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

U.S. F-15s take off before dawn in Okinawa causing extreme noise pollution

U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jets took off from the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa before dawn from July 26-30, and the noise caused great anger among residents near the base.

They left the base around three o'clock in the morning, creating noise of more than 100 decibel. The residents have expressed their anger by saying that they can no longer allow such noise to be continued.

In violation of the Japan-U.S. agreement on noise prevention which restricts late night and early morning flights at the Kadena Base, the U.S. forces insists that the early morning take off is necessary to secure their participation in exercises on the U.S. mainland.

Kadena Town mayor Miyagi Tokujitsu on July 27 lodged a protest with the Kadena Base commander Punch Moulton, saying that he can not condone such noise, and demanded that the late night and early morning flights be banned and that the F-15s be removed from the base.

The Kadena Town Assembly special committee on the U.S. Kadena Air Base on July 31 urged Mark Franklin, chief of the Okinawa Area Field Office of U.S. Forces in Japan, to strictly abide by the bilateral agreement on noise prevention. The chief, however, rejected this, saying, "In order to secure pilots' safety, F-15s must cross the Pacific Ocean in the daytime."

JCP Okinawa prefectural assembly members Maeda Masaaki, Hokama Hisako, and Kayo Sogi, and Chatan Town Assembly member Nakamura Juichi on the same day visited the Naha Regional Defense Facilities Administration Bureau to request that the Japanese government take steps to immediately get the U.S. F-15 units removed from Okinawa.
- Akahata, August 1, 2006