U.S. forces to return land in Yokohama

Japan and the United States agreed on July 18 to return to Japan the land currently occupied by four U.S. military installations in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

At a Japan-U.S. joint committee meeting at the Defense Facilities Administration Agency in Tokyo, the United States agreed to return the land used for houses for U.S. military personnel, communication facilities, and storages, on condition that about 800 military housing units be built.

Yokohama City as well as Zushi City, currently hosting U.S. military housing, have expressed firm opposition to the proposal.

Local residents and the Japanese Communist Party have been calling for the U.S. military installation sites to be returned. Yokohama residents and a man who owns a portion of the land at one of the U.S. facilities have filed lawsuits demanding that the United States vacate the land and return it to them. (end)