Japan begins construction of new SDF base for U.S. fighter drills

The ministry has proposed paying 2.2 billion yen in compensation to local fishermen who will not be able to operate during the four-year construction period and the following assessment year, according to a fishery cooperative source.

Nothing new here, the ministry literally spent billions upon billions of yen compensating local fishermen for base development projects down here too! Even though there were few fishermen that actually fished in the area of said development.

They are doing right by these people!

Japan, Taiwan and the US need to drill together.

Saw a think-tank report about scenarios should the CCP attempt to invade Taiwan. If Taiwan can hold them on the beach until the US and Japan can enter the fight, then they predict China will lose. There are lots of requirements for this and the loss of men and equipment will be substantial. Taiwan's economy will be destroyed. The US will lose 2 aircraft carriers. If Japan doesn't allow the US to launch from Japanese bases to support Taiwan, China wins.

All three countries in the alliance need greater preparation.

If Taiwan can't last a few weeks for supplies, China wins. If getting land that is full of dead Taiwanese and destroyed businesses/manufacturing is called "winning". Additionally, the free world will sanction China, leaving them with about 10 trading partners. Those sanctions will destroy the Chinese economy.

No nuclear weapons were included in any scenarios.

The think-tank's main conclusion was that preparation for war was key to make China decide against any attack. It needs to look extremely costly and economically harmful to China, to avoid the invasion/violence.

JAPAN the US proxy

The island in question has two WWII era runways that basically criss cross the full width and length of the island from its time as an IJA air base. In the 1950s the Japanese government attempted to settle it but nobody could grow anything successfully and by the 1960s everyone had left.

2.2 billion yen in compensation to local fishermen 

enough money to feed the starving one in six children in Japan’s second most populous city for months and months. The fishermen will find that military bases contaminate the sea.

How will this new source of enormous pollution impact the Natural World Heritage designated Yakushima only several miles away?

Also fighter jets have far higher operational ceiling than airliners cruise altitudes so how will these operations impact the SUPER BUSY AIRWAYS DIRECTLY ABOVE Mage shima?

Thirdly: the JAXA launch site is less than ten miles away how will the scientific rocket launches be impacted?

Fourthly: I have to question the strategical benefits for being too far from the front line and Ryukyu would have better forward locations. (consider enlarging Minnajima?)

Being US enemy is risky, but being its friend is lethal..

Also fighter jets have far higher operational ceiling than airliners cruise altitudes

That is only true in a few exceptional cases. Most tactical jets fly at subsonic speeds on normal Jet Airways sequenced in with other traffic. Unless they are in a specific MOA or Restricted Area they have to follow ICAO rules.

How will this new source of enormous pollution impact the Natural World Heritage designated Yakushima only several miles away?

Should have no effect. The island was a former IJA airbase. After WWII it was farmed for a time. There is nothing natural left of the island. If my experience as a Navy pilot is any guide the Navy will keep well away from a world heritage site. We had all kinds of rules about not disturbing bird habitats and such that affected where we could fly or operate on the ground. There isn't a squadron or air wing commander that wants to send the OPREP 3 message to DC saying one of their jets just dumped fuel or the pilots punched out over a world heritage site. They will avoid it by a considerable margin.

Thirdly: the JAXA launch site is less than ten miles away how will the scientific rocket launches be impacted?

It won't. The US Navy for decades fired rockets from Point Mugu right next to the departure end of the runway. They were sequenced in with flight ops. No big deal. The Chair Force does the same at Eglin and Tyndall. They still fire rockets from San Nicholas Island, which also has runways. On days JAXA has an operation they don't do Field Carrier Landing Practice.

If only taxpayers were to realize, its all been paid for with their money.

They should be putting more effort into this construction to have it completed in two years. The sooner it is up and running the better. Also less disruption for the fisher folk.

Japan begins construction of new SDF base for U.S. fighter drills.

Read between lines.

Japan begins construction of legal military target on its soil.All in name of US interests and their aggressive policies.

Japan is going to use a lot of money taken from tax payers.Could be used in many more clever ways-help poor,disbaled,build some hospital,school,support money for families with young children.To help these in need in aftermath of covid circuss.

But befehl is befehl.Japan is doing what is expected from loyal US vassal.

JAPAN the US proxy

Yes along with South Korea (when a pro-US president is in office) and Taiwan...now all-too-obvious and impossible to deny regardless of how much deflection/downvoting or spin is put into the media.

Japan is going to use a lot of money taken from tax payers.Could be used in many more clever ways-help poor,disbaled,build some hospital,school,support money for families with young children.To help these in need in aftermath of covid circuss.

Yes, it could be spending money in a way that does not interfere with Chinese ambitions of conquest and empire building. Doing anything that makes it harder for China to take over Taiwan and Japanese islands is just not fair....to China. That Just means Japan is spending the money where it is best spent, because allowing Chinese empire building will cost Japan much much more in the long run.

JAPAN the US proxyYes along with South Korea (when a pro-US president is in office) and Taiwan

Some people find it inconceivable that nations may agree with the US. That Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (just to name three), agree that China is out of hand, has incorrect desires to subjugate Taiwan, take international waters and other nations EEZ' including traditional fishing grounds in the South China sea and be belligerent to its neighbors including India, and nations further afield, just seems too hard to reconcile. So they get classed as US proxy's. In those terms anyone agreeing with Chinese international doctrine must be Chinese proxy's. I know where I would rather be in that weird world view, and it is not a proxy for China.

Believe it or not, many people and nations have little or no respect for a China that has ambitions of being world leader. Most nations do not work like China does, with one party rule and a leader for life. Most nations have much more personal freedoms for their people and an ideology that is fundamentally opposed to the policy and doctrine of the CCP. They are never going to allow China to dictate to them or to lead them in any endeavors. China is not trusted, because it covers up truth and delivers its own concocted version of the truth that is clearly and demonstrably false.

So look down on nations like Japan, that think like others more often than they do like China. But do not be surprised that support for China is many miles behind support for the US as in comparison, most nations prefer the lifestyle and ideology of America over China's current CCP version. That will not change as long as the CCP does not change, and that looks unlikely to say the least.

@Peter14

But do not be surprised that support for China is many miles behind support for the US as in comparison

Yes when you install a country's government by freeing war criminals such as Abe's grandfather to do your bidding (in South Korea they reinstated to power those elite who had worked together with Japans imperial governmmet during Japan's occupation of the peninsula 1910-1945) and co-profit through sales of missiles, jet fighters etc. then yes you will have the "support" that you speak of while simultaneously antagonizing those i.e. China who suffered at the hands of those war criminals lol ... after being invaded in the 19th and 20th centuries by the western powers and Japan they're not going to sit back and watch passively as the US builds up its arms in Japan, South Korea etc. , it was only too obvious after Abe came into power in 2012 and immediately ordered raising the military budget to record highs while concurrently whitewashing the school history books etc. along with building huge missile related installations in South Korea.

Yes when you install a country's government by freeing war criminals such as Abe's grandfather to do your bidding (in South Korea they reinstated to power those elite who had worked together with Japans imperial governmmet during Japan's occupation of the peninsula 1910-1945)

Still living in the distant past. Those responsible are dead and gone. Japan has been pacifist since 1945 and has fought no wars or skirmishes since then. But yes, show displeasure at the US from 1945, the ones that saved China, because it makes your narrative sound less insane. Only it does not.

China who suffered at the hands of those war criminals lol ... after being invaded in the 19th and 20th centuries by the western powers and Japan they're not going to sit back and watch passively as the US builds up its arms in Japan, South Korea etc. ,

A buildup in China is responsible for the buildup in Japan and South Korea, not to mention the nuclear and ICBM program in North Korea. China is responsible for the deteriorating situation, not the US. Pointing fingers does nothing for your perspective, and using ancient history as your arguments foundation is meaningless. This is about what is happening right now not about world history that can not be changed.

Since Xi attained power he has put China on a collision course with the West, because he wants China to be the most powerful and feared nation on the planet. He wants to turn back the clock millennia to where China was dominant and controlled more territory. Those times are gone and will not return. The CCP will never be respected and will never lead the world no matter how bad China gets.

Still living in the distant past. Those responsible are dead and gone.

Yes if course the US went to all that trouble so that their means of control would simply evaporate with the passing of people like Kishi Nobusuke yeah right, more like the whole LDP was financed by Uncle Sam and still on the payroll through sales of arms etc and the huge network passed from Kishi to Abe to Kishida ... more than a little obvious they are kicking up the intensity of cooperation have u read the news recently lol

more than a little obvious they are kicking up the intensity of cooperation have u read the news recently lol

Of course they are. They have good reason to.

Why is Iwo jima not enough for that drill?

The US pilots are too incompetent to manage it within a single island?

@Nicolò what is your definition of INCOMPETENT? Competency to me in response to your comment is this. I know the US pilots are flying THE MOST advanced fighter jets and bombers in the world and you post the US pilots are too incompetent? Please explain your ill-logic? I'd like to see how your kite flies?

Why is Iwo jima not enough for that drill?

The US pilots are too incompetent to manage it within a single island?

Re: Septim Dynasty.

Would you rather be Communist? Ask some Chinese or Russians how they feel everyday.

BTW- What about the release of all the radioactive water from Fukushima? Appropriately named. It's odd that Japanese news outlets are silent on the issue.

Why not evaporate the water off and bury radioactive waste under the houses of the TEPCO managers who made this long lasting nuclear holocaust possible? The rest of the world does not want to bear the burden of your lack of foresight. Nuclear oceans, awesome.

How many, TMI's, Chernobyl's, Fukushima's etc do we need? Man is not reliable enough to use nuclear power.

Here’s a basic roadmap to how shilling for China works on this site

1: China does something aggressive towards Japan

2: Japan responds to this aggression bilaterally with US ally’s

3: Chinese shills accuse Japan of being a proxy state of the U.S. and blame blame the US for being aggressive towards “peaceful China”.

Hence the new base being built on a 400 million yr old mage

Please Google Earth the island. It has a runway from WWII running the full length of the island, and another WWII runway almost perpendicular to it running the full width of the island. There are the foundations of old buildings, former farm fields, old roads and a small harbor. There is nothing on it that is undisturbed. Fact, not hyperbole.

Why not evaporate the water off and bury radioactive waste under the houses of the TEPCO managers who made this long lasting nuclear holocaust possible?

Um, you are aware that tritium is made through a natural process in the upper atmosphere and is dissolved into the worlds oceans continuously? The amount of tritium that will be released from Fukushima is an infinitesimal fraction of the naturally occurring tritium in that same ocean.

Why is Iwo jima not enough for that drill?

The US pilots are too incompetent to manage it within a single island?

Iwo Jima is a lot further away and having FCLPs on Iwo ties up the runway and disrupts the operations of Japanese forces there. The flight time from Atsugi to Iwo is over an hour one way. So figure 2.5 to 3.0 hours of non-productive flying just burning a hole in the sky to get from Atsugi to Iwo and back. That very much cuts into available training time and it adds hours to the airframes driving higher maintenance costs and shortening the number of years the aircraft can go without a major overhaul.

China isn't trying to conquer Japan.

They'd probably rather blow it to smithereens !

China wants to separate the Ryukyu Islands from Japan. They refer to the Ryukyus as "Japanese occupied". They make a direct territorial claim on the Senkaku Islands and would take them if they thought they could get away with it.