iwakuni

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Deployment of U.S. carrier air wing to U.S. Iwakuni base is unacceptable: municipality heads

Mayors of five cities surrounding the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture have told the central government that they refuse to accept the plan to relocate the aircraft carrier air wing from Atsugi Air Facility to Iwakuni. The mayors conveyed their message to the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Agency, and the Defense Facilities Administration Agency on November 9.

The relocation of the U.S. carrier air wing is part of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan which the U.S. and Japanese governments agreed on in the bilateral Security Consultative Committee meeting late in October.

Of the five cities, Hatsuka-ichi, Otake, and Etajima cities compose the Association against U.S. NLP at Iwakuni base. The other two cities are Hiroshima and Miyoshi.

Hatsuka-ichi City Mayor Yamashita Saburo stressed that if the air wing comes and holds training exercises at Iwakuni, it will force intolerable sacrifices on residents by its noise and touch-and-go exercises. They will adversely affect the World Heritage Miyajima and its natural environment.

"There is no alternatives but to cancel the relocation plan," he said. -- Akahata, November 10, 2005