According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency and Ryukyu Shinbun, about 12,049 households (a total of 35,566 people) near the Kadena base of the US military base in Japan filed a lawsuit with the Okinawa branch of the Naha Court on the grounds that the US military aircraft caused noise at night and morning to damage their health, demanding that the Japanese government compensate for the losses. This is also the fourth Kadena noise lawsuit initiated by local residents, which is the largest noise lawsuit against the US military base in Japan.
The first Kadena noise lawsuit occurred in 1982, when about 900 people filed a lawsuit, and now the number has expanded to more than 30,000, 39 times larger. The plaintiff involved eight municipalities around the Kadena base, and the noise level indicator "WECPNL" (W value) was above 75. According to the complaint, residents around the base demanded that between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. the next day, the US aircraft should not take off, land, engines, and other actions.
The plaintiffs also demanded compensation at a rate of 55,000 yen (about 3,029 yuan) per person per month, and hoped to compensate for future expenses before the court issued a judgment prohibiting noise. The previous compensation amount was about 91.67 billion yen (about 5.04 billion yuan), and the future compensation amount is more than 2.347 million yen (about 129,000 yuan) per year.
Japanese media previously reported that during the third Kadena noise lawsuit, the Fukuoka court had ordered the Japanese government to pay a total of about 26.125 billion yen (about 1.43 billion yuan) in damages, but the claim to stop flying and claim for future damages was rejected. Judge Chief Masamichi Kubo said that "the base is under the management of the United States, and the Japanese government cannot restrict it."
Column Editor-in-Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Dong Siyun Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Shao Jing
Source: Author: Overseas Network Wang Shanning