November 8, 2020

Calling for the cancellation of the deployment of Self-Defense Forces Osprey aircraft to the SDF Kisarazu base in Chiba Prefecture, residents and local peace activists on November 7 held a rally in the prefecture.

Yoshizawa Hiroshi, who co-heads a civil group organizing the rally, gave a speech. Stating that the SDF recently began conducting test flights of its Ospreys, he stressed, “In order to remove the accident-prone aircraft from Chiba, citizens and political parties need to join hands and keep up the pressure to do so!”

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo and representatives of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party, and the Reiwa Shinsengumi party delivered speeches in solidarity.

Shii in his speech pointed out that the central government intends to increase the Kisarazu base’s maintenance capability for Ospreys by three times and construct two more hangars there. He continued that this shows that unlike the previous explanation that the Osprey deployment to Kisarazu is temporary, the deployment appears to be permanent.

Shii also criticized the government for considering having the base provide a maintenance service for Ospreys of the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy in addition to 17 SDF Ospreys to be deployed to the Kisarazu base. He protested the government move to concentrate Ospreys at the base.

Shii noted that Japan-U.S. joint parachuting drills were conducted on September 15 at the SDF Narashino training field in the prefecture, and pointed to a possibility that joint Osprey flight training will continue to take place there.

Stating that the mayors of Narashino City and two neighboring cities are calling on the Defense Ministry for an explanation regarding this matter, Shii said, “Ospreys should stay out of Japan. Let us work together to push the government to cancel the Osprey deployment. The best resolution would be to remove Prime Minister Suga from power.”

Past related articles:
> 'Temporary' deployment of JSDF Osprey aircraft to Kisarazu base starts [July 11, 2020]
> Kisarazu mayor gives nod to ‘temporary’ deployment of Ospreys to local SDF base [December 26, 2019]