Japan Press Weekly

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2015 September 30 - October 6 [US FORCES]

Yokosuka citizens protest against arrival of US nuclear aircraft carrier

The USS Ronald Reagan on October 1 arrived at the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Citizens at various places in the city raised voices of protest against the arrival of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

The 333-meter ship carries a crew of 5,000 and is capable of carrying 60 military aircraft. It is the replacement for the USS George Washington that was deployed to the base in 2008. The total power output of the carrier’s two reactors is said to be equivalent to that of the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the reactor that exploded after hit by a massive tsunami in 2011.

At 7 am on the day, the USS Ronald Reagan appeared off Tokyo Bay and a group of citizens at a park near the Yokosuka base began shouting at the ship, “Don’t use Yokosuka as your homeport!” Following this action, the protesters took to the streets in front of Yokosuka-Chuo Station. Using microphones, they explained to passersby that the nuclear aircraft carrier should immediately be made to leave Yokosuka as it poses the risk of nuclear accidents on the residents in the Tokyo Metropolitan area.

The Japan Peace Committee on the same day issued a statement against the deployment of the carrier, demanding the removal of the ship. The statement points out that if the recently-enacted war legislation takes effect, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force will be routinely assigned to a mission of guarding the carrier. It also states that a recent survey of local residents showed that 49.7% of the 12,000 respondents opposed the deployment while only 13.7% supported it.

The Japanese Communist Party Kanagawa Prefectural Committee and the JCP assemblymembers’ groups of the prefectural and the city assemblies jointly released a statement. It states that the deployment of the Ronald Reagan will lead to the permanent homeporting of U.S. nuclear aircraft carriers at Yokosuka and pose the risk of nuclear accidents occurring that would endanger the lives of 30 million residents.

The JCP statement also points out that along with the forcible enactment of the war legislation, the Japanese and U.S. governments are seeking to operate the MSDF and the U.S. Navy in a fully integrated manner even in non-emergency situations. The statement notes that the JCP will do its utmost to prevent nuclear-powered aircraft carriers from being permanently stationed at Yokosuka and to revoke the war legislation by working together with the general public.