Japan Press Weekly

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2012 June 20 - 26 [OKINAWA]

Naha mayor and assemblypersons ask JCP for cooperation to oppose Osprey deployment

The Naha City mayor and the assembly chair of Naha City on June 22 requested Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo for cooperation in opposing the deployment of MV22 Osprey aircraft to Okinawa.

Mayor Onaga Takeshi and representatives of all assembly factions on this day visited Tokyo to make representations to the national government and major political parties, demanding the immediate halt to the plan to deploy the accident prone U.S. aircraft.

Shii said to a delegation from Okinawa, “The JCP will continue pushing the government to notify the U.S. that Japan refuses the Osprey deployment.”

Referring to a recently announced plan to assemble Osprey parts and conduct trial flights at the Naha Military Port, the mayor said, “I oppose their deployment to the Futenma base in Ginowan City. But, to bring them to Naha City with the population density as high as Tokyo’s 23 Wards is so outrageous that all Okinawans are angry.”

Shii pointed out that the Osprey aircraft lacks an autorotation capability which would aid in an emergency landing with the occurrence of an engine shutdown.

“The Japanese Aviation Law prohibits helicopters without autorotation landing capability from flights over Japan. However, the law exempts U.S. military aircraft. We will take up this colonial era, humiliating condition in the Diet arena as well,” said Shii.