Japan Press Weekly

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2016 March 9 - 15 [POLITICS]

JCP Miyamoto demands withdrawal of deployment of CV22s to Yokota base

Japanese Communist Party parliamentarian Miyamoto Toru in a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on March 11 demanded the cancellation of a plan to deploy CV-22 Osprey aircraft to the Yokota Air Base in Tokyo.

JCP Miyamoto criticized the government explanation that the planned deployment of CV-22s to the Yokota base will not have a serious impact in increased noise pollution. He noted that an environmental review on the deployment plan compiled by the U.S. includes no concrete information concerning the safety and accident rate of the military aircraft, as well as the projected frequency and schedule of CV-22 flights. Miyamoto asked how the government came up with such an evaluation.

State Minister of Defense Wakamiya Kenji in response merely said that the government has been told by the U.S. that the aircraft would not cause excessive noise damage.

Miyamoto presented the fact that after the deployment of Osprey aircraft to the Futenma base in Okinawa’s Ginowan City, the number of base-related complaints that the city government received from residents sharply increased. He argued that if the Yokota base hosts CV-22s, it will impose further damage on local residents as was the case with the Futenma base.

Past related articles:
> Tokyoites submit signatures opposing planned deployment of CV-22s to Yokota AB [February 13, 2016]
> 5,000 Tokyoites rally to oppose US plan to deploy CV-22s to Yokota AB [November 22 & 24, 2015]