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Seize opportunity to show the unyielding determination of citizens
Akahata editorial

Visiting U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Richard P. Lawless told Japan's Defense Agency Director-General Nukaga Fukushiro that Japan must think what is important for Japan before worrying over local objections, thus blaming Japan for the fierce local opposition to the interim report (October 2005) on the U.S. military "transformation and realignment." The Japanese and U.S. governments are in complete disregard of local opinions.

In these circumstances, the mayor of Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, has decided to hold a referendum on March 12 regarding the plan to relocate the U.S. carrier-borne air wing from U.S. Atsugi Naval Station to U.S. Marine Iwakuni Air Station. The city has made clear that the proposed transfer is unacceptable. The referendum has national significance in that it is the first since the interim report was published.

Defend local self-government

In October 2004, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro said, "The government will seek to obtain local governments' consent to the U.S. military realignment plan before negotiating with the United States." In fact, neither prior consultations nor detailed information were offered to local governments concerned. The central government is instead trying to impose the Japan-U.S. agreements on local governments. By making empty promises to "seek their understanding and sincerely explain to them," the government completely disregarded local concerns. A clear example of this was an e-mail message from the Defense Facilities Administration Agency local procurement office to local Defense Facilities Administration bureaus instructing them to block local assemblies from adopting resolutions opposing U.S. base relocations.

Imposing U.S. military realignment on local governments is a clear violation of the principle of local autonomy. U.S. military realignment entails increased noise pollution and possible crashes of U.S. military aircraft, as well as crimes committed by military personnel. This is why local governments are opposed to the U.S. military realignment plan that threatens the peaceful life and safety of residents. It is necessary to demand that the central government listen to the local opinions opposing the imposition of U.S. military realignment schemes.

The Iwakuni referendum will have national significance in the sense that at stake is the defense of local autonomy and that it will represent local opposition to the U.S. realignment plan.

If the 58 U.S. carrier aircraft-based aircraft are relocated from the U.S. Atsugi Naval Air Base in Kanagawa Prefecture to the U.S. Iwakuni base under the plan, it will bring the total number of U.S. fighters deployed at the base to more than 90, turning Iwakuni into a huge air base.

Noise pollution from round-the-clock flights by fighter jets will not only disturb Iwakuni residents but affect a wide range of areas in Yamaguchi and Hiroshima Prefectures, including the World Heritage Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima. Low-altitude flight exercises will also increase drastically. An increase in the number of U.S. military personnel will make citizens concerned about an increase in serious crimes.

It is unjustifiable that the central government forces local residents to accept the plan to realign U.S. military forces without paying attention to problems and hardships caused to local residents. Undoubtedly, the plan will force local taxpayers to pay even more. We must stop the government from pushing ahead with this plan by deceiving the public with the argument that it will "reduce local burdens."

The U.S. plan to realign its forces in Japan will turn Japan into a stepping-stone for U.S. preemptive wars. The planned relocation of the U.S. Navy aircraft unit from Atsugi to Iwakuni to integrate them with Iwakuni's Marine Corps air-wing will further strengthen the function of the U.S. forces in Japan as a "strike force." Also, transformed U.S. and Japanese SDF bases in Japan will assume a key role in U.S. war policy. We must stop Japan from being used as a base that threatens peace in Asia and the world.

Let's make full use of Article 9

The majority of people in Asia and throughout the world want disputes solved peacefully instead of by means of war. The Japanese people, with Article 9 of the Constitution that prohibits war even more rigorously than the U.N. Charter join the world-wide movement to defend peace.

Let's make a success of the Iwakuni vote for the citizens' peaceful life and safety . Its success will be a great contribution to world peace.
-- Akahata, February 16, 2006