2010年5月

町田の墜落事件をNYで訴えた英文のチラシです。拙い英語ですが、現地で参加者に配布していただきました。

5th April 1964, some 6 months
before the Tokyo Olympic Games

About 17:30 USMC F-8U Crusader Returning from Kadena AB, Okinawa Prefecture, to Atsugi AB, Kanagawa Prefecture crashed in shopping area-2 Choume, Haramachida, Machida City, Tokyo, Japan, according to
http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/f8_crusader.htm

This website, which lists up many F-8 Crusader-related crashes, fails to write how many people were killed by their crashes.

In the case of Machida City (now with 420,000 population) in Tokyo, a nine-month baby, together with her mother, nearly at 30 (Yoshida's; butcher), an old woman dealing with clothes, and a man just walking in front of their shops, were killed. Also, 32 people were injured. One of them with serious burns had to be in a hospital for one year.

Too small compensation
Only one million yen (about $2,780 at the time) was paid to each of these victims, while the pilot, who safely ejected from the burning plane, received no punishment. What's worse, eight years later, a daughter of Yoshida was hit at the road by a car driven by a U.S. military personnel from the U.S. Army Camp Zama, south of Machida, and was killed.

Association to Record the April 5 Crusader Crash Incident was established on April 4, 2010 by about 30 Machida citizens (co-chair; Abe Toshikatsu and Nishikawa Ken'ichi, secretary general Okumura Norio). Ms. Samizo Hiroko, who is distributing this leaflet to you, is one of the association's members.

Do you know how many Japanese were killed by U.S. military personnel?
At least 1,000! This is what the Japanese government has answered in the Diet.

Friends! Please make further efforts to know the reality of what U.S. military forces and their bases, as well as personnel have done in Japan.

We Japanese will make utmost efforts to forever renounce war, under Article 9 of Japan's Constitution.
For further information, visit http://machidaheiwa.fc2web.com/ (though mostly in Japanese). Thank you