Japan Press Weekly

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2016 January 20 - 26 [US FORCES]

26 US fighters fly to Yokota AB, largest number since Vietnam War

Defense Minister Nakatani Gen on January 22 at a press conference admitted that 12 U.S. stealth fighters had flown to Tokyo from Alaska and that 26 additional F-22 and F-16 fighter jets are expected to come.

As a matter of fact, the JCP group of Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblypersons the day before visited the metropolitan government to inform them that F-22A Raptor stealth fighters assigned to Alaska bases are flying in to the U.S. Yokota Air Base. They demanded that Tokyo Governor Masuzoe Yoichi request the central government and the U.S. forces to cancel the planned incoming flights of U.S. military aircraft to Tokyo.

The JCP assemblypersons’ group protested the arrival of U.S. warplanes to the Yokota base without any prior explanation to surrounding municipalities, and criticized the metropolitan authorities which are supposed to be responsible for Tokyoites’ safety for being unaware of the danger of possible crashes and noise damage caused by the U.S. flights. In response to this, a metropolitan government official said, “We have requested the North Kanto Defense Bureau for quick and accurate information and to pay special attention to noise and public safety.”

The Defense Minister during the news conference revealed that the U.S. fighters had come to Tokyo unannounced, and that it was only after the metropolitan government mentioned the fact that “a defense bureau in the Kanto region asked the U.S. side for confirmation”. This shows that the Japanese government was not fully aware that the U.S. fighters would come to Tokyo.

Nevertheless, the minister defended this U.S. act by saying, “The U.S. deterrence capability is imperative for Japan as the security environment has become harsh with the recent nuclear test in North Korea.” He said he would assume that aerial battle exercises of F-22 fighters, which are expected to take place near Japan, are intended to keep North Korea in check.

During the Vietnam War, U.S. fighter bombers such as F-105 and F-4C made sorties from the Yokota AB for the bombardment of North Vietnam. It has since been unprecedented for the base to accept such a large number of U.S. fighters to be sent there.