What's Wrong with Miyuki Hatoyama's Alien Abduction Story

Robert Roy Britt

Date: 03 September 2009 Time: 08:47 AM ET

Miyuki Hatoyama, wife of Japan's Prime Minister-elect, Yukio Hatoyama, says she was abducted by aliens 20 years ago. Just for a night.

Two things make the story suspect. Well, okay, two things I'll choose to focus on here make the story suspect. In her words:

"While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus," she wrote in her book last year. "It was a very beautiful place, and it was very green."

Okay, Problem No. 1: The aliens only took you to Venus? How boring! I would think that if they're out there, they'd have more exotic destinations where it'd be harder for NASA to find them.

No. 2: Venus isn't green. If you're going to dream up hooey like this, the least you could do is crack open a reference book and get your planet colors right. The surface of Venus is brownish-red and it is a crushing place where humans would fry if they weren't first pulverized by the extreme air pressure.

(Probably this is a given, but Hatoyama also claims she knew Tom Cruise in a previous life, The Independent reports.)

Otherwise, Hatoyama's whimsical tale sounds about as plausible as other alien abduction accounts, which typically lack corroborating evidence and usually, after close inspection, contain more holes than facts. Meanwhile, let's hope Yukio Hatoyama keeps his feet on the ground and his head out of the clouds when making big decisions.

In The Water Cooler, Imaginova's Editorial Director Robert Roy Britt looks at what people are talking about in the world of science and beyond. Find more in the archives and on Twitter.