Japan Press Weekly

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2017 April 26 - May 9 [US FORCES]

US Forces in Japan offer mock military training to children at open-base event

It has come to light that the U.S. Forces in Japan offered hands-on military training attractions for civilian children at an open-base event in Shizuoka Prefecture.

A local peace organization revealed that at an annual “friendship festival” held on May 6 in U.S. Camp Fuji, military personnel allowed visiting children to throw mock hand grenades at human-shaped dummies and maneuver real howitzers to simulate firing shells.

The peace group also criticized the staff of the camp for displaying an MV22 Osprey and letting citizens touch, take photos with, and look inside the aircraft. The group consisting of local residents argued that MV22s, which are prone to accidents, should be kept away from the camp, which is located near Mt. Fuji.

Watanabe Kiichi, secretary general of the peace group, said that with the Abe government trying to create a Japan that fights wars together with the U.S., such an event is unacceptable because it is aimed at making citizens feel more comfortable with the military.