U.S. Military in Japan Criticized for Disturbing Residents During HIMARS Test Fire

Reference News Network reported on May 23 According to Japan's Asahi Shimbun on May 21, on the 20th, the U.S. Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa conducted shooting training with the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Higashi-Fuji training area in Shizuoka Prefecture. During the training, the training rounds flew over Japan's National Route 469, causing some sections of the highway to be closed during the exercise. Local residents and public opinion expressed deep concern over this dangerous exercise that crossed the national highway.

This is the second time the U.S. military has conducted HIMARS shooting training at the Higashi-Fuji training area since last October.

In response, a U.S. Department of Defense official stated, "This training is not aimed at any specific country," but emphasized that HIMARS is "crucial for Japan's defense and for ensuring peace and security throughout the region." The U.S. side revealed that it still plans to continue such shooting exercises in Japan in the future.

In the past, the U.S. military mainly conducted HIMARS shooting training at the Yausubetsu training area in Hokkaido, and it was not until October 27 of last year that they first moved to the Higashi-Fuji training area.

Previously, local communities had thought that such exercises would be "just this once" and reluctantly compromised. When they learned of this training plan, local protests erupted immediately, and it was only after proposing restrictions such as "no more than twice a year" and "a maximum of two traffic controls per day" that they reluctantly allowed it to proceed.

On the day of the training, protest crowds once again gathered around the training area. Local residents are deeply concerned that such training will become normalized in the future.

Watanabe Koichi, 73, the director of the "Gotemba Peace Committee" who participated in the protest, stated: "The stipulation of 'no more than twice a year' implies that it is tacitly accepted that it can happen every year. We will continue to appeal to the local government, pointing out that this is a wrong decision." (Translated by Chen Rui)