Yokohama –
The Yokohama District Court on Wednesday rejected a request for an injunction against nighttime and early morning flights at Atsugi Air Base in Kanagawa Prefecture that the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military jointly use.
Presiding Judge Nobuhiro Okada at the district court rejected the request regarding SDF and U.S. military aircraft, filed by some 8,700 residents in eight cities around the base, which straddles the Kanagawa cities of Yamato and Ayase.
But the judge ordered the state to pay roughly ¥5.9 billion in damages to the plaintiffs over past noise pollution linked to the base. He denied a damages claim for future noise pollution.