Does a statue at an ancient shrine in southern Japan depict an alien abduction? Some Modern UFOlogists think it does.

The statue depicts the very old and popular legend of Urashima: Taro the Fisherman. In the 8th century folktale Taro saves the life of a injured tortoise and is rewarded with a journey to an undersea kingdom. There he sees many things of wonder, including a huge and luxurious subterranean palace. If that wasn’t enough, the tortoise he saved has now transformed herself into a beautiful princess. She brings Taro to her father, the Emperor, who thanks him for saving his daughter and gives Taro special, magical powers. But all is not well. The Emperor warns the young man that he can never leave the undersea kingdom again.

After only three days Taro becomes unbearably homesick. He begs the princess to help him. She agrees and takes him back to where they first met, to the shore where he saved her life. The princess tells Taro they can never meet again. She gives him a gift – a small wooden box that he is not to open. She then vanishes beneath the waves.

When Taro enters his village he realizes something is terribly wrong. He doesn’t recognize anyone or anything. The villagers gather around him, wondering who this intruder is. He explains and they tell him they heard a tale of a fisherman who had vanished in the sea and was never seen again. This, they say, happened three hundred years ago!

Taro realizes to his horror that during the three days he spent in the kingdom, three hundred years had actually passed. Saddened and confused, he opens the box. The legend goes on to say that the villagers then witnessed the young Taro instantly age into a feeble old man. Some versions have him perish here, leaving nothing behind but the small wooden box.

Could this innocent folktale actually be one of the earliest recorded cases of alleged alien abduction?

There are similarities. First, the most obvious connection to abduction accounts would be the element of what research pioneer Budd Hopkins called missing time – in this case, three hundred years of it in which the victim has no knowledge of losing. Though the argument could be made that the Urashima story involves and element of time travel and not missing time.

Did he grow gills? The ability of Taro to breathe underwater may hint to a specific genre of UFO sightings: the so-called Underwater UFOs. There are many reports around the world of craft entering and exiting the ocean effortlessly, without disturbing the surface of the water. Researchers speculate this may be due to some kind of Force-field. An energy barrier such as this could also explain how Taro could breath underwater. When reading the legend’s description of Taro being transported ‘by magic’, one is reminded of Arthur C. Clark’s famous quote:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

That brings us to the one point that originally caught the eye of modern UFOlogists and abduction researchers. It is perhaps the most whimsical, as well. In some versions of the story the tortoise is depicted without a shell and standing upright and communicating in Taro’s language without speaking. One doesn’t have to think long and hard to remember the lovable character in Steven Spielberg’s film E.T. who looks remarkably like a tortoise without a shell, indeed possessing unique magical powers.

Is this just a case of life imitating art – or the reverse? Did Steven Spielberg refer to this tale or was it sheer coincidence? We do know that when the director screened the film to then President Ronald Reagan, the Commander-in-Chief commented afterward that only a handful of people in the world knew how true the film was. Spielberg has said many times since that this comment unnerved him and that it wasn’t said in a joking manner like Reagan was known for. Nor did anyone in the room laugh.

More coincidence or just movie gossip, perhaps?

In any case, if you happen to find yourself in the small village of Ine in northern Kyoto, stop in at the local shrine. You’ll see modern statues depicting Urashima Taro and his princess. Inside one of the buildings, there in the corner without any fanfare, you might be able to make out a very old and faded small wooden box. It might be best to leave it unopened.