US DoD: Ospreys will be deployed in Japan

Japan Press Weekly

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

US DoD: Ospreys will be deployed in Japan

The U.S. Department of Defense on September 9 stated that it will deploy the vertical take-off and landing aircraft MV-22 Ospreys in Japan and that the Japanese government has already been informed of that plan.

The government until recently had explained, "The U.S. may be planning to deploy Ospreys in Japan, but whether these aircraft will actually come to Japan or not has not been decided yet."

However, during an Upper House committee meeting on September 9, Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya was hinting at the possibility of the deployment of the aircraft to an Okinawan base, in response to questions by Japanese Communist Party representative Kami Tomoko.

The U.S. military seeks to put Ospreys in place at a new base planned to be constructed in Okinawa's Nago City as the replacement for the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Ginowan City. However, the construction plan itself is opposed by local residents.

Nago City Mayor Inamine Susumu on September 10 denounced the government for its deception of Okinawans by saying, "Although the government has been informed of the U.S. plan to station Ospreys in Okinawa, it has kept us from knowing that truth. Instead, it has been trying to persuade us to accept a new base by saying 'there will be no danger' and 'noise will be lessened.' Everything it had told us has now turned out to be lies."

- Akahata, September 11, 2010