US military base in Japan undergoes inspection over leak of harmful chemicals

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Officials have conducted inspection of a US air force base in Japan over alleged leak of harmful chemicals from the compound in the capital Tokyo, Kyodo News reported.

A joint team of officials from defense, foreign and environment ministries, Tokyo metropolitan government as and local municipalities inspected US Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo.

The inspection trip was mandated over possible leak of PFAS, a group of over 10,000 artificial chemicals that include PFOS, or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, and PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid.

Exposure to certain levels of PFAS, known as "forever chemicals," can lead to increased risk of some cancers.

The Defense Ministry believes an extinguishing agent containing PFAS was allegedly used at the base’s firefighting training area.

Japan hosts over 50,000 American soldiers under a bilateral defense pact and impact on environment and sexual assault are among complaints natives have periodically made against the presence of US bases.

Government will work to ensure that “environmental measures in and around US military facilities in Japan will be effective,” Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told a news conference.

Officials are also expected to probe water samples of a reservoir on the firefighting training site.

Washington had intimated Tokyo of possible PFAS leakage in August from the training area at the air base in the Japanese capital.

The inspection to the US air base in Tokyo comes days after a top official demanded Washington to give Japan a “clear deadline” for relocating its 9,000 US Marines from the southernmost Okinawa province to Guam.

The first batch of 100 US Marines began their transfer last week, under a pact signed in 2006 according to which 9,000 of the 19,000 US Marines stationed in Japan would be transported to Guam.

Okinawa, which hosts 31 US military-exclusive facilities covering 70.3% of such sites nationwide by land area, is home to roughly half of the 50,000 US troops deployed in Japan under a bilateral security pact.

There were 118 criminal cases involving US military personnel in Japan in 2023, and of those, 72, or 61%, were committed in Okinawa.