Japan Press Weekly

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2011 October 19 - 25 [SDF]

Majority of residents oppose US military exercise at Mageshima Island

More than half the population of one city and three towns near Mageshima Island (Nishinoomote City, Kagoshima Pref.) signed a petition opposing a plan to relocate to the island a site for field carrier landing practice exercises (FCLP) by U.S. carrier-borne aircraft, Akahata learned on October 19.

These four municipalities, Nishinoomote City and towns of Nakatane, Minamitane, and Yakushima, established a council which has waged a signature collection campaign since June when the government made the plan public. The number of signatures collected within and outside Kagoshima has already reached more than 70,000.

On October 20, after submitting to the Defense Ministry the collected signatures, council chair Nagano Tsutomu, the Nishinoomote mayor, said to reporters, “I seriously take to heart the fact that so many people signed the petition,” and expressed his determination to continue the signature drive.