>>15405213

notable

Inside a Dying Japanese Town Obsessed With Aliens

January 17, 2022, 1:28am

The town is home to a striking mountain that residents believe attracts flying saucers.

Nestled among wooded mountains outside Fukushima city lies the small town of Iino.

Home to fewer than 1,900 people, the town breathes silence. Abandoned roads lead to nowhere and some storefronts remain shuttered all year round. A fine layer of dust covers the squat frame of the city’s tourist center.

But in the midst of the eerie stillness, there are tell-tale signs that Iino isn’t just another deserted, earthly town.

Statues of aliens stand proudly all across the town. Its mascot is a small white alien piloting a golden flying saucer that makes random appearances on closed storefronts, local souvenir shops, and the empty town plaza. Unsurprisingly, one of Iino’s most prized dishes is ramen, served in a bowl made of stones rumored to attract extraterrestrial visitors.

Stories of alien sightings and landings of mysterious aircraft have emerged from Iino as far back as the 1970s. Tsugio Kinoshita, a researcher of unidentified flying objects, said he first saw such an UFO in 1972 at the age of 25.

Kinoshita was hiking a mountain in Fukushima prefecture with four friends when suddenly a saucer-like shape appeared in front of them. “This thing stuck out in front of me. Starting and stopping in the blue sky. Then all of a sudden, it was gone,” he told VICE World News.

In September 2020, Japan launched protocols to analyze aerial phenomena, encouraging Iino’s alien believers to open in June the country’s first-ever lab aiming to observe UFOs. Now a key researcher at Iino’s UFO lab, Kinoshita believes aliens tried to make contact with him to let him know they exist. “‘We’re here, too, on the other side of the distant sky.’ I think they just wanted us to know that,” he said.

In Iino, stories of alien life have for decades revolved around the pyramid-shaped Mount Senganmori and its nearby wilderness. The summit has given rise to rumors that it was artificially constructed by aliens. Some even believe an alien airbase lies underneath.

These rumors started around the same time that lino, like many other rural towns in Japan, started grappling with an aging population and a declining birthrate. Fears of radiation poisoning pushed residents out in droves after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake triggered devastating tsunamis and the meltdown of nuclear power plants in Fukushima prefecture, killing more than 18,000 people.

“People with children and such left the prefecture. Those people won’t come back. Ten years have passed, but they won’t come back,” Iino’s UFO lab director Toshio Kanno told VICE World News.

Since his alleged 1972 sighting, Kinoshita has dedicated himself to uncovering the universe’s greatest mysteries and collecting as much information as he can find about extraterrestrial life. He compiles what he refers to as a newspaper of all alien encounters people report to him.

“I don’t dismiss people’s stories. First of all, I listen to what people have to say, and then I draw what can be drawn, and then I transcribe what can be transcribed, and then I make a handmade newspaper,” he said.

Documentation is key. “The first and most important goal is to collect videos and photos” of the objects, Iino’s UFO lab director Kanno said.

>>15405539

To Kanno, collecting such data could prove that aliens exist. “In this world, in the wide universe, I’m sure there’s some type of creature besides us that doesn’t live on Earth,” he said. Kanno himself has not seen an alien aircraft, but has faith he will one day.

The center accepts international reports of alien life, then investigates each claim with the sources provided to determine whether it is credible. Among its files, the laboratory also houses about 935 copies of declassified CIA reports, given to it by the avid Japanese UFO researcher Kinichi Arai.

Kanno said the strongest evidence of alien life collected by the center is declassified CIA reports of flying objects not operated by humans. The center also has photographs of such objects, submitted by witnesses, who believe flying saucers were operated by aliens.

CIA reports, recently released by U.S. intelligence authorities, document several unexplained flying objects detected over nearly two decades. In one instance, from 2014 to 2015, Navy pilots reported being unsettled by sightings of flying objects that could reach 30,000 feet and hypersonic speeds without a visible engine. Although U.S. officials found no evidence of alien technology at play, they could not rule it out either.

Japan itself has its own history of UFO sightings. Stories of a hollow saucer-shaped ship landing off the coast of northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture, where Mount Senganmori is located, date as far back as 1803, over a century before the sightings in Iino. Historical documents, including illustrations, describe a pale-faced woman wading ashore in a vessel which looks uncannily similar to a flying saucer.

Japan’s former first lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, has also recounted being abducted by aliens in a triangular-shaped flying saucer. In a book she published in 2008, Hatoyama wrote, “While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus.” She gave her book the title “Very Strange Things I’ve Encountered.”

But behind the push to make Iino an even greater alien-watching hub is also the hope for the town’s revival.

Long before Iino’s alien research lab was created in 2020, the town had established the UFO Fureaikan in 1992, a museum documenting alleged extraterrestrial life. The town received funding from the Japanese government, which distributed grants between 1988 and 1989 to revitalize languishing regions. Inside, the museum displays statues of various human conceptions of aliens and literature about such creatures, and screens a film about alien lore.

Kanno, the director of the UFO lab, said about half of the visitors to the center are tourists from outside Fukushima prefecture. “It’s because so many people are interested in UFOs. When people like that come here, it leads to the revitalization of the town,” he said.

Though the museum is far from making any significant profit, Kanno said it serves more than a financial purpose—it is a space for those who believe in the unknown that lies beyond immediate reality.

“It’s a big universe, so there are a lot of ways to look at something. I think it’s very important to have dreams,” he said.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxdxx5/japan-aliens-iino

>>15405560

What a way to go.

He almost had it, too.

>>15405257

>published two children's books

Whoever wrote that is missing a few books from the series.

>>15405341

88 recognized constellations

The Verge

Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion

Microsoft is acquiring Activision, the troubled publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo. The deal will value Activision at $68.7 billion, far in excess of the $26 billion Microsoft paid to acquire LinkedIn in 2016. It’s Microsoft’s biggest push into gaming, and the company says it will be the “third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony” once the deal closes.

Microsoft plans to add many of Activision’s games to Xbox Game Pass once the deal closes. With the acquisition of Activision, Microsoft will soon publish franchises like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. “Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog,” says Microsoft’s CEO of gaming Phil Spencer.

Xbox Game Pass now has 25 million subscribers, as Microsoft continues to acquire studios to boost the subscription service.

“We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all,” says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Microsoft’s deal comes after months of sexual harassment claims against Activision Blizzard. Last July, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) sued Activision Blizzard for promoting a culture of “constant sexual harassment.” More employees have come forward with more allegations of sexual misconduct ever since, and the company reached an $18 million settlement with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September. That settlement is being appealed, and reports indicate that nearly 40 Activision Blizzard employees have reportedly “exited” the company since last July.

Microsoft doesn’t detail exactly how it will approach solving these issues, and the company says Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard for now. It looks like Kotick won’t remain once the deal is fully closed and after the transition period to Microsoft, though. Spencer, formerly head of gaming at Microsoft, is now CEO of Microsoft Gaming, and the company says the Activision Blizzard business will report directly to Spencer.

“As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players,” says Spencer. “We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.”

Microsoft’s huge Activision Blizzard deal comes nearly a year after the company acquired Bethesda (ZeniMax Media) for $7.5 billion. At the time, that acquisition bolstered the company’s first-party Xbox game studios to a total of 23 and was seen as a huge boost for Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft now expects the Activision Blizzard deal “to close in fiscal year 2023,” which means we might not see this deal approved for up to 18 months. That’s a long period of time for a deal to close, but Activision Blizzard operates in a number of markets, which could make regulatory approval more complicated for Microsoft.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/18/22889258/microsoft-activision-blizzard-xbox-acquisition-call-of-duty-overwatch

Dana White Reacts to Joe Rogan called “Menace to Public Health”

https://youtu.be/fdvGjOsWor0

>>15405812

>not in the white house

kek