She's lived in Tokyo for the past fifteen years or so. She was born in Japan and her Japanese is native fluent. The reports of UFOs were primarily from TV sources and likely quite difficult to vet.
Normally, I don't put much stock in such accounts however, there were so many reports that (IMO) the preponderance lent some weight to the validity.
I'm the first to admit that this is more speculative than scientific and I applaud your method of vetted sources.