Extra compensation denied for base noise

Japan's top court rejected a lower court ruling yesterday requiring the government to pay additional compensation to thousands of residents suing over noise from a US military base in Tokyo, officials and a lawyer said.

In a suit brought against the Japanese government in 1996, about 6,000 plaintiffs living near Yokota Air Base in Tokyo's western suburbs demanded that early morning and late night flights be suspended, and residents be compensated for the noise.

The flights were not suspended, but the Tokyo High Court ruled in 2005 to award the residents a total of 3.02 billion yen in compensation, plus an additional 230 million yen for the damage of having to wait a year from the end of the court proceedings to the day of the ruling.

At today's exchange rates, 3.02 billion yen is worth US$24.9 million, while 230 million yen is the equivalent of US$1.9 billion.

The requirement of additional compensation for a delay in a ruling is highly unusual in Japanese courts, and the Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the government would not have to pay it, said a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Kenichi Yoshida.

The plaintiffs have already received the 3.02 billion yen. Lawyers for the residents could not provide the average amount plaintiffs received, saying that the amount differ depending on the level of the noise they suffer.

Yoshida protested the ruling. "So long as the base remains there residents will continue to suffer damage," he said. "I think this is a very unfair ruling."

The government, however, cheered the judgment. Kenshu Nagaoka, an official of the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, said in a statement that the court "made an appropriate decision."

"The agency will work harder to gain understanding from the residents near Yokota base and to build a better living environment," he said.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/30/2007 page7)