Japanese Court Rejects Injunction against Flights at Atsugi Air Base

Yokohama, Nov. 20 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese district court on Wednesday rejected a request for an injunction against nighttime and early morning flights at Atsugi Air Base in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, which is used jointly by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military.

Presiding Judge Nobuhiro Okada at Yokohama District Court rejected the request regarding SDF and U.S. military aircraft, filed by some 8,700 residents in eight cities around the base, which straddles the Kanagawa cities of Yamato and Ayase.

But the judge ordered the state to pay a total of roughly 5.9 billion yen in damages to the plaintiffs over past noise pollution linked to the base. He denied a damages claim for future noise pollution.

The lawsuit, the fifth of its kind, focused on changes in levels of base-related noise since U.S. carrier-based aircraft were relocated to the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan.

The plaintiffs had argued for a review of the practice of assessing noise pollution using a loudness index designed for aircraft noise, which has become the norm for similar lawsuits.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]