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)
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