Japan Press Weekly

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2012 July 11 - 17 [US FORCES]

Local gov’ts say ‘No’ to Osprey deployment to Okinawa

By submitting petitions and adopting resolutions, local governments on July 10 expressed concerns over the planned deployment of the trouble-laden MV-22 Osprey to Okinawa and low-altitude flight training exercises of the aircraft all around the country.

Chairpersons of Okinawa’s local assemblies held a meeting and unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the cancellation of the Osprey deployment to the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station.

The resolution points out that the prefectural assembly and all 41 municipal assemblies in Okinawa adopted statements against the deployment, and stressed, “Okinawans’ consensus is that the deployment plan should be withdrawn.”

The U.S. government plans to bring the Osprey to the USMC Iwakuni Air Station in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture as early as July 24. Yamaguchi Governor Nii Sekinari and Iwakuni Mayor Fukuda Yoshihiko visited the defense ministry and the foreign ministry to submit a petition urging that the Osprey not be deployed to the Iwakuni Base before the safety of the aircraft is confirmed.

After that, Governor Nii said to the press that the safety of local residents must come first.

An association of fourteen governors of prefectures hosting U.S. military bases requested the central government to provide as much information as possible regarding the safety of the Osprey, causes of the recent crashes, and potential damages that low-altitude flight trainings might cause.

Representatives of five prefectures, including Vice Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture Furuoya Mitsuo, came to the capital. “We are all feeling anxiety about the planned Osprey training exercises,” commented Furuoya at the press conference, “We said so to the defense ministry, but couldn’t get any detailed information about the planned exercises.”

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As of July 14, 24 prefectural governments and assemblies have expressed their opposition to the Osprey deployment or called on the national government to reconsider the planned deployment.

Prefectural assemblies of Okinawa, Yamaguchi, and Tokushima have approved a statement protesting the U.S. aircraft deployment. Tokushima, which is directly under the planned route of the Osprey’s low-altitude flight exercises, has adopted a statement calling for a halt to such exercises more than 10 times.

Concerns over the deployment of the U.S. military aircraft have also been expressed in local newspapers.

The Chugoku Shimbun in its editorial stated on June 30, “If the present situation is left untouched, public distrust of government will inevitably expand even further. The basis of the Japan-U.S. security structure will be questioned as well.”