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Yasukazu Hamada

Politician

Japanese LDP legislator and former defense minister who chairs Japan's cross-party UAP parliamentary league.

Occupation — Member of the House of Representatives (Japan)

Disclosure Rating — 6/10

Yasukazu Hamada (浜田靖一) was born on October 21, 1955, in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.12 He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and has represented Chiba's 12th district in the House of Representatives across eleven election victories.12 Hamada served as Minister of Defense twice: first under Prime Minister Taro Aso from 2008 to 2009, and again under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida from August 2022 to 2023.23

  Founding the UAP parliamentary league

On June 6, 2024, a cross-party parliamentary league focused on unidentified anomalous phenomena was formally established at its inaugural meeting, with Hamada serving as chair (会長).45 The league's full Japanese name is 安全保障から考える未確認異常現象解明議員連盟 -- the Parliamentary League for Clarifying Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena from a National Security Perspective -- though it is commonly called the UFO parliamentary league (UFO議連).46

Twenty-eight Diet members participated in the June 6 inaugural session.7 Founding members included Shinjiro Koizumi (former Environment Minister) as secretary-general and Shigeru Ishiba (then a former defense minister) as supreme adviser.57 Membership subsequently grew to approximately 90 lawmakers drawn from across the political spectrum, including the LDP, Komeito, the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Japan Innovation Party, and others; that figure derives from secondary aggregators reporting in mid-to-late 2024 and should be treated as an estimate rather than an official roster.67

Christopher Mellon, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, attended the inaugural meeting virtually and addressed members -- a detail widely reported in both Japanese and English-language coverage.7 The league's stated model for any future specialist department is the U.S. Defense Department's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).6

Japan's own UAP-adjacent official record predates the league. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force adopted an intercept protocol for UAP in 2020, and Japan Airlines cargo flight 1628 -- the 1986 Japan Airlines Flight 1628 incident near Fairbanks, Alaska -- remains among the most documented historical UAP sightings tied to Japanese aviation.

  Proposal to the Ministry of Defense

On May 16, 2025, Hamada, in his capacity as league chair, personally delivered a formal written proposal (提言書) to Defense Minister Gen Nakatani at the Ministry of Defense.8 The proposal contained three requests: establish a dedicated specialist department within the Ministry of Defense to collect, investigate, and analyze UAP data; publicly disclose findings to citizens; and regularly report investigation progress to the Diet.8 League co-representatives present at the meeting included Seiji Maehara of the Japan Innovation Party.8

Nakatani responded by pledging that 'if something new comes to light that should be communicated to the public and the Diet, we will make continuous efforts to disclose it promptly.'8 That reply was reported by Nikkei Shimbun and Jiji Press; it has not been independently confirmed through a Ministry of Defense press release in the sources reviewed here, and should be treated as reported-but-not-primary-verified.

As of June 2026, no dedicated UAP specialist department or office has been formally established within Japan's Ministry of Defense.8 The May 2025 proposal remains a formal request, not an implemented policy.

  Later advocacy

A subsequent proposal addressed to the Chief Cabinet Secretary -- requesting a cross-ministerial UAP coordination mechanism centered on the Cabinet Secretariat -- was reported by the Tokyo Shimbun in May 2026.9 The precise date and full details of that later proposal were not confirmed from primary Ministry or Cabinet sources during this research, and the claim that a Cabinet-level framework exists or has been adopted is not established.

  Dossier assessment

Hamada's role in Japan's UAP policy record is documented through his founding chairmanship of the UFO parliamentary league and his direct delivery of the May 2025 proposal to the defense minister. His prior service as defense minister twice gives the league institutional credibility within Japan's defense establishment. The league has succeeded in formally placing UAP on the Diet's legislative agenda; whether that translates into a standing MoD investigative office remains an open question as of the date of this entry.

  References

  References

  1. Hamada Yasukazu official profile, office-hamada.jp https://office-hamada.jp/profile/ ↩ ↩2

  2. HAMADA Yasukazu -- LDP English Profile, Liberal Democratic Party of Japan https://www.jimin.jp/english/profile/members/114634.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Yasukazu Hamada -- Wikipedia (English) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasukazu_Hamada ↩

  4. 超党派UFO議連が発足 安全保障の観点で専門機関設置めざす, Nikkei Shimbun, 2024-06-06 https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA061TY0W4A600C2000000/ ↩ ↩2

  5. UFO議連、宇宙人以外にも備え 安保の脅威、「国の独立守る」, Jiji Press Seikaiweb, 2024-07-12 https://www.jiji.com/jc/v8?id=20240712seikaiweb ↩ ↩2

  6. Japan sets up parliamentary group to probe UFO sightings, South China Morning Post, 2024-06-06 https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264559/japan-sets-parliamentary-group-probe-ufo-sightings-move-research-mainstream ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Japan Launches UAP Investigation Following U.S. Report, The Debrief, 2024-06-06 https://thedebrief.org/japan-launches-uap-investigation-following-u-s-report-identifying-region-as-hotspot-for-sightings/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. 「UFOの調査部署を」 超党派議連、中谷元防衛相に提言, Nikkei Shimbun, 2025-05-16 https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA165760W5A510C2000000/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. 今や「宇宙人」じゃなく「政府の危機管理」の問題…超党派「UFO議連」が対応強化を官房長官に提言, Tokyo Shimbun, 2026-05-28 https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/491244 ↩

Born on October 21, 1955

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