opposition5

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Protests continue

Governors and mayors as well as local assemblies of municipalities where the U.S. and Japanese governments plan to strengthen the functions of U.S. forces have told defense officials that the so-called U.S. military "transformation" plans are unacceptable.

Yamaguchi governor

On November 5, Yamaguchi Prefectural Governor Nii Sekinari, Iwakuni Mayor Ihara Katsusuke, and Yu-u Town Head Makimoto Toshimitsu reiterated their opposition to the plan to relocate an air wing of the aircraft carrier, currently based at U.S. Atsugi Naval Station near Tokyo to the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station.

At a news conference held after meeting with the Defense Facilities Administration Agency Director General Kitahara Iwao, they said: "We have said that the plan represents an unprincipled transfer of noise pollution and that it will mean holding night-time touch-and-go exercises (night-landing practices or NLPs), and these concerns of ours have not been cleared by the (Defense Facilities Administration Agency director general's) explanation."

They had been told by Kitahara that four aircraft equipped with early warning systems will be among the aircraft to be deployed to the Iwakuni base and that they would carry out NLPs.

Hiroshima vice governor

In Hiroshima on the same day, the deputy prefectural governor and the mayor of Otake City, which is next to Iwakuni City, expressed opposition to the plan to relocate an air wing of the aircraft carrier to Iwakuni from the U.S. Navy Atsugi Air Station.

In a meeting with DFAA Director General Kitahara Iwao, Hiroshima Prefecture Deputy Governor Taguchi Naofumi expressed concern that "noise pollution and the danger of accidents may increase."

Kadena Town Assembly

Okinawa's Kadena Town Assembly on November 4 held an extraordinary session to discuss the recent report on the Japan-U.S. agreement to realign U.S. forces in Japan, and adopted a resolution expressing opposition to the plan for the U.S. Kadena Air Base to be also used by Japan's Air Self-Defense Force.

The resolution said: "The Japan-U.S. plan calls for the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station (Ginowan City) to be relocated to another place within Okinawa Prefecture in exchange for a return of most base sites south of Kadena Air Base. This package proposal, that includes a relocation of military exercises, is an insult to Okinawans. The relocation of the Futenma base should be dealt with separately from measures to be taken to reduce local burdens." -- Akahata, November 5, 2005