On Wednesday, the Yokohama District Court ordered the Japanese government to pay noise pollution compensations to residents of the area surrounding the Atsugi Air Base outside Tokyo, which is jointly used by the Japanese and US Air Forces. The overall sum is 5.9 billion yen ($38 million).  At the same time, the court rejected the plaintiffs' demand to stop flights, as well as future noise pollution payments.

In a lawsuit filed in 2017, a group of about 8,700 plaintiffs demanded that the base stop night and early morning flights and pay a total of 13.1 billion yen in compensation for past and future noise-related health damage. Of particular concern are Osprey transport planes, and fighter jets.

The lower court even decided to suspend flights of the Japanese Air Force, but the verdict stated that the government had no authority to restrict those by the Americans. Eventually, the district court overturned the ban, obliging the state to compensate to the people for past violations.

Lawsuits of the kind are nothing new in Japan, where historical residential development often begins just outside the runway. Under public pressure, 2018 saw US aircraft withdrawn from Atsugi to Iwakuni, another US military base in western Japan, as a result of previous court proceedings conducted since the 1970s.

The more interesting is another thing. Based on past compensation rulings, the Japanese government has demanded that the United States share its burden under the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement. But the money has never arrived from overseas.

At the same time, the Japanese government regularly pays compensation to fishermen for damage to harvest areas, and to peasants for damage to land associated with activities by American air and naval bases or facilities.

But it's not all about the money alone.

Similar stories with noise pollution, as well as an increase in sexual crimes or a direct threat to people's lives over military equipment accidents, have generated lots of complaints from voters against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. And the defiantly devil-may-care reaction by the United States is perceived as damage to Japan’s national prestige.

A striking example of recent vintage is that US military authorities based here ignored local shutdown requirements for those entering the country during the covid pandemic. As a result, increased morbidity was noted in areas adjacent to American bases. Naturally, Tokyo did protest through official channels, but it came to nothing.

Strictly speaking, what is implied here is Japan’s not being a fully sovereign power, given the rights it has granted to the American military stationed in its territory.  The issue has been tabooed in the Japanese media for many years, dubbed the "asterisk taboo" after a distinctive symbol of US uniform. However, current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba who was elected in October this year, tries to reinvigorate the sovereignty issue.

When delivering speeches about its work in the field of national security, he has repeatedly stated: "Japan is a sovereign and independent country."

The point is that he headed the Japanese Defense Ministry in 2004, when an American military helicopter crashed in the territory of Okinawa International University. The US military cordoned off the area for a whole week after the accident. The Japanese-initiated investigation was disrupted due to the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which defines the status and rights of the American military in Japan.

"Okinawa prefectural police weren't even allowed to enter the site. All the parts of the helicopter were removed by the U.S. military. Is this nation really a sovereign state?" the current Prime Minister recalled. Apparently, relevant contacts with the Americans are well stuck in his memory.

Visiting Okinawa in September this year, he also stated the following: "We should at least start reviewing the SOFA. We need to take responsibility as a sovereign nation." And September 27, the day he got elected new LDP chief, saw Ishiba publish his foreign policy program on the website of US-based Hudson Institute Inc. research company. In it, he advocated for revising both the Japan-US security treaty and SOFA, saying: "The time is ripe to change this asymmetrical bilateral treaty".

That is, he seeks nothing less than amending the Japan-US security deal, a key one in their ties. The document is not about mutual defense, like, for example, military agreements between the United States and South Korea or the Philippines. In the present case, Article 5 of the treaty obliges the United States to defend Japan, but not vice versa, while Article 6 bounds Japan to providing military bases to the US.

Ishiba believes that Japan should get onto altering the treaty to a mutual defense one, and making SOFA a parity-of-status agreement. Several Japanese prime ministers, starting with Shinzo Abe, have dealt with the problem, and the imbalance has gradually started levelling out. However, the current Japanese leader is first to make no bones about reconsidering key military cooperation documents between Japan and America.

However, his extremely unsuccessful start as prime minister gives little reason for optimistic forecasts in the struggle for real national sovereignty.

Ishiba announced early parliamentary elections in October, but his Liberal Democratic Party lost them quite miserably, placing him at the helm of a truly shaky parliamentary minority government. Neither did his debut on the international stage work out, prompting his office to leak data on preparations for an emergency meeting with newly elected US President Donald Trump. But the latter has refused, citing a 200-year-old law prohibiting such contacts before inauguration.

However, the same law did not prevent Trump from easily meeting with Shinzo Abe right after the election in 2016, paving the way for establishing a relationship of trust between the two leaders. But today, the new White House owner seems to have suggested that Ishiba “wait in the hallway” with all of his bold ideas. Besides, it's a coin toss whether he proves able to retain the seat for long. His ill-wishing party fellows have already started rambling on his resignation.

So, the Japanese will have to give their patience another pull as regards the hum of American fighter jets that have been ostensibly protecting the quiet sleep of those inhabiting the Land of the Rising Sun.