Late last month a gathering in Yokohama remembered the victims of a U.S. military jet crash in a residential area 30 years ago. I was stunned to learn that a Japanese Self-Defense Force helicopter that had rushed to the scene of the crash flew away with two slightly injured U.S. servicemen without looking after nine local residents who were injured, some seriously, by the burning Phantom reconnaissance aircraft.
The SDF crew allegedly did not even bother to call the fire station. Of the injured, two infants reportedly died before dawn the next day, and their grief-stricken mother died four years later after battling complications from her injuries.
Participants at the gathering were shocked and angered upon realizing that the SDF's main concern was the U.S. military, not the Japanese public.