Here is a long history of accidents only in and around USMC Northern Training Area in Okinawa. Imagine how many more troubles have been left unacknowledged as "accidents," for example, serious noise and low frequency waves, or marching and training along the prefecture road is not officially counted in.
Are these not enough for you to understand the people of Okinawa saying "enough is enough," ?
Original post in Japanese is here.
| Date | Summery |
|---|---|
| August 26,1964 | In the counter guerrilla warfare training area in Arakawa (Takae, Higashi Village), the US Marines demonstrated the simulated counter guerrilla warfare while the Watson USCAR high-commissioner was watching it. Twenty residents of Arakawa including the infants, females were mobilized and played as South-Vietnamese. （Chinen） |
| January 3, 1971 | A planned live-firing at Mt. Ibu in the vicinity of Ada, Kunigami Village was stopped by the residents’ direct actions and sit-ins in the training areas.（Times） |
| August 2, 1973 | CH-46 helicopter crashed down around the top of Mt. Iyu. Three crews died, one missing. |
| August 8, 1973 | CH-46 helicopter touched the high-voltage power line near the seashore of Aha and made an emergency landing on the crop field, 300 meters from Aha residential area. The damage of the power line caused a three-hour blackout in whole areas of Kunigami Village. |
| June 24, 1975 | CH-46 helicopter touched the rope of the Aha dam construction site during the flying training. It crashed on the site, three crews died. |
| November 9, 1977 | CH-46 made an emergency landing on a private pasture in Kanna, Ginoza village because of the engine trouble along the flight route to the NTA. |
| February 27, 1980 | Live-firing training with TOW anti-tank missiles and the setup of the impact zones in the NTA was under discussion between Japanese and US government, according to a testimony of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services. Okinawa prefecture strongly protested against this plan on June 4. Okinawa prefecture and Marine Corps in Okinawa agreed with the direct negotiation in addition to the US-JP consulting committee. |
| December 19, 1980 | CH-46 helicopter touched the log-carrying wire and crashed on the construction site of the Aha dam. One crew died, two severely injured. |
| January 31, 1982 | US soldier fired a blank cartridge outside of the military facilities in Aha, Kunigami village. |
| July 12, 1985 | During the formation flying, a CH-53D helicopter crashed on a logging road near the Benoki dam. Four crews died. |
| September 20, 1986 | CH-46 helicopter made an emergency landing on a farm road in Aha, Kunigami village due to the inspection. |
| January 16, 1987 | Residents protest against the US military Harrier-pads near the Aha dam, stopped it with direct action. （Times） |
| May 16, 1987 | During the fligt training in the NTA, a CH-46 helicopter made an emergency landing on a farm road in Ada, Kunigami village due to the engine trouble. |
| July 11, 1987 | AH-1J helicopter made an emergency landing on a pasture in Sosu, Kunigami village due to the transmission oil leak. |
| September 21, 1987 | During a training, USMC helicopter accidentally dropped a signal light outside of the NTA, caused a wild fire in the prefectural center for breeding dairy cows, burnt 37square meters. |
| June 4, 1988 | During an unbush training in the NTA, tear gas leaked outside to the prefecture road #70, civilian passers-by in their cars claimed aches in their eyes and throats. |
| June 21, 1988 | USMC conducted two-day raft training with floating piers at a North cove of Fukuji dam. Okinawa prefecture demanded the halt of their training on the site of water reservoir. US military announced "training would be suspended as long as they find the substitute location". |
| October 31, 1988 | Two CH-46 helicopters crashed during convination flight training, one down in flame in the Eastern forest of Mt. Iyu, killing four crews. |
| December 10, 1989 | U.S. soldiers dumpted lation remainings, batteries, and injections outside the NTA near upstream of Benoki dam. |
| October 26, 1992 | A forest fire took in place because of the signal flare.1,132 square meters lost. |
| October 28, 1992 | A forest fire took in place. 1,655 square meters lost. |
| April 19, 1999 | CH-53E helicopter crashed offshore of the NTA. Four crews died. |
| August 11, 1999 | UH-1N made an emergency landing on the Higashi village public ground. |
| May 23, 2000 | Marine soldiers entered a land development area out of the military facilities by mistake and shut the paint training bullets there. |
| July 23, 2000 | Marine soldiers disposed of the garbage in the government-owned land out of the military facilities by mistake. |
| October 11, 2001 | A MH-47 helicopter belonged to the Daegu base, South Korea made an emergency landing on the pasture of the the prefectural center for breeding dairy cows in Ada, Kunigami village. |
| November 9, 2005 | HH-60 helicopter belonged to Kadena airbase made an emergency landing on the seashore of Kunigami village. |
| January 5, 2007 | 1,500 paintball bullets discovered at the Fukuji dam, confirmed as those of the U. S. Marines. U.S. Until March, more than ten thousands paintball bullets and flares continuingly found and recovered at the Fukuji and Arakawa dams. |
| December 23, 2010 | U.S. military helicopter allaged to houver very low and blow off a civilian tent, damaged poles and chairs, blew off sighn bords in Takae, Higashi village. US military denied the fact. |
| September 6, 2011 | A high ranking U.S. official spoke out about the test spraying of the military deforiant for the use of battle field in the NTA and srrounding area between 1960 and 1962, as the newspaper reported. U.S. officially replied there were no record corroborating the facts. (Times) |
| October 29, 2013 | Two U.S.-made portable toilets dumpet inside the NTA, at the location of the helipad construction. (Times) |
| March 17, 2014 | U.S. Department of Veterans granted compensation to the former service member in Martch 2013, who claimed to tranport and spray the defoliant in the NTA, newspaper reported. (JM) |
| March 17, 2014 | U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter landed at a newly constructed landing zone before officially provided. USFJ commented it happened "unintentionally". (Times) |
| November 21, 2015 | Convoys of USMC heavy-duty trucks used a farm road in Takae, caused the local-owned car running off, damaged plants, banks of the fields along the road. (Shimpo) |
| Main Source: Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa no Beigun Kichi (March 2013) http://www.pref.okinawa.jp/site/chijiko/kichitai/documents/1kaiheitai.pdf | |
| Other sources, | |
| - Local newspapers, Okinawa Times (Times) and Ryukyu Shimpo (Shimpo) | |
| - (JM): Jon Mitchell, Agent Orange on Okinawa http://www.jonmitchellinjapan.com/agent-orange-on-okinawa.html | |
| - (Chinen): Chinen Chuji, Taiga no nagare to tomoni (Naha, Okinawa: Akebono Shuppan, 2008). | |
*Local newspaper clips which covered a part of these accidents, see,
Chuy san's blog posted on Aug. 2, 2012.
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/chuy/e/c9778722fb100de5830f20c5f58f62b8