The X account for Naval Forces Japan, headquartered at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, was temporarily hijacked by an unknown person on May 27, 2026. (X)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — U.S. Naval Forces Japan temporarily lost control of its official account on social media platform X on Wednesday when an unidentified person logged into it and changed some basic information.
The account, formerly under the handle of @CNFJ, was changed Wednesday morning to @hemma1931, according to posts on the account. The account typically posts in Japanese.
The command noticed the issue “first thing this morning,” and was able to secure the account after a few hours, according to Naval Forces Japan spokesman Cmdr. Joe Keiley.
“We are aware that the page was logged into by an unknown person, and we were able to recover and get back into the account,” he told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. “We’re working to update back to CNFJ, but it is in control and recovered by Naval Forces Japan.”
Keiley said he was not aware of any “inappropriate posts” and it didn’t appear the person tried to impersonate CNFJ or its commander, Rear Admiral Ian Johnson.
While hijacked, the page’s handle was changed, and the username was modified to “Em Blossom”, Yahoo! Japan reported Wednesday, citing screenshots circulating online. The page also changed its profile picture to a selfie of a woman, and its biography was changed to “pretty mess, devoted mutual / always follow back.”
While it was simple for the command to recover the account, Keiley said the process of updating the account name is taking more time.
He added that Naval Forces Japan plans to tighten up its cyber security practices but said there was no indication that a serious hacking attempt took place.
“Someone gained access to our account,” he said. “We were able to log in, change our password, and update our security to prevent them from logging back in.”
