Japan sends US military 178 complaints about low-flying helicopters over Tokyo

US military helicopters have long been exempt from Japanese laws that set a minimum safe altitude for civilian aircraft

This is causing issues at Hardy Barracks, a US military facility in the heart of the Japanese capital whose heliport is a travel hub for US officials

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A US soldier looks out over Tokyo from the back of a military transport helicopter in 2019. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:00am, 29 Jun 2021Updated: 7:33pm, 29 Jun 2021

US military helicopters flying low over Tokyo have spurred a torrent of complaints from residents of the Japanese capital in recent years, with one observer warning of a “public-relations nightmare” for Washington if an accident should occur.

Between April 2017 and December last year, no fewer than 178 complaints – nearly four a month, on average – were catalogued by Japan’s Mainichi newspaper, which has been running a campaign to monitor the activities of US military aircraft over the city and reported that Japan’s Defence Ministry had notified the US military about the complaints.

Around 80 per cent came from residents of Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, which aircraft have to fly over to get between either the US military’s Yokota Air Base or Naval Air Facility Atsugi and Hardy Barracks – a facility that also houses the Akasaka Press Centre and is located in the heart of the Japanese capital.

US military helicopters seen taking off from a Marine Corps base in Okinawa, Japan, in 2012. Photo: AP

US military helicopters have long been exempt from Japanese laws that set a minimum safe altitude for civilian aircraft under agreements signed in the wake of Tokyo’s surrender at the end of the second world war, but public opposition to this special status has become a hot-button issue recently.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told a parliamentary debate in March that it was “only natural” for US forces to “fly in accordance with the rules”, adding that Tokyo had asked Washington for further details – and an explanation – following the reports of low-flying military aircraft. Japan’s Defence Ministry declined to comment for this article.