Japan's Shiga Prefecture calls for safe operation of Osprey

Prior to the U.S.-Japan joint military drills involving the MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft based in Japan's Shiga prefecture, the local government submitted a written request to the defense ministry on Wednesday calling for safe operation of the aircraft. Members from the prefectural office submitted the written request to the ministry, demanding that the planned exercises should minimize disturbances for the local people and avoid airspace over densely populated areas, according to the chief spokesperson at the prefectural office. In the request, the prefectural government urged the ministry to persuade the U.S. teams not to fly over commercial and residential areas as well as the country's biggest freshwater lake, Lake Biwa, located in the center of the prefecture, and to take all possible measures to ensure that the ministry provides details of the flight plans as early as it gets from the U.S. Marine Corps, the spokesman said to Xinhua. The joint exercises, officially organized in the middle of this month to reduce the burden of U.S. military bases in Okinawa, southern Japan, have already raised strong public concerns over safety issues related to the aircraft.