The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly passed a unanimous resolution Monday protesting a spate of recent incidents involving the U.S. military that it claims threatened residents in the prefecture and calling for an end to machinegun drills in the city of Nago.
At an extraordinary session held in response to incidents that have occurred since late last month, the assembly criticized the resumption of live-fire exercises by U.S. forces for causing tremendous anxiety in the civilian population, officials said.
U.S. service members engaged in target practice at the No. 10 range in Nago on the main island of Okinawa are believed to have fired rounds into nearby farm fields.
Requests to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker to set up a communications system about reports of military drills and for a drastic revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement were included in the resolution and opinion letters adopted Monday.
The accidents included the obstruction of fishing operations near Kumejima Island.
In addition, two F-15 fighter jets caught fire at Kadena air base, and a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 helicopter from Futenma Air Station made an emergency landing on a shore about 50 meters from private homes in the city of Ginowan.
On Friday, two fighters and a transport plane had to make emergency landings at Kadena due to technical problems. The prefecture urged the U.S. forces to thoroughly investigate the incidents and to prevent recurrences.
The Okinawa Prefectural Government had sent a written request for safety controls to the U.S. forces last Tuesday following the Ginowan emergency landing.
The municipal assembly of Ginowan said Friday it will send a protest resolution to the U.S. military in the prefecture urging the termination of flights over residential areas.