Eerie pillars of light photographed in sky above Japan

Earlier this week, eerie pillars of light were photographed in the sky above the Sea of Japan off the coast of the Tottori Prefecture.

"When I looked up at the night sky in front of my house, I saw several streaks of light in the sky," commented one of the witnesses who spotted the strange phenomena above the fishing town of Daisen.

This could be evidence that the first stage of an alien invasion is upon us. Barring that, maybe it's just lights from off-shore fishing boats refracted by the clouds above. Indeed, one resident of the town told Hint Pot that he's seen this a handful of times since moving from Tokyo to Daisen.

Previously: 
Astonishing photos of huge ships mysteriously floating in the air above UK seas
• This UFO hovering over Glacier Bay in Alaska is being dismissed as an optical illusion