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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Residents oppose NLP and U.S. Marines relocation to U.S. Iwakuni Base

In Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, about 3,500 people assembled on June 19 in protest against the planned relocation of NLP (night-landing practice) from Kanagawa and mid-air refueling aircraft from Okinawa to the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station.

The demonstrators braved the hot and humid weather to march to the Iwakuni base where they created a 2.5 km "human chain" to surround its northern perimeter.

Along with local activists' speeches, a message from Okinawa's Ginowan City Mayor Iha Yoichi was read. Miyao Katsuyuki, a representative of the organizing committee of the Japan Peace Conference and a resident of Kanagawa's Zama City which hosts the U.S. Atsugi Naval Air Station, said, "NLP must not be conducted in Iwakuni or Atsugi but within the U.S."

The participants were frightened by the roar of F18 fighters disturbing the speech delivered by Japanese Communist Party Lower House member Kokuta Keiji.

A 51-year-old woman living in Iwakuni City said, "We cannot even hear the TV because of the noise pollution. NLP relocation will destroy our daily life."

The Japanese and U.S. governments are planning to relocate NLP in the U.S. Atsugi Naval Base and mid-air refueling aircraft in the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station to the Iwakuni Base. A new off-shore runway is being built at the Iwakuni Base. - Akahata, June 20, 2005