Japan Press Weekly

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2014 October 22 - 28 [POLITICS]

JCP protests Osprey flights in metropolitan area

The Japanese Communist Party members’ group of the Yokosuka City Assembly on October 21 published a statement urging the city mayor to retract approval of Osprey aircraft flights to and from the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base.

On the previous day Yokosuka Mayor Yoshida Yuto made a comment in favor of the U.S. military’s plan to fly MV22 Osprey aircraft to its Yokosuka base on October 25. Explaining the reason, he said that the Japanese government has affirmed the safety of the aircraft and that MV22s are expected to play a role in disaster relief.

The JCP assembly members’ group in its statement said that the Osprey’s arrival is unacceptable as it would pave the way for future deployments and flight training drills at the Yokosuka base. The statement also states that the most important thing for the mayor to do is to make adequate preparations for disasters and not rely on Osprey’s contributions to disaster relief.

On the following day in Ibaraki Prefecture, the JCP prefectural committee together with labor unions and peace groups made a representation to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Hyakuri base in the prefecture, demanding the cancellation of a plan to display U.S. Marine Corp tilt rotor aircraft at the base event.

According to information provided by the base, one Osprey will arrive for public display during the annual base event called Air Review scheduled to be held on October 26.