On Feb. 22 , 1803 , a foreign sauceboat washed ashore in Japan . It was something the fisherman there had never picture before — a saucer - shaped vessel , with window on top and alloy band below . Inside they found unknown writing etched into the walls , unusual fabrics they equate to bedsheets or carpet , and a rider , a young , beautiful woman clutching a square box . She had red-faced fuzz and pale pink skin , and she wear down fine dress , also made from strange fabric .
She talk an unfamiliar voice communication and refused to break the contents of the box she keep . Could she have been an alien of some form ? Did these humble Japanese fisherman witness a close encounter ? The innkeeper of Stuff They Do n’t Want You To make love , Matt Frederick and Ben Bowlin , examine the evidence in the podcastUtsuro - Bune : Ancient Nipponese unidentified flying object .
The fable of the floor is know as the utsuro - bune , or " hollow ship . " The fishermen at the time theorized that the fair sex was a princess from a extraneous dry land , exiled for a fervid affair with a peasant . Perhaps she carried the head of her deceased lover in the boxful , and protect it so carefully for that rationality . at last the fishermen resolve to put her back in her ship and fix her adrift to meet her fate .
Over time , some have advise the fishermen encountered an foreign , not a woman . The sauceboat obviously was n’t aUFO , because it did n’t fly , but it could have been a USO , or unidentified poor boy aim . The most compelling evidence is the ship itself . In the text describe the incident , the men compare the ship to a rice mickle or an incense burner . The metal bands and hard trash windows were nothing the fishermen had seen before . And the writing on the ship has beencompared to like exotic symbolsfound on the hull of crafts fromRoswell , New Mexicoand the Rendlesham Forest incident .
There are more plausible explanations behind the skirmish , however . Others evoke the woman was Russian and coming to persuade the Japanese to trade with them — or even tospyon them . The incident occurred duringthe Edo periodwhen Japan ’s borders were rigorously controlled , and the state swap only with China and the Netherlands . That isolation could also account for why the ship looked so unfamiliar to the fisher . orotund ship were not uncommon at the time , but the metal and glass encasings were .
The simplest account is that a pear-shaped log - boat was covered with a dome to make it more seaworthy . But what about the writing on the ship , and the mysterious box the young woman carried ? Could there really have been more to the story than meets the eye?Listen to the podcastto see what Matt and Ben imagine and then adjudicate for yourself .
