Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara on Friday criticized the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base for its nightly use of floodlights, which officials claim have damaged the crop of a local farmer.

According to the Musashimurayama Municipal Office, most of the spinach grown by a local farmer living near the base was rendered worthless after being bathed in the floodlights, which are currently on all night as part of tightened security measures in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

"Yokota is not so significant a base as to require such tightened security," Ishihara told a regular news conference when asked about the complaints.