Japan Press Weekly

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2013 September 4 - 10 [US FORCES]

Civil groups protest against planned joint drills involving Ospreys

Representatives of civil groups and the Japanese Communist Party made representations on September 6 to the authorities about the planned Japan-U.S. military drills involving MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft in Japan.

Defense Minister Onodera Itsunori said at a news conference on the same day that Japan and the U.S. will conduct joint drills involving Ospreys in October in Shiga and Kochi prefectures. This is the first time for the aircraft to be engaged in joint exercises in Japan. One of the MV-22s deployed in America crashed on August 26 in Nevada.

The drills the two countries will hold are: joint military exercises at the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Aibano Training Area in Shiga Prefecture from early to mid-October; and joint “emergency drills” in Kochi Prefecture in late October, based on a scenario of a powerful earthquake occurring in the Nankai Trough off central and western Japan.

That day, JCP Upper House member Nihi Sohei and representatives of five JCP prefectural committees in Western Honshu visited the Chugoku-Shikoku Defense Bureau in Hiroshima City, demanding a halt to the planned drills. Nihi pointed out that the two governments are aiming to put Ospreys into full operation on Japan’s mainland along with Okinawa under the guise of “disaster drills”.

Civil groups in Shiga Prefecture requested that the governor and the mayor of Takashima City, which hosts the Aibano Training Area, strongly oppose the military exercises.

Wada Tadaaki, the director of the Kochi Peace Committee, issued a comment on the matter. “MV-22s are faulty aircraft that have no auto-rotation function. Normally they are not allowed to fly over the country under Japan’s aviation law. It is absolutely unforgivable to use such crash-prone aircraft in ‘emergency drills’ which should put a top priority on lifesaving.”