Over 22,000 residents file suit over Kadena noise

Some 22,000 residents around the US Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, southern Japan, have filed suit seeking a ban on night flights and damages over aircraft noise.

The number of plaintiffs is the largest ever for a lawsuit over noise at a military base in Japan.

Residents from 5 municipalities filed the complaint against the Japanese government on Thursday with the Naha District Court.

Plaintiffs are seeking about 540 million dollars in damages for the health hazard and other daily sufferings caused by aircraft noise from the largest US base in Far East Asia. They say the noise disturbs their sleep and caused hearing difficulties.

They are also demanding a ban on flights from night to early morning.

The plaintiffs will pursue the Japanese government's responsibility for providing the base to US forces.

This is the 3rd group suit of this kind over the Kadena base, following those filed in 1982 and 2000. In both previous cases, the court ordered the central government to pay compensation, but turned down their demand for a flight ban.

The head of the plaintiffs, Shusei Arakawa from Okinawa City, says noise pollution at Kadena has only worsened despite residents' continued complaints. Arakawa says residents' anger at the worsening situation led to the large number of plaintiffs.

Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima said the biggest problem is that US bases continue to exist unchanged more than 65 years after the end of World War Two and nearly 40 years since the reversion of Okinawa. Nakaima says he hopes the lawsuit has a good outcome.

Both the US forces and Japanese government have refused to comment on the latest suit.