Japan Press Weekly

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2017 October 18 - 24 [US FORCES]

Okinawa Governor intends to demand ban on three helipads in Takae

Okinawa Governor Onaga Takeshi on October 20 at a press conference in the prefectural office expressed his intent to demand a ban to the use of three of the six U.S. military helipads adjoining the Takae community in Higashi Village.

The Takae district is surrounded by six landing pads in the U.S. Marine Corps Northern Training Area. Recently, a U.S. CH-53E Sea Stallion copter crashed and burst into flames near the district.

At the press conference, Governor Onaga noted that in addition to the Takae resident representatives’ organization, the Higashi Village and Okinawa prefectural assemblies separately adopted resolutions calling for a halt to the use of the six helipads. Giving his total support to these resolutions, the governor said that he decided to urge the central government to stop the U.S. military’s use of the three closest helipads built adjacent to Takae’s residential area. As the reason for his decision, Onaga explained that although he acknowledges the difficulty in shutting down the six helipads all at once, he took into account residents’ strong demand for removing the three helipads which adversely affect local life.

Onaga cited the fact that while the Japanese police were excluded from any investigation of the crash incident, the U.S. forces cleaned up the crash site. He criticized the Abe government for neglecting its responsibility as an affected party.

Past related articles:
> Okinawa governor expresses rage over US helicopter crash [October 13, 2017]
> US CH-53E chopper crashes near Takae community in Okinawa [October 12&14, 2017]