 Yokohama residents hold a rally in opposition to building additional U.S. military housing units On December 5, about 1,000 residents in Kanagawa's Yokohama City held a rally in protest against a plan to build additional U.S. military housing units in their community. The Japanese and U.S. governments plan to construct an additional 700 housing units in the U.S. Navy Ikego residential area that stretches between Yokohama and Zushi cities in Kanagawa Prefecture. On behalf of the organizing committee, Kikutani Setsuo, president of the Kanagawa Confederation of Trade Unions, criticized Yokohama Mayor Nakata Hiroshi for accepting the construction plan. The rally received a message from Zushi Mayor Nagashima Kazuyoshi who filed a lawsuit against the government demanding that the government comply with the promise it made with the city not to construct additional housing units in Zushi. Speaking on behalf of the Japanese Communist Party, JCP House of Councilors member Koike Akira pointed out that the construction of U.S. military housing units is part of the plan to station a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Yokosuka Port in Kanagawa Prefecture under the U.S. military realignment. (end) |