Japan's Defense Ministry was urged to set up an office tasked with tackling UFOs at a meeting with a cross-party group of lawmakers on Friday.

The group, chaired by former Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, handed a proposal to the current defense chief, describing such sightings -- formally referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP -- as realistic and serious national security concerns.

"Our country has fallen behind in responding to UAP, while securing safety in territorial airspace and waters is an urgent matter," the group said, calling for the establishment of a Japanese version of the U.S. All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.

The Pentagon office was founded in 2022 to lead U.S. efforts to address UAP through a rigorous scientific framework and a data-driven approach.

The lawmakers also proposed that a new office regularly report the progress of UAP investigations to parliament and disclose information to the public, in addition to conducting scientific analysis of collected data and identifying potential threats.

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said, "We will make efforts to meet the expectations" of the group, which was formed last year.