Japan City Cuts Ties With U.S. Navy

.c The Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) - A second Japanese city is ending friendly ties with the U.S. Navy to protest noisy aircraft-landing exercises at a nearby airfield, a local official said Thursday.

Yamato City made the decision after local residents lodged more than 550 complaints about noise from nighttime takeoff and landing exercises at Atsugi Naval Air Station near Tokyo, said municipal official Ryoichi Shimazaki.

The Navy conducted night landing drills Sept. 5-8 and launched a weeklong round of exercises on Monday, ignoring requests by local officials to relocate the practice, Shimazaki said.

``We've asked many times to have the drills moved,'' Shimazaki said. ``The noise has gone beyond the limit that people can endure.''

Shimazaki said that 100-decibel noise levels were recorded on 80 occasions late Tuesday - about double the norm.

While the Navy conducts many of its night landing drills at Iwojima Island, recent typhoons forced it to stage the exercise at Atsugi, said Cmdr. James Graybeal, a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Japan.

``The U.S. Naval Forces in Japan works hard to minimize the inconvenience that our necessary training in support of operational readiness causes to local communities,'' Graybeal said in a statement.

``However, to ensure our forces are able to safely and completely perform their mission, some training such as (night landing practice) cannot be postponed or avoided.''

Yamato City's decision to end friendly ties with the Navy is the second this week by a Japanese city. The city of Misawa said Tuesday it was severing friendly ties after the local government received almost 50 complaints about drills held earlier this month.

As a result of the cut ties, Navy officials will not be invited to city-sponsored events, Shimazaki said.

Atsugi and Misawa airfields are located near residential areas, and representatives of both cities have requested that the Navy hold such exercises elsewhere.