TOKYO, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Residents living near the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture have won the largest-ever amount of compensation from the central Japanese government related to a suit over excessive noise connected to a military base.
The plaintiffs were collectively awarded 30.2 billion yen (266 million U.S. dollars) in damages by the Okinawa branch of the Naha District Court, which ruled that illegal damage had been left unresolved by the U.S. and Japanese governments.
"The U.S. and Japanese governments have not taken fundamental prevention measures and illegal damage has been aimlessly left unresolved," the branch was quoted as saying in handing down its ruling.
The lawsuit for excessive noise from the base was filed in 2011 by 22,000 residents, the largest-ever for such a lawsuit, but an additional petition to ban flights from the base between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. was turned down by the court.
The court noted that the Japanese government could not restrict flight times as the Kadena base belongs to the U.S. military.
Read the full story at Xinhua