A mysterious giant metal ball is washing up in Japan – prompting authorities to close the beach… so what is it?

A mysterious metal ball has washed up on a beach in Japan, leaving locals and Japanese authorities in the dark as to its origin or purpose.

The orb, about 5 feet in diameter, washed up on Enshu Beach in the Pacific coastal town of Hamamatsu, sparking a flurry of theories about what it could be.

Japanese authorities rushed bomb disposal teams to the coast yesterday amid initial fears it might be a sea mine, creating a 600-foot radius around the crime scene and preventing public access.

But an X-ray of the object showed that its rusting metal shell was just a shell whose insides had eroded.

There was also no indication that it was a surveillance or spying device used by nearby enemies China and North Korea.

Japanese authorities rushed to send bomb disposal teams to the coast yesterday amid initial fears it could be a sea mine

As panic set in, more mundane theories began to perpetuate themselves, the most important being that the sphere was a simple mooring buoy—characterized by a raised handle to which a rope could be attached—that detached and floated away.

But this theory also has its problems – such large metal buoys usually contain more components and materials in the outer shell to help with buoyancy.

The shell appears to be slightly yellow in color with brown spots probably caused by rust.

Investigators at the scene took several photos of the sphere and said they sent the images to the Coast Guard and military for further inspection and investigation.

Local residents interviewed by Japanese broadcaster NHK said they had also inspected the object and had no idea what it was.

“I tried to squeeze it, but it didn’t move,” one man told NHK.

Despite researchers’ insistence that the orb was not of Chinese origin, concerns about the object’s provenance persisted amid recent tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

After the United States shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon last week, Japanese authorities said they planned to clarify rules on military engagement to allow their fighter jets to shoot down airspace-violating unmanned aerial vehicles.

The shell appears to be slightly yellow in color with brown spots probably caused by rust. The Japanese authorities have yet to determine what the object is

The ball, about 1.5 meters in diameter, washed up on Enshu Beach in the Pacific coastal city of Hamamatsu

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts out to sea after being shot down offshore on February 4, 2023 in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, United States.

And today, at the Asian powers’ first formal security talks in four years, Tokyo focused on Beijing’s military ties to Russia and the alleged use of spy balloons in Japanese skies.

The talks, aimed at easing tensions between the world’s second- and third-largest economies, came amid fears in Tokyo that Beijing would use force to seize control of Taiwan after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. disrupt world trade.

Japan said in December it would double defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product — a total of $320 billion — over the next five years to discourage China from resorting to military action.

Beijing, which increased its defense spending by 7.1 percent last year, spends more than four times as much as Japan on its armed forces.

“While Japan-China relations offer many opportunities, we also face many challenges and concerns,” Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shigeo Yamada told his Chinese counterpart.

He cited their territorial dispute over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as Japan’s Senkaku and China’s Diaoyu, Beijing’s recent joint military exercises with Moscow, and the alleged Chinese surveillance balloons that have flown over Japan on at least three occasions since 2019 has.