Touch-and-go exercises by U.S. forces in Kanagawa and Tokyo must end: Protesters

The Japanese Communist Party assembly members group of cities adjacent to the U.S. Forces Atsugi Base in Kanagawa Prefecture on January 10 made a request to the base commander that touch-and-go exercises scheduled for January 20 through 22 be canceled. They also requested that Yokosuka Port not be used as the home port for U.S. aircraft carriers.

Last year, the number of complaints filed with the seven municipalities about the noise from the exercises rose to a record 5,640.

On the same day, at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in the outskirts of Tokyo, a liaison center for the withdrawal of the base and for an end to damages from the base, met the U.S. forces commander and asked that the flying training scheduled for mid-January at Iwojima Island, Yokota Base, and other places be canceled.

A petitioner said, "How can the U.S. forces say they are our good neighbors if their aircraft make tremendous noise at night when students must study for exams?" (end)