Japan Press Weekly

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2019 July 24 - 30 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Opposition party Dietmembers call on local gov'ts to refuse new Haneda flight routes

Opposition party Dietmembers, including Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira, on July 29 visited Tokyo's Minato and Shinagawa Ward government offices, jointly calling on the two ward governments to not accept new routes of commercial airliners flying from and to Haneda Airport at low altitudes over inhabited areas of their wards.

At the Shinagawa office, JCP Kasai noted that aircraft will fly at an altitude of only 300 meters above some areas of the ward, which is lower than the height of Tokyo Tower, and that many residents are voicing their anxiety about that. Kasai asked the ward government to refuse to accept the central government's proposal of new Haneda routes with respect to the resolution of "No" the Shinagawa Ward Assembly adopted in March of this year.

Kuwamura Masatoshi, a deputy mayor of Shinagawa Ward, said in response, "We will take your request into sincere consideration and we will determine what we can do." Called for a non-acceptance of the new route plan by the Dietmembers, Deputy Mayor of the Minato Ward Oyaizu Akira said, "I will convey your call and residents' worries to the mayor tomorrow."

The JCP assemblypersons' group of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on the same day also made representations to Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko, demanding that the low-altitude routes over central Tokyo be refused.

The 18-memebr JCP group pointed out that both the Shinagawa and Shibuya Ward Assemblies had adopted an opinion or a resolution calling for the review of the plan, and that Prime Minister Abe Shinzo had stated in his policy speech that the plan should obtain the consensus of local residents. The JCP group again demanded Tokyo's decision to not accept the new flight routes without local agreements.

The group also demanded that a meeting of cities and wards affected by new Haneda flight routes be open to the public online or permit observations from a public gallery.

Past related article:
> JCP Miyamoto criticizes gov't for setting new flight route favoring airliners from North America while ignoring local concerns [April 14, 2019]