Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), hopes to push forward his contentious plan to bring U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft, currently deployed to the Futenma base in Okinawa, to Yao airport in Osaka Prefecture.
At a Sunday night rally in Yao — Nippon Ishin's strongest support base and the home of Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui — the party's secretary-general, Hashimoto appealed to residents to approve the deployment of the tilt-rotor aircraft to Yao for training exercises with the U.S.
"If a huge earthquake occurs in the Nankai trough, we'll have to rely on the U.S. military. It would be dangerous for (the Ospreys) to land at Yao airport for the first time after a quake occurred," Hashimoto said of the forecast mega-temblor that could possibly occur anywhere, at any time, along the 4,000-km Pacific trench that runs from the Izu Peninsula to Shikoku.