Japan Press Weekly

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2011 February 2 - 8 [US FORCES]

22,000 Okinawans to join lawsuit on US base noise

More than 22,000 residents living near the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa will join anew in a lawsuit over Kadena AB noise pollution.

A plaintiffs’ group and a legal team on February 5 held a press conference in Okinawa City and officially announced that they will file the third round of the noise-related lawsuit against the U.S. Kadena Air Base.

They will present the case to the court on March 28 and will urge both the Japanese and U.S. governments to suspend flights of U.S. military aircraft and pay compensation for the noise pollution.

On January 27, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the plaintiffs of the second round of the case. The plaintiffs criticized the judiciary for abandoning its legal responsibility as well as for allowing the defendant governments to continue to cause the noise and leave the situation as it is.

As of February 4, the number of plaintiffs in the third round of the suit reached 22,063, far larger than that in the second round (5,542).

Former Okinawa City mayor Arakawa Shusei who will head the plaintiffs’ group said, “One third of the Kadena townspeople this time will join to show our anger. We have been oppressed since the war ended 65 years ago and even since Okinawa’s supposed restoration to Japan 38 years ago.”