US base in Yokosuka pollutes Japanese waters
Wastewater surveys show the presence of cancer-causing compounds, 172 times higher than legal. The US-Japan alliance comes under stress as the US military presence is increasingly unpopular and a source of frictions and tensions, starting in Okinawa. In September, a student attempted to attack the US embassy with explosives.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) – Located at the extreme south of Tokyo Bay, Yokosuka is one of the many cities that have developed around the Japanese capital.
It was here that Commodore Matthew Perry, with his fleet of US naval ships, forced Japan, then under Shogun rule, to open up in 1853 to Western influence.
A century and a half later the United States is still present in the city with a naval base; however, the base, established in 1945, is also a good example of what is wrong with the US-Japanese alliance.
A report released last week shows alarmingly high levels of two cancer-causing chemical compounds, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in wastewater, found in samples collected in August at the military base.
Most worrying, the survey found a total amount 8,592 nanograms per litre of wastewater, 172 times higher than the maximum level set by Japanese law of 50 nanograms per litre.
The dumping of substances dangerous to human health is nothing new; this summer high levels of PFOS and PFOA were also detected in the waters near the Yokosuka base.
Alerted by the authorities, Yokosuka Mayor Katsuaki Kamiji asked the Japanese government to conduct an onsite inspection. "I can't help but feel anger. I can no longer trust (the US military)," he told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
The US military responded saying that it will apply filters by 1 November to absorb the two chemical compounds, but the mayor wants quicker action.
In Japan, the alliance with the United States can be a source of troubles, most notably when it comes to relations between US military personnel and the local population.
In Okinawa, where tensions with the US military are well known. The local prefecture conducted surveys around the US military bases between 2019 and 2021 and found as many as 20 different toxic chemical compounds, some of them banned in Japan.
In June of this year, 1,280 residents in the area around the US Air Force's Yokota Air Base, West Tokyo, filed a lawsuit against the noise pollution caused by Osprey transport planes used by US Air Force. And the list goes on.
Sometimes, some Japanese have turned violent in their opposition to the US military presence.
In August, police arrested a university student from Osaka for planning to throw homemade gunpowder at the US embassy in Tokyo. When questioned, he said he wanted to throw explosives into the diplomatic mission.
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12/09/2022 12:09
