US Military Training Flights: A Call for Sincere Action on Japan's Part

Just what is the meaning of this unnatural state of affairs? Since April of this year, U.S. military aircraft have been conducting frequent night training flights in the Reihoku area of Kochi prefecture — something that has not occurred for the past 10 years or so.

In particular, flights — and the accompanying roar — were confirmed for four consecutive nights around 10 p.m. beginning on May 13. Children and the elderly are frightened and sleep is disturbed. The unrest and anger of the citizens has reached its limit.

No longer able to tolerate this situation, the prefectural governor and the mayors of four Reihoku area villages (Okawa-mura, Tosa-cho, Motoyama-cho and Otoyo-cho) visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, submitting a written request asking that the U.S. military be urged to immediately cease low-altitude training flights, especially at night.

Japan needs to take this request seriously and respond in earnest. If it is met with the same kind of perfunctory response that has persisted until now, the result can only be a deepened sense of distrust in Japan and the U.S. military.

Including daytime flights, U.S. military aircraft have made more than 60 flights this year. Flight times and routes are not announced. Aircraft appear suddenly, conducting low-altitude flights, in addition to rolling and inverted flights.

Citizens who remember the 1994 incident in which a U.S. military aircraft crashed near the Sameura Dam are likely to be uncomfortable with flights over residential areas and schools, even when conducted during the day. The flights also pose a threat to the safety of the emergency medical helicopters in mountainous areas.

Furthermore, the roar of the aircraft in low-altitude training flights at night is more noticeable than during the daytime. It is enough to frighten even the adults. When this continues for days on end, the result is an increase in psychological stress, loss of sleep and other similar problems.

Upon making the request, the Reihoku mayors also passed on to the government 22 letters that were written by parents with young children and entrusted to them.

“When the roar of the aircraft echoes throughout our house at night, it makes my daughter cry. Even once she manages to stop crying, she remains frightened and cannot sleep for some time.” “The children tremble [in fear] and cling to us or hide under their covers.”

Japanese officials need to make a genuine effort to respond to these cries for help. Citizens want to be able to feel safe and sleep soundly at night; that should be a given.

That said, after making the request, Tosa-cho Mayor Nishimura commented that “Japan doesn’t understand the reality of the situation. Talking about it doesn’t always produce results.” There are fears that the result will be nothing more than the usual “acknowledgement” of the request.

The severity of the situation aside, this scenario of the U.S. military acting like it owns the place and causing citizens to suffer is the same scenario seen with the problems at the military base in Okinawa. Japan’s marginalization of the appeals of the locals has to stop.