February 3, 2010

The Okinawa-based U.S. Marine Corps on February 2 carried out live-fire exercises with 155-mm howitzers, including night firing practice at the Ground Self-Defense Force Hijudai training site in Oita Prefecture.

According to a peace activist who watched the exercise, fifty shells were fired between 10:16 a.m. and around 3 p.m. The Marines resumed firing at 5 p.m., and continued the drill into the night.

Artillery live-fire training exercises at the Hijudai maneuver area are based on the 1996 Japan-U.S. agreement of the Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO) which stipulates that the drills would be relocated from Okinawa to Japan’s mainland, including Hijudai, in order to reduce the Okinawan’s burden. In Okinawa, however, live-shell drills had never been conducted at night.
- Akahata, February 3, 2010