US Aircraft Noise Pollution

Okinawa Residents Seek $10 Million in Damages Over US Aircraft Noise Pollution
A group of nearly 3, 000 Japanese residents has sued the Japanese government over excessive noise from US aircraft flying over Okinawa, Where the US maintains several military bases.
"Seventy-three years after the war, We have been facing great danger by a number of emergency landings, Crashes and falling objects as well as the noise interrupting our daily conversations and causing issues watching TVs and listening to radios, " Kenei Yamashiro, 79, Said during Friday court proceedings, Stars and Stripes reports.
"Night flight from 10 p. M. To 6 p. M. Is supposedly restricted. However, It has been happening and causing serious health issues from sleep deprivation, " the elder said. The initial lawsuit was filed in July, According to the news outlet.
The 2, 800 residents of Ginowan, Okinawa, Are seeking $10 million in compensation for damages sustained by US air operations. If successful, Each resident could walk away with approximately $3, 570. An attorney for the residents told Stars and Stripes the plaintiffs aren't actually interested in seeing the flights stop.
"[We are] just asking for the monetary settlement because the majority of plaintiffs are elderly, " the lawyer told Stars and Stripes.
If history repeats itself, The citizens are in a good position to have their complaints heard and their grievances redressed. Some 3, 400 other Okinawa citizens won more than $22 million after complaining of excessive noise from jets near Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in late 2016, Sputnik News reported.
Yet another lawsuit in 2017 ended in a settlement awarding a massive $265 million to residents near the US Air Force's Kadena Air Base, Which was also located on Okinawa Island.
Last September, Okinawa's Parliament adopted a resolution to block the deployment of accident-prone US MV-22 Osprey aircraft on the island, Sputnik News reported. Tokyo allowed MV-22 flights from Okinawa anyway.