Time to Rethink Security: Exercises Begin over Japanese Mainland

It is difficult to imagine that recent low-altitude MV-22 Osprey training flights over the Japanese mainland will help alleviate Okinawa’s military presence burden. If the U.S. military insists on exposing us to danger and noise, we will simply increase opposition to the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.

Last October, 12 Ospreys were deployed to the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa. On Oct. 6 at 1:10 p.m., three Ospreys took off from Futenma. At 3:15 p.m., they were seen flying west over Motoyama, Kochi prefecture and Besshiyama, Ehima prefecture, following the so-called “orange route” that runs from the Wakayama to the Ehima prefecture.

Increasingly casting doubt over their safety, Ospreys have crashed often due to pilot error. It is illogical to force these aircraft onto a base once said to have been referred to as the “world’s most dangerous” by a U.S. secretary of defense when both the U.S. and Japan have agreed to restore Futenma to Japan.

74 percent of U.S. bases in Japan are located in Okinawa. It is no surprise that Okinawa’s residents, who suffer from noise, accidents and crimes committed by American soldiers, would oppose the Osprey deployment.

It might make sense to allow Osprey exercises to be conducted outside of Okinawa to ease the burden on civilians. However, accounting for the full scope of training activities, maneuvers conducted on the mainland make up but a small part. This does not count as sharing the burden!

The U.S. military gave the Japanese Ministry of Defense only five to six days’ notice prior to the exercise, providing limited details. The training route was announced only the day before and was altered at the last minute. It is impossible to agree to such exercises when we do not have details and have doubts about safety.

The U.S.’ low-altitude exercise paths, including the “orange route,” are neither part of military facilities Japan has offered nor training airspace as agreed on in the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and the Status of Forces Agreement. The U.S. is acting independently; Japan is forced to consent in light of the Security Treaty.

Foreign military aircraft fly freely over Japanese citizens’ heads, Okinawa’s military presence burdens are not decreasing and residents’ complaints go unheard. We cannot even keep the Ospreys on the declared flight paths agreed on by the U.S. and Japanese governments. Is this the resurrection of the U.S.-Japan alliance that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe so loftily declared?

Unless these anomalies are fixed, it will be difficult for the U.S.-Japan security relationship to be the “cornerstone of regional peace and security,” as President Obama stated. The initiation of Osprey training flights over the Japanese mainland is an opportunity to contemplate the meaning of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.