The U.S. Military Dominates Japanese Sky; U.S. Military and Modern Colonialism #4
It has been nearly 79 years since World War II ended. Still, the U.S. military treats the Japanese airspace as a U.S. possession. Even now, the U.S. military occupies the Japanese sky.
Japan accepts the most significant U.S. overseas military in the world. Seventy percent of the U.S. military bases in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa. Still, several extensive U.S. forces air bases are densely located in Tokyo and surrounding areas and the headquarters is in the Yokota air base in Tokyo. Thus, the U.S. military at Yokota Air Base has air traffic control (ATC) of its surrounding vast airspace, called the Yokota Radar Approach Control (Yokota RAPCON).
ATC is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who give directions and information to aircraft to prevent collisions and organize traffic flow in the air.
The Yokota RAPCON extends 300km north and south and 130 km east and west over ten prefectures, including almost all of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Gunma, and part of Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Fukushima. Its height is set from 2,450 meters to 7,000 meters.
Though the Yokota RAPCON is Japanese territorial air, the U.S. military has priority using it to train its aircraft and transport supplies because the U.S. military has its ATC. Airplanes that use instrument flight rule must get permission to fly in the RAPCON every time; thus, even though there are two airline hubs representing Japan near the RAPCON, Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) and Narita International Airport, Japanese civilian airliners avoid flying through the RAPCON except for emergencies, such as bad weather and mechanical problems. Consequently, the U.S.'s control of the RAPCON restricts Japanese airplanes' routes, forcing them to circle and rise sharply. Traffic jams occur constantly, and there is a risk of crashes and collisions.
The Japanese government has requested the return of the Yokota RAPCON. The U.S. military has agreed to it several times but was only part of the RAPCON and hasn't shown an attitude to return the entire RAPCON.
Also, the Iwakuni RAPCON exists over Western Honshu and the island of Shikoku, specifically Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane, and Ehime. The Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni has its air traffic control. Japanese civilian airliners also must avoid flying through the Iwakuni RAPCON, even though there are three civilian airports in and around the Iwakuni RAPCON.
The U.S. military's control of the Japanese airspaces is based on an agreement at the U.S.-Japan Joint Committee because Article 6 paragraph 1 of the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement states that all civil and military air traffic control " will be established by arrangement between the appropriate authorities of the two Governments."
The U.S.-Japan Joint Committee is a conference to discuss using the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, formerly the U.S.-Japan Administrative Agreement. The Committee comprises six U.S. forces officers, a U.S. ambassador to Japan, and six Japanese high-ranking government officials. Its proceedings and minutes are regarded as official documents of both governments, and they don't announce it without agreement. Though there is no politician, crucial matters are decided behind closed doors.
In 1952, the old Security Treaty and the Administrative Agreement became effective, and the occupation of the U.S. military finished. At the Joint Committee, the U.S. and Japan agreed that the U.S. military continued to have air traffic control of Japanese airspace because Japan didn't have the technique and ability yet. 1959, air traffic control was transferred to Japan except for surrounding U.S. forces' air bases.
In 1960, both states agreed to revise the Security Treaty, abolish the Administrative Agreement, and conclude the Status of Forces Agreement. However, it didn't make much difference.
In 1975, at the Joint Committee, U.S. forces officers and Japanese bureaucrats agreed that Tokyo would continue to delegate air traffic control to the U.S. government on the air bases that the Status of Forces Agreement permits the U.S. to use and its surrounding areas.
Today, the U.S. military's dominance of the Yokota and Iwakuni RAPCONs is grounded in this agreement. These RAPCONs have no legal basis in the Status of Forces Agreement or the Japanese Civil Aeronautics Act.
A 1983 Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs classified document titled Thinking of the Status of Forces Agreement Enlarged Edition, which the Ryukyu Shimpo, the Okinawan newspaper, obtained and covered in 2004, admits that though the legal basis allowing the U.S. military to have the air traffic control of the Yokota and Iwakuni RAPCONs is an issue, there is only the Joint Committee's agreement and no provision on the Japanese Civil Aeronautics Act.
In February 2019, the U.S. military allowed some Japanese civilian airliners that land and take off at the Tokyo International Airport to pass through the Yokota RAPCON for only a few minutes. The U.S. also authorized Japan to provide the airplanes' ATC.
However, in June 2019, the Magnum Airspace, the training airspace of Misawa Air Base's (in Aomori) U.S. Air Force, was expanded. Before, Japanese civilian airplanes could fly through the Magnum if they flew over a height of 7,315 meters. Still, the expansion requires civil airplanes to fly over 9,145 meters to pass through the Magnum except for emergencies.
A Japanese government official said the Yokota and Magnum cases were not trade-offs but lending and borrowing. The then Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, Kazuyoshi Akaba, stated at a press conference that the government would not make the negotiation process public for fear of hurting the rapport with the U.S.
It has been nearly 79 years since World War II ended. Still, the U.S. military treats the Japanese airspace as a U.S. possession, which the Japanese government accepts. Even now, the U.S. military occupies the Japanese sky.
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