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A white spherical object spotted over Sendai, Japan in June 2020, left, and a suspected Chinese spy balloon being shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. (Nikkei montage/Kyodo/Reuters)
China up close

Analysis: Was object spotted over Japan in 2020 a Chinese spy balloon?

The flight path went above Self-Defense Force facilities

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer | China

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

It was a beautiful morning in Sendai on June 17, 2020, with a bright blue sky expanding over the northeastern Japanese city.

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