Okinawa lodges protests vs US chopper incidents

January 10, 2018

Naha, Okinawa Pref.- Moritake Tomikawa, vice governor of Okinawa Prefecture, protested to the Japanese government and US forces on Tuesday, following a series of crash-landings by US military helicopters in the southernmost Japan prefecture.

In a meeting with Tsukasa Kawada, the Foreign Ministry's ambassador for Okinawa affairs, at the prefectural government head office in Naha, Tomikawa demanded an emergency overhaul of US military aircraft and a halt to flights during the checks.

"In the past year, US military aircraft caused some 30 cases of crash, fire and emergency landing, making residents of Okinawa worry more than ever before," Tomikawa said.

Stressing that Okinawa is in "an abnormal situation in which U.S. aircraft could fall over residents at any time," he criticized that the military's aircraft management is "extremely weak and loose."

In response, Kawada admitted that it is an extremely unusual situation, saying that he already has called on the United States to take drastic preventive measures.

Later in the day, Tomikawa visited the US Marine Corps' Camp Foster and lodged a protest with Brig. Gen. Paul Rock, who commands the Marine Corps installations in the Pacific region. Rock offered an apology, pledging overall reforms at the military. But he made no references to any halt to flights, according to Tomikawa. Jiji Press