Japan Press Weekly

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2009 February 18 - 24 [US FORCES]

JCP demands Japan-U.S. joint air exercises be canceled

The Japanese Communist Party Miyazaki Prefectural Committee on February 19 called for the Japan-U.S. joint air exercises scheduled for five days from February 23 to be canceled.

The exercises were to be held at the Japanese Air-Self Defense Force Nyutabaru Base in Shintomi town, Miyazaki Prefecture.

JCP representatives made the representations to the Defense Ministry’s Kyushu regional defense bureau on February 19.

This is an annual joint training exercise that had been conducted at the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

Five F-15 fighters with about 80 U.S. airmen are expected to arrive at Nyutabaru from the U.S. Kadena Air Force Base, and neighboring Miyazaki City will accommodate 60 of them, claiming that the ASDF Nyutabaru base is too small to accommodate them.

Pointing out that Miyazaki citizens are concerned about their safety because of possible crimes by U.S. military personnel, as has often been the case in the Kyushu region, the JCP expressed its opposition to the accommodation plan.

A JCP candidate for the House of Representatives election, town assembly members, and peace committee members took part in the protest.

A Regional Defense Bureau officer alleged that the Nyutabaru air base can accommodate just 30 additional personnel and that lodging facilities have become uncomfortable.

A local JCP town assembly member rebuffed that last year when about 180 U.S. airmen joined the joint exercises, all of them stayed inside the base.

“Are you more concerned about the comfort of U.S. military personnel than the safety of the townspeople?” asked Yoshida Takayuki, Shintomi Town’s assembly member.