 U.S. Marine artillery unit to move to SDF training field in Hokkaido The Japanese and U.S. governments are planning to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps artillery unit stationed in Okinawa to the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) Yausubetsu exercise field in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost prefecture. Kawase Hanji owns a piece of land inside the Yausubetsu exercise field, which is the biggest SDF training field in Japan. For over 40 years, the 78-year-old farmer has been refusing to accept the Japanese government's request to give up his land. Hearing artillery shells fired is a part of Kawase's everyday life. He said, "Some say that the U.S. Marines will not move to Yausubetsu because it is frozen during winter, but they come here every winter to practice." Since the Japan-U.S. Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO) agreed to reduce the burdens of U.S. forces activities on Okinawans in 1996, the U.S. Marine Corps artillery units have been conducting live-shell firing exercises with 155 mm howitzers four times a year in five different GSDF training fields on mainland Japan, including Yausubetsu in Hokkaido and Higashifuji in Shizuoka Prefecture. In Yausubetsu, the U.S. Marine Corps unit is also carrying out training exercises to cope with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, exercises that were never conducted in Okinawa. Ura Funasaburo, a 66-year-old landowner living inside the Yausubetsu training area, is concerned because the Japanese government has been spending large amounts of money as part of its effort to strengthen facilities in the exercise ground since the artillery unit began to conduct the practice there. He said, "Trees in an impact area were all cut down, and a new impact area was created. We have seen significant changes inside and outside this field." Quarters and dining halls for U.S. forces, three towers for the observation of impact areas, as well as nine electric bulletin boards were set up. The U.S. forces have reportedly requested the Japanese government to improve conditions at the local airport and seaport as well as to construct housing units and welfare facilities for U.S. military personnel and their families in preparation for a partial relocation of Okinawa-stationed U.S. Marines. Ura said, "In Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. Marine Corps are always the first ones to attack and kill people. We continue to tell local people what it means to allow such a unit to live in our community." (end) |