【Japan x Alien!?】Inspired by one of Japan's top three UFO events, the legendary Kofu Alien comes to life based on eyewitness accounts in a metallic 3D model!

If asked “What is a famous UFO incident that happened in Japan?”, what comes up as a candidate for that is the “Kofu Incident”. The plastic model born with the motif of such a mysterious Showa event is “Alien of Kofu Incident - ver.ZO - Metallic brown”. Rather than simply making an alien into a 3D figure, the part where unique sculpting expressions are added while using eyewitness stories that have actually been handed down as a foundation is interesting in this single figure. Hearing “alien model”, you might imagine a grey-type or monstrous figure such as appearing in movies. However, what this model is wearing is a more Showa-like and strange air. Somewhere nostalgic, yet staring at it makes one strangely restless. Looking scary, yet somehow feeling even charm. Isn't that conflicting impression the very charm unique to this alien?

If enjoying this model, what you want to know first is the Kofu Incident that became the motif. Around 6:30 PM on February 23, 1975 (Showa 50), two elementary school students playing near a vineyard near Kamimachi Housing Complex in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, witnessed an orange object flying in the sky. Afterward, it is said that they encountered a mysterious creature thought to be an alien. You might think “Wasn't it just children misidentifying?”, but the reason why this event is known to the present is not only that. In those days there were also multiple other eyewitness stories, and furthermore physical evidence said to be traces of landing remained at the site, becoming a big topic and eventually becoming known nationwide as one of “Japan's top three UFO incidents”. A visitor from space talked about in Japan more than half a century ago. Thinking that its presence can be gazed at as a modern model, there is truly romance.

Speaking of “Then is it a model faithfully reproducing the witnessed alien?”, the charm of this model rather lies one step beyond that. Handling the prototype sculpting of “Alien of Kofu Incident ver.ZO” was sculptor Genzo Ihara. The sculpting created as an example work for “Hobby Japan H.M.S. Fantasy Model World UMA - Unidentified Mysterious Animal -” (published February 27, 2024) is commercialized as a plastic model. While keeping features and important points readable from eyewitness information, bringing in interpretations unique to a sculpting artist there is the feature. In other words, this is not something mechanically replacing materials into 3D, but a work where you can enjoy imagination as 3D sculpting: “What if the existence witnessed back then was truly in a figure like this?”. People who know the incident want to gaze at details all the more, and for people knowing for the first time, it becomes such an entrance making them want to investigate up to the event that became the origin.

And what cannot be omitted when talking about this sculpting is the retro-future feel. Differing from sophisticated aliens appearing in the latest SF works, images of “future” or “space” envisioned by people of Showa drift somewhere. It seems as if suddenly appearing here from the world of old SF magazines or tokusatsu works, and yet possesses a unique presence that does not settle into simple nostalgia. Although supposed to have a creepy atmosphere, that a little familiarity wells up when continuing to gaze is also a strange part. Precisely because it is a design where impressions sway thinking “Scary... no, maybe a bit cute”, individuality different from ordinary alien figures stands out.

Deciding “Such things are for UFO maniacs” is a slightly wasteful model. Because the Japanese mystery history named Kofu Incident, the background of the era named 1970s, interpretation by the sculptor, and the sculpting theme named retro-future connect into one, not to mention people who like bizarre incidents, there are elements striking people collecting Showa culture, tokusatsu, UMA, and unique plastic models. Presence likely to be asked “What is this?” if displayed on a shelf is sufficient. At that time, if starting to speak “Actually it is based on a famous UFO incident that happened in Kofu in 1975...”, the model itself becomes a single story.

“Alien of Kofu Incident - ver.ZO - Metallic brown” is not a plastic model merely enjoying novel aliens. It is a 3D work born by overlapping mysterious events and eyewitness testimonies left in 1975, the imagination of the sculpting artist who received them, and modern model culture. Was it truly an alien, or was it something else? Precisely because that answer does not come out easily, the Kofu Incident still attracts interest now, and room for imagination remains even in this model that shaped that mystery. After completing and displaying, the moment eyes suddenly meet making you think “What on earth was happening in the vineyard of Kofu on that day in 1975?”. It is a slightly unusual plastic model enjoyable including up to such time.