Japan Press Weekly

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2012 July 18 - 24 [US FORCES]

1,100 people hold a rally protesting Osprey deployment to Iwakuni

On July 22, the day before the Osprey aircraft was brought into the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station, 1,100 people held a rally protesting the deployment of the aircraft at Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Participants gathered from within the City, and the Chugoku and Shikoku regions where low-altitude flight exercises are scheduled to take place as well as from Okinawa Prefecture where the Osprey will be also deployed.

Organizing committee chair Yoshioka Mitsunori said to protesters, “Even if the Osprey is deployed to the Iwakuni Base, let’s create the situation in which we will not allow the aircraft to fly and allow them to rust.”

Japanese Communist Party member of Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Maeda Masaaki stated that he will not accept the deployment of the Osprey that could crash at any time, and called on participants to strengthen the protest movement.

A college student in Iwakuni City said, “My beloved family and friends live in Iwakuni City. I strongly hope that we can live without the fear and danger associated with their presence.”

Tada Shinji, a union member from the Chugoku region, stressed, “Both the Osprey deployment and low-altitude flight exercises violate Japan’s civil aviation law. It is the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty that lies at the root of the situation. It’s time to get rid of it.” Where he lives is an area under one of the flight routes for the planned low-altitude training of Ospreys.

Inoue Satoshi, JCP member of the Upper House, said, “Allowing the aircraft to come here is equivalent to exposing local residents to the excessive noise and the risk of crashes for the sake of the U.S. military which is intending to develop its capability to carry out interventions,” and stressed that he will do his best to abolish the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, the basic cause of the U.S. military control over Japan.