“We cannot definitively guarantee at this stage that it is safe.”
“It is essential that the government guarantee our safety.”
On August 29, prefectural governor of Okinawa Hirokazu Nakaima repeated the phrase “guaranteed safety” five times during a conference with Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto, referring to the U.S. Marine Corps’ VTOL aircraft MV22 Osprey. How will the government respond to this?
The conference was held at the request of the minister of defense, as a platform for presenting the results of a Japan-specific investigation that was instituted following a plane crash this April in Morocco. The investigation confirmed the conclusions of the U.S. Army study that there was no problem with the fuselage and that the crash was due to human error. “At this stage, it is difficult for us to accept the deployment,” the governor concluded.
After the conference, Nakaima emphasized to the press that “guaranteed safety” and the “relief of public anxiety” are essential prerequisites for the deployment, and stated that “we cannot consider this truly acceptable while such issues persist.”
It has been announced, however, that the crash in Florida of a U.S. Air Force CV22 Osprey this June was also due to human error.
No matter how strongly these human errors are emphasized, the Japanese government cannot fully guarantee safety. There is always a risk of misadventure; the U.S. Army, too, is calculating the accident rate. The anxiety of citizens living in the areas surrounding Futenma Air Base, where the deployment is scheduled to take place, will not go away.
The major issue is launching the Osprey in the skies over urban areas. About 90,000 people live in close proximity to the Futenma Air Base, which is located in the heart of Ginowan. There are over 120 schools, hospitals and other public facilities. If by any chance something were to happen, the scale of the accident would be severe. In November 2003, when U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld flew over the airfield to inspect it, he commented that it was amazing there had not been any accidents.
One cannot help but suppose that in advocating a launch in October (as originally planned) the Noda administration is choosing to avoid friction with America instead of ensuring the safety of its citizens. And what about the movement against the relocation of Futenma? It’s still on hold. While the functions of the airbase are being reduced leading up to the eventual relocation, there will be repeated demands to reschedule the October launch, too.
On August 30, Minister of Defense Morimoto visited Yamaguchi prefecture, home to Iwakuni Air Base where the Ospreys are temporarily stationed. There, he joined a conference with prefectural governor Shigetaro Yamamoto, who stated that “our citizens are neither safe enough nor sufficiently comfortable with this.”
The U.S. Marine Corps has recently cancelled planned Osprey training flights at two airports in Hawaii, amidst concerns regarding the impact on historical heritage sites around the airport and noise pollution suffered by residents. After the Air Force received extensive public complaints regarding the Draft Environmental Assessment, the low-altitude training flights were postponed.
In the United States, the authorities have been flexible in responding to these issues. Will the same be true in Japan? Prefectural governor Nakaima stated at the conference that, “it is difficult to imagine Ospreys flying around (the towns near) Futenma.” They should not force the deployment on us.
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