Laser incidents targeting aircraft have been reported in eight of the 47 prefectures since 2010, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

"We will keep taking strict measures" as needed, Commissioner-General Masahito Kanetaka said in a news conference without disclosing the exact number of incidents.

According to the agency, the reports in the eight prefectures involved commercial, Self-Defense Forces and U.S. military aircraft between July 2010 and November this year.

The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, which has records of laser incidents since July 2010, has said 152 cases involving commercial aircraft have been reported to date.

The eight prefectures are Hokkaido, Okinawa, Ibaraki, Gunma, Kanagawa, Aichi, Ishikawa and Osaka.

Police arrested a man earlier this month on suspicion of beaming a laser at a U.S. military aircraft flying near a U.S. base in Okinawa.

Also this month, MSDF officials confirmed that laser-like beams, possibly from pointers, have targeted U.S. military and Maritime Self-Defense Force aircraft at least 70 times during nighttime landing operations at the Atsugi air base in Kanagawa Prefecture since fiscal 2013.