May 24-25, 2012
Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Tamura Tomoko and two other JCP local assemblypersons on May 23 monitored flight exercises by U.S. carrier-borne aircraft at the U.S. Atsugi Base located between Ayase and Yamato cities in Kanagawa Prefecture.
It was the last day of the 3-day takeoff-and-landing training by the U.S. Navy.
At 8 p.m. in Ayase City, the noise level hit 114.9dB. The city government office received about 440 calls from citizens complaining about the roar according to an official in charge of the base issue. He said, “The noise was intolerable especially during the daytime, and we received the largest number of complaints ever.”
Yamato City recorded noise levels at 115.9dB at around 7 p.m., and had 285 complaints.
JCP Tamura on the following day found out that the Defense Ministry had learned about the exercises in an e-mail message from the U.S. just the night before the first day of the drill.
A defense official told Tamura that the e-mail message the ministry received indicated that the training exercises will finish at 8 p.m. each day.
However, FA/18-E fighter jets carried out the exercises from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., continuously making sonic booms so loud that people had to cover their ears with their hands.
It was the last day of the 3-day takeoff-and-landing training by the U.S. Navy.
At 8 p.m. in Ayase City, the noise level hit 114.9dB. The city government office received about 440 calls from citizens complaining about the roar according to an official in charge of the base issue. He said, “The noise was intolerable especially during the daytime, and we received the largest number of complaints ever.”
Yamato City recorded noise levels at 115.9dB at around 7 p.m., and had 285 complaints.
JCP Tamura on the following day found out that the Defense Ministry had learned about the exercises in an e-mail message from the U.S. just the night before the first day of the drill.
A defense official told Tamura that the e-mail message the ministry received indicated that the training exercises will finish at 8 p.m. each day.
However, FA/18-E fighter jets carried out the exercises from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., continuously making sonic booms so loud that people had to cover their ears with their hands.
