The mayor of the city of Yokosuka and the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture have expressed willingness to accept the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base, stirring optimism among central government officials that a controversial issue is about to be solved.
But within the communities near Yokosuka, opposition to the home-porting proposal persists. Local officials fear that carrier-based warplanes could cause serious noise and safety problems and that the plan could lead to the expansion of U.S. military presence. A Yokosuka citizens' group campaigning against the proposal has moved to demand a referendum on the issue or a recall of the mayor. The situation is so fluid that the outcome of the home-porting proposal issue cannot be predicted.
Ryoichi Kabaya, elected Yokosuka mayor last year after pledging to refuse the home-porting proposal, began to change his stance early this year. In June, he expressed readiness to accept the plan after holding two public hearings apparently for the sake of formality. In September, his municipal government published a newsletter to persuade citizens to accept deployment.