The town assembly of Okimi, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Monday voted down Mayor Hidekazu Tanimoto's plan to host contentious U.S. Navy flight drills on an uninhabited island in the Seto Inland Sea.
The plan would have warplanes off the USS Kitty Hawk conduct night landing practice on Okurokami Island, which is under the town's jurisdiction. The fighter planes currently hold the exercises, which have drawn complaints over the noise they make, at the Atsugi Naval Air Facility in Kanagawa Prefecture and on Iwojima Island.
Last week, Tanimoto revealed to the town's 12 assembly members that he had approached the national government with the offer last summer.
However, on Monday, the 12 assembly members met and shot down the plan by a majority vote on the grounds that the mayor's explanations were insufficient, that such drills could adversely affect the environment, and because neighboring municipalities with which Okimi is in merger talks, as well as Hiroshima Gov. Yuzan Fujita, also oppose the plan.