Inoda fishing port, seen here in this undated photo, is on the western coast of Ishigaki island, 255 miles southwest of Okinawa. (Okinawa prefecture)
U.S. Air Force weather preparedness training on one of Japan’s westernmost islands has drawn complaints from local and regional authorities, who say they were not informed of the full extent of the exercises.
The training, conducted Tuesday at the Inoda fishing port on Ishigaki Island, was the first of its kind at that location, according to a spokesman for Ishigaki city’s fishery division.
The city had received a request to store training equipment and material at the port, but not to use it as a training site, the spokesman said by phone Thursday.
“That is the problem,” he said. “We approved the request because it said that the training would be conducted outside of the port.”
The 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base said in an unsigned email Wednesday that it was conducting the drills in coordination with the Japanese government to “enhance response capabilities in the event of severe weather or typhoons.”
“We are committed to conducting safe operations as we uphold our defense commitments,” the email states.
The wing declined via email Thursday to provide additional details.
An unnamed Ishigaki resident filed a request on June 24 with the city for the Air Force to use the port from July 7 to 31. The city authorized the docking of one fishing boat and three rubber boats and approved the installation of a prefabricated warehouse, the Ishigaki spokesman said.
Training was observed at the port on Tuesday, he said. Airmen were spotted Thursday performing maintenance on the rubber boats, but no training was observed, he added.
Ishigaki, part of Okinawa prefecture, is about 255 miles southwest of Okinawa and 186 miles east of Taiwan.
Defense bureau officials met with Ishigaki Vice Mayor Eichiro Chinen on Wednesday and apologized for the incident, the spokesman said. Chinen asked the bureau to notify the city before any training takes place.
Okinawa prefecture’s Military Base Affairs Division was also not informed of the training, a division spokeswoman said by phone Thursday.
The division submitted phone requests to halt the drills to the U.S. Consulate General in Naha on Wednesday and the U.S. military on Thursday, the spokeswoman said. It planned to submit the same requests to the defense bureau and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Okinawa Liaison Office later that day.
“Training outside the facilities and areas provided to the U.S. military would lead to an even greater burden caused by U.S. bases, which is already heavy,” Okinawa prefecture wrote Wednesday on X.
The defense bureau acknowledged inquiries from Stars and Stripes on Thursday but did not immediately provide responses.
Some Japanese government officials may speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.
