It’s about the cities of Abu and Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
The authorities of the Japanese cities of Abu and Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture in the southwest of the main island of Honshu spoke out on Tuesday against the deployment of the ground-based Aegis Ashore missile defense system there. They said this at a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, Kyodo news agency reported.
At the meeting, the Ministry released a report, which states that the military training ground near the cities of Abu and Hagi is ideal for the deployment of Aegis Ashore. The report also states, citing experts, that the radiation from the radar of this powerful facility is absolutely safe for the population.
The mayor of Abu Norihiko Hanada categorically disagrees. He stressed that the Aegis Ashore is planned to be placed too close to residential buildings, and demanded in this regard to abandon the plan of deployment of the installation. Hagi Mayor Kenji Fujimity also stressed that the Ministry of Defense has not yet been able to mitigate the concerns of the local residents.
At the same time, the authorities of Yamaguchi Prefecture generally welcomed the report of the military department and expressed their intention to continue negotiations with the leadership of the two cities.
In January, the U.S. administration sanctioned the sale of two Aegis Ashore installations to Tokyo. According to Tokyo’s calculations, they should cover virtually the entire territory of the country from the ballistic missile strike.
Aegis Ashore installations, as previously reported by the Ministry of Defense of Japan, are expected to be deployed by 2023, but their deployment can be accelerated. The military department admits that the real costs of purchasing two complexes of Aegis Ashore in the U.S. may be higher than 268 billion yen (almost $2.4 billion), which were previously announced by Tokyo.