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[Kevin Robert Dean]

U.S. military landings top 800 

 The Asahi Shimbun 



U.S. military aircraft landed 808 times at 20 civilian
airports in Japan last year, including some cases that
defied restriction requests from local governments, a
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport study
shows. 

The figures for U.S. aircraft are lower than those for
2000, but the Japanese Self-Defense Forces increased
their use of civilian airports in 2001. 

SDF aircraft landed 36,528 times at 73 airports
nationwide last year, an increase of one airport and
1,286 landings from the previous year. 

Some local governments expect military landings from
both countries to increase. 

``Although there may not be an immediate surge as soon
as the military emergency bills are passed, it is
highly possible that there will be more Japan-U.S.
military exercises, which may mean a steady increase
of military usage of civilian airports,'' an Okinawa
prefectural official said. 

Okinawa prefectural officials have long been
requesting the U.S. military to refrain from using
civilian airports, citing anti-military sentiment
among Okinawans. 

Similar requests have been heard elsewhere. 

After U.S. military planes landed at Osaka
International Airport at Itami two days in a row in
June, Itami city officials filed a complaint with the
airport office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure
and Transport. 

``We have hitherto requested a prohibition of arrivals
and departures of military aircraft,'' the complaint
said. 

One official said the landings are ``rubbing the
civilians, who have to put up with the noise, the
wrong way.'' 

Based on the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement,
U.S. forces are allowed to use Japan's 88 civil
airports and are exempt from paying landing fees.
Although it is customary for the U.S. military to
notify airport authorities of usage beforehand, there
are cases in which no notification is made, and the
reason for the landing is seldom made public. 

In Okinawa Prefecture, there were no military landings
in Shimojijima airport and Hateruma airport in 1999
and 2000. But last year, there were 38. U.S. forces
stationed in Okinawa used the airports for refueling
on their way to the Philippines.(IHT/Asahi: May
1,2002)

 


=====
Kevin Dean
Buffalo, NY
ICQ: 8616001
AIM: KDean75206
Buffalo Activist Network
http://www.buffaloactivist.net
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