights moving in a curve, so I think it wasn’t an airplane,” and “10 lights moving until they gathered together and disappeared.”

Takeshi Miyaji, Director of Ishigaki Island Observatory felt that the phenomenon was “not astronomical,” observing that these lights appeared to hang in the air. Typical meteorites would streak across the sky at great speeds before burning out. However, eye-witness reports claim that these particular lights seemed to float around for about 15 minutes before disappearing.

Judging by the video, those lights kind of seem like flares they way they first appear high and then look as if they are gently descending before fading out. Then again, if that were the case, you’d also think that residents of Okinawa and especially those working for the Okinawa Times would be no strangers to such routine testing.

As with any mystery video of this nature, it’s all up to the viewer to decide.

Source: Okinawa Times (Japanese)
Video: YouTube – TheOKINAWATIMES