GINOWAN, OKINAWA PREF. ¨C Okinawa International University President Hajime Asato called for the immediate closure of the U.S. Marine Corps¡¯ Futenma air station, at a gathering Thursday to mark 22 years since a U.S. military helicopter crashed into the premises of the university.
¡°We strongly demand that the Japanese and U.S. governments immediately close and remove the base,¡± he said. The school neighbors the Futenma base in the city of Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture.
Some 120 people, including students and teachers, attended the gathering held near a tree charred by the Aug. 13, 2004, crash of the large transport helicopter that belonged to the U.S. base.
Asato cited an incident in which a U.S. military helicopter made an emergency landing at a baseball ground in the Okinawa city of Nago in March this year and said, ¡°This once again reminded us that not only the area around the Futenma air station but also the whole of Okinawa is in danger.¡±
Momoka Maehara, 22, a fourth-year student of the university¡¯s College of Industry and Information Science who was born in the year of the helicopter crash, delivered an address as a student representative.
Maehara said that lectures are sometimes suspended due to the loud noise of U.S. military aircraft. ¡°The fear that a similar accident could happen remains in this place 22 years on,¡± she added.
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