Japan Press Weekly

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2017 September 6 - 12 [US FORCES]

Residents bring complaints against FCLP exercises at US Atsugi base

It has come to light that more than 500 complaints from residents against field carrier landing practice (FCLP) exercises at the U.S. Atsugi Naval Base, which stretches over Kanagawa’s Ayase and Yamato cities, flooded into nearby municipalities.

The FCLP drills took place for four days from September 1. Regarding the drills, municipal governments, including the two city governments, were not notified by the U.S. military until the start of the first day of training. Although those municipalities separately requested the U.S. forces to cancel the exercises, their requests were ignored.

During the training period, affected municipalities were deluged with residents’ calls complaining about the excessive noise of U.S. military jets.

For example, the number of complaints filed with the base-hosting cities of Ayase and Yamato totaled 332 and 181, respectively. Major complaints are: “I’m filled with a fear of crashes,” “My baby is crying because she is scared by the noise of U.S. military jets,” and “Classroom activities were frequently disturbed by the roar of military aircraft engines.”

The Japanese Communist Party together with local peace groups on September 5 measured noise levels and visited the Atsugi base to demand a halt to the FCLP drills.

The Kanagawa governor and mayors of nine cities surrounding the Atsugi base on September 7 petitioned the foreign and defense ministries not to allow the U.S. forces to conduct FCLP drills at the Atsugi base any more.

Past related article:
> Residents’ complaints about US aircraft roar reached highest number ever in 2012 [February 2, 2013]