LEAD: Inamine's demand to ground U.S. military aircraft fails

Japan Policy & Politics, August 23, 2004

TOKYO, Aug. 19 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH INAMINE-HOSODA MEETING)

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine said Thursday he was unsuccessful in having the United States suspend military flights at the Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station after Friday's crash of a Marine helicopter at a local university campus.

Inamine conveyed the request at a meeting with Michael Michalak, the U.S. deputy chief of mission, who currently serves as charge d'affaires, at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker is in the United States.

''Flights should be suspended until safety is ensured,'' the governor told reporters after the meeting.

But Michalak simply said the U.S. military will do its utmost to keep its aircraft in good shape, a remark Inamine took to mean that the United States will not accept his request.

A CH-53D Sea Stallion transport helicopter from Futemma Air Station crashed Friday into the Okinawa International University campus adjacent to the base, both in the city of Ginowan, leaving three crew members injured. No civilians were hurt.

Inamine said his demands boil down to the ''reduction of danger'' to local people by conducting drills outside Okinawa and downsizing the military force at the Futemma base.

Okinawa, about 1,500 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, is home to 75 percent of all U.S. forces in Japan. Its residents have called for a reduction the U.S. military presence there.

Later Thursday, Inamine urged Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda to support his demands.

Hosoda told reporters after meeting with Inamine that the government sees the need to ''speed up'' work to relocate the Futemma base, which has lagged.

The United States agreed in 1996 to return the Futemma base by 2003 at the latest, but the envisaged handover has been pending as a relocation facility has yet to be built off the northern Okinawa city of Nago due to local opposition.

The Okinawa governor also urged a revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement to enable Japanese authorities to take part in investigations of accidents involving U.S. military aircraft in the prefecture.

The United States had turned down a request that Japanese police participate in the crash investigations. It collected most of the debris from the helicopter, while keeping the accident site off-limits to Japanese officials. Local police held their first on-the-spot investigation on Thursday since the crash.

Kiyotaka Takahashi, the outgoing head of the prefectural police, told reporters that Japanese investigations into U.S. accidents are restricted by the Status of Forces Agreement.

''We're not supposed to conduct (investigation) beyond the agreement,'' he said.