  U.S. Yokota Air Base must be returned without delay -- Akahata editorial, February 21 (excerpts)Responding to the U.S. military realignment, Japan-U.S. negotiations have been underway over the issues of realigning the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Tokyo and the joint use of the base by the U.S.A.F., the Air Self-Defense Force, and civil aviation. The military-civil co-use plan proposed by Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro will seriously increase noise and other damages affecting near-by residents and will prolong the base mission. The U.S. Yokota Air Base is spread over five cities, including Akishima and Tachikawa, plus one town in the suburbs of Metropolitan Tokyo, covering about 714 hectares. Hosting a major foreign military base in the nation's capital is quite extraordinary. If Japan is a sovereign state, all U.S. bases must be withdrawn from the Tokyo area. As a U.S. forces air transport hub covering Japan and the rest of Asia, U.S. warplanes conduct 15,000 flights a year at the base, causing an unbearable noise level of about 90 decibel. Thousands of residents have filed seven rounds of suit, demanding that flights at night and in the early morning hours be halted. Accidents, such as parts falling from U.S. aircraft, are continuing around the base site. If the base function is increased and the base is co-used, it will increase the number of flights and further disrupt the living conditions of about one million citizens in western Tokyo. Tokyo's Ishihara government's co-use plan will only help perpetuate the existence of the U.S. base. Such a policy that will distort citizens' hope for the immediate return of the base site must be abandoned. Akishima and Tachikawa cities and Mizuho Town are opposed to the co-use plan. The Japanese government must stop disregarding opposition by local governments and concerned citizens. Such negotiations with the U.S. must be halted. There is no alternative for the resolution of the Yokota Base issue but to represent the keen interests of local autonomies and residents and to urge the U.S. that damages from the base must be eliminated and the base withdrawn without delay. (end) |