Strange “crop-circle-like” patterns can be seen in a Japanese forest, but there’s no need to stoke theories that they are some sort of alien artwork.
Photos of the circles have been circulating online and have ended up on several blogs and popular-image-sharing site, 9GAG.
The pair of spiral formations — which can be seen on Google Earth — are actually the result of experiments by the Japanese government conducted more than 50 years ago.
According to a 1973 document from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, researchers had embarked on a project designed to examine tree spacing and its effect on growth.
According to the Japanese culture and art blog, Spoon and Tomago, the project had designated the area as an “experimental forest” near Nichinan City.
One of those experiments included researchers planting cedar trees spaced in ten-degree increments to eventually form ten concentric circles. This appears to have been done twice.
More than half a century later, the way the trees were planted produced a fanning pattern that can be seen from above.
Officials were planning on harvesting the trees in five years but, given the public interest, they said they’re now reconsidering the plan.
