[fatima]

I would be careful with this apparition.
“Since 1973, when the events began, eleven years have passed. As that was the first time I was a witness of the rather extraordinary events, I went to Rome to the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1975 where I consulted Archbishop Hamer, deputy secretary of this Congregation, and whom I already knew. He explained to me that judgment regarding such a matter falls under the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary (bishop) of the diocese in question.

In 1976, I asked the archbishop of Tokyo for the creation of a commission of inquiry. This first commission declared that it was not in a position to prove the supernatural events of Akita. In 1979, I presented to the Congregation a request for the formation of a second commission of inquiry. This second commission permitted us to examine the facts still more in detail.

In 1981, a letter of the Congregation, unfavorable to the events, was sent to the nunciature in Tokyo. But this letter contained some misunderstandings. Esteeming it my duty to restore the exactitude of the facts, I re-examined all the facts in 1982 at the time that the mysterious events, seemingly, came to an end. Through the intermediary of the Apostolic Nuncio in Tokyo, I sent the complete dossier, augmented with the new facts, to Rome.

At the time of my trip to Rome in the month of October last year (1983) I was able to meet with three officials charged with the matter in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. At the end of this meeting we had decided that the dossier should remain under examination.”
Pastoral Letter of Bishop John Shojiro Ito April 22, 1984
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/akita_apparition.html

[topher]

I don't know if you were ever a part of the APAR-L. There were discussions of this and other events.

There was scientific investigation into the tears and the blood of the statue. The blood and tears were found to be human -- by Japanese scientific investigation.

[topher]

You posted:

I would be careful with this apparition.[Our Lady of Akita implied]

From the EWTN site (last line):

June, 1988—Vatican City—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gives definitive judgement on the Akita events and messages as reliable and worthy of belief.

Are you implying we should consider the work of Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) to be credible in this regard.

In terms of Our Lady of Fatima, there were various "supernatural" events to help promote the message.

In terms of Our Lady of Akita, the events have been proven to be supernatural and worthy of belief. The message may be considered private revelation.