Japan begins bold hunt to find aliens in space: 'They must exist somewhere'

Officially, Japan has launched the search for aliens, as a group of top astronomers is formed, comprising the country's first-ever organization dedicated to SETI – the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

The search will begin as early as next summer, when the group will scan space's deepest corner for potential signals using radio observations.

Shinya Narusawa, an astrophysicist at the University of Hyogo, tells the South China Morning Post that he is hopeful of finding alien life in the universe.

“They must exist somewhere in the universe. I’m excited to be putting this into action,” he says.

A group of nearly 10 experts is beginning their search from the Sagittarius constellation at the Misato Observatory in Wakayama Prefecture, a region where, back in 1977, signals of an alien transmission were detected.

Known as 'Wow! Signal', it was first detected by a U.S. telescope, regarding this as the strongest signal transmitted by potential extraterrestrial life.

The astronomer group, however, has far larger ambitions than just a one-time scan.

“We want to eventually build a research network in Japan comparable to that in the United States,” Narusawa said.

“I hope people learn about our efforts to search for extraterrestrial civilisations, and that it can also prompt us to rethink Earth, where wars between humans continue," he concluded.