Local JCP demands cancellation of U.S. flight exercises

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Local JCP demands cancellation of U.S. flight exercises

The Gunma Prefectural Committee of the Japanese Communist Party on February 16 made representations to the Defense Ministry, demanding that the U.S. flight exercises be immediately cancelled in Gunma Prefecture.

Since the beginning of this year, U.S. military aircraft have frequently flown over the capital city of Maebashi in the prefecture, causing heavy noise all day. The city government reported that it has already received more than 60 complaints from residents stating, “Don’t let them fly over the densely-populated area!” “Do the U.S. flight exercises in the U.S.!”

In response, a ministry official said that the ministry will ask U.S. forces to take into consideration the harm caused by noise pollution and that the ministry admitted receiving 135 complaints from Gunma alone between January 2009 and the end of January 2010.

JCP representative Shiokawa Tetsuya (House of Representatives) stated, “To explicitly demand the U.S. forces stop conducting any actions causing the Japanese people harm is the position that the Japanese government should take to protect the public interest.”

The defense official, however, stressed the need to allow the U.S. forces to carry out flight exercises in order to achieve the aims of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

- Akahata, February 17, 2010