TOKYO, Dec. 8, Kyodo — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a high court ruling that ordered the state to suspend nighttime and early morning flights by the Self-Defense Forces at Atsugi air base near Tokyo due to noise, overturning a lower court ruling.
The top court also denied state compensation for future noise pollution at the air base in Kanagawa Prefecture, which is shared by the SDF and U.S. forces in Japan, while ordering the state to compensate for damages incurred in the past.
In July 2015, the Tokyo High Court upheld a district court ruling that ordered the government to halt SDF flights between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
It also ordered the state to pay a total of about 9.4 billion yen in damages incurred by flights at the base, including roughly 1.2 billion yen to cover damages from flights expected to take place through the end of 2016.
