June 27, 2023

The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblymembers’ group on June 26 made representations to Governor Koike Yuriko, demanding that the metropolitan government lodge with the U.S. forces in Japan a protest against their parachuting drills held at the U.S. Yokota Air Base without prior notice.

Furthermore, JCP assemblyperson Ozaki Ayako pointed out that accidents and incidents involving the U.S. military have frequently occurred. As an example, she cited that recently a U.S. military helicopter on its way back to the Yokota base made an emergency landing at a Tokyo-run airport in Chofu City and that a U.S. military-related person attached to the Yokota base allegedly caused a drunk-driving accident.

The JCP lawmaker said that the Tokyo government should immediately lodge a formal protest and request that the U.S. military provide information each time an action such as a military exercise, takes or is about to take place.