日本高官：我堅信UFO的存在
Japan's top government spokesman says he believes in UFOs
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 Machimuraafter 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 drawn 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 opposition 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 spotted "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 endorsed 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.
日本最高政府發言人於本週二表示，他相信不明飛行物（UFO: Unidentified Flying Object）的存在。
日本內閣官房長官町村信孝說：“我個人堅信UFO的存在。”在他發表這番言論之前，日本政府發表了一份官方聲明稱，政府目前尚未證實不明飛行物的存在。
町村信孝說，（如果沒有UFO的存在），就無法解釋祕魯的納斯卡沙漠中“納斯卡圖案”的成因。古老而巨大的納斯卡圖案只能從空中鳥瞰纔可識別，所以有些人認爲這是外星人所爲。
爲了迴應一位反對黨立法委員有關UFO問題的質詢，日本政府於本週二發表書面聲明稱，日本空軍經常在飛行器附近發現“鳥類和其它物體”，但從未發現過不明飛行物。這位立法委員稱，既然很多人稱自己親眼見過UFO，那麼政府應該想辦法確定是否存在UFO。
聲明稱：“政府目前無法確定所謂‘來自外星的不明飛行物’的存在。”
“目前政府沒有蒐集有關UFO的信息、未與其它國家交換過這方面的信息，也沒有開展這方面的專門研究。”這是日本政府首次就UFO問題發表官方聲明。
聲明中提到：“政府還沒有考慮萬一UFO‘來訪’，應採取何種應對措施的問題。”
該聲明在本週二的內閣會議上正式通過。
懷疑論者稱，人們看到的所謂“不明飛行物”只不過是飛行器或是闖入地球大氣層的流星，並不是什麼外星人。
extraterrestrial:來自地球以外星球的物體、生命或力量
