Exclusive Zone for U.S. Forces Remains in Fukuoka Airport; 80 Years After War’s End, Locals Still Calling for Return of Land

By Hiroki Ikeda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

20:00 JST, September 4, 2025

What is now Fukuoka Airport, in the city’s Hakata Ward, was for many years operated entirely by the U.S. military, until it reverted to Japanese control in March 1972. But although 80 years have now passed since the end of World War II, this facility still has a zone reserved for use by U.S. forces.

According to the Defense Ministry, Fukuoka Airport is the only commercial airport in Japan which has such a space on its grounds.

Though the airport suffers from serious congestion of civilian aircraft, it has to share its runways with U.S. forces. Thus residents, the Fukuoka prefectural government and the Fukuoka city government have all demanded that the remaining land be returned to Japanese control as soon as possible.

But the central government has been slow to move toward resolving this issue, and U.S. forces have given no sign that they intend to comply with these demands, so local people intend to continue steadily calling for the rest of the airport to be given back.

2.3 hectares

As you drive along the Fukuoka Urban Expressway through Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, in the direction of Dazaifu City, you will pass by Fukuoka Airport. Near its control tower, a single-story building with a rust-colored roof will be visible.

This building is one of a global network of bases operated by the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC).

Under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, a total of about 2.3 hectares of land — including the ground on which this building sits — out of the roughly 350 hectares in total occupied by the Fukuoka Airport complex is reserved for the exclusive use of the U.S. forces. U.S. forces are also allowed to use the airport’s taxiways and runways at any time.

Central government officials and aviation experts explained that the AMC is a unit in charge of transportation, aerial refueling and medical transportation, including transporting U.S. VIPs and family members of U.S. military personnel.

A long history lies behind the presence of this American military facility on the grounds of Fukuoka Airport.

What is now Fukuoka Airport began as Mushiroda Airfield, established by the now defunct Imperial Japanese Army before the end of World War II. After the war ended, U.S. forces took over the airfield and began operating it under the name of Itazuke Air Base.

During the Korean War, from 1950 to 1953, the air base was used as a staging point for U.S. fighters.

In 1972, most of the land was returned to Japan and became the present-day Fukuoka Airport, but a part of the zone remained under American control.

U.S. forces still use the airport’s runways. According to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, the total number of takeoffs and landings by civilian airplanes at Fukuoka Airport now sits at around 94,000 annually. The number of takeoffs and landings by U.S. military airplanes averaged 58.9 per year, the highest of any airport in Japan, between 2015 and 2024.

Last year, Osprey tiltrotor transport aircraft belonging to U.S. forces also landed at the airport.

An official of the transport ministry explained that the use of the airport by U.S. forces is “within a range which does not obstruct use by civilian airplanes.”

But some locals have questioned the use of the airport’s facilities, which are already frequently congested, by U.S. military craft.

Asking in vain every year

Kiyomi Kayashima, 72, deputy head of the council to promote the return of Itazuke Air Base, which was established in 1955, and now comprises members of the Fukuoka city assembly and local community associations, said, “Long ago, Fukuoka was a city of U.S. military bases over which fighters frequently flew.”

Kayashima, who is also the head of the local community association for the Itazuke school district, said near the airport on one summer day, “Most young people today probably don’t know that a U.S. military base still exists on the grounds of Fukuoka Airport 80 years after the end of the war. I hope all the land will be returned as soon as possible.”

Members of the local council have visited Tokyo every year to demand the help of the central government in getting back the exclusive zone, but there has not been any progress so far.

The Foreign Ministry’s office of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement said that demands from residents in municipalities hosting U.S. bases, including Fukuoka, have been conveyed to the U.S. government and U.S. forces each time.

An official with the Defense Ministry’s Kyushu Defense Bureau explained, “U.S. forces say that they use it as a transportation hub for bases in the Kyushu region, and so giving back all the land would be difficult at the current stage.”

The official added, “The Defense Ministry will continue confirming the necessity of the operations, as well as the current conditions of U.S. forces, based on demands from local community associations.”

¥2.8 billion cost

In March this year, the second runway of Fukuoka Airport came into use. While the runway was under construction, the U.S. forces’ building was relocated to a place close to the Fukuoka Urban Expressway. The cost for this work, ¥2.8 billion, was shouldered by the central government, the Fukuoka prefectural government and the Fukuoka city government.

At a session of the prefectural assembly’s special budget committee in June, the U.S. base inside Fukuoka Airport became a topic of controversy.

Kaori Goto, a member of the prefectural assembly belonging to the local political group Fukuoka Seisaku no Kai (Fukuoka policy association), said, “My concern is not only the fact that U.S. forces use Fukuoka Airport, which is usually congested, but also that the base, which is in the central part of the city, may come under attack in the event of a contingency. It also does not make sense that the Japanese side shouldered the cost of relocation of the base.”

She urged, “The prefectural and city governments should share a sense of urgency and not leave everything to the central government. Shouldn’t they be making efforts to communicate these demands directly to the U.S. side?”

Prof. Shinji Kawana of Daito Bunka University, who is an expert on security studies and problems related to U.S. bases, referred to the Law on the Use of Specific Public Facilities, etc. in Armed Attack Situations, etc., which lays out how civilian airports may be used in such incidents.

He said, “If a military contingency occurs on the Korean Peninsula or elsewhere, Fukuoka Airport will become a staging and reconnaissance point for U.S. military aircraft. It is highly possible that use of it by civilian air traffic will be limited.”

Amid the controversy, Fukuoka Gov. Seitaro Hattori said at a press conference in August, “I will cooperate also with the [Fukuoka] mayor and demand the central government take action to bring about the return of the land as soon as possible.”

Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima said, “I shall make utmost efforts to have it all given back.”

The council to promote the return of Itazuke Air Base plans to once again submit a letter to the central government demanding the zone be returned this autumn.

Kayashima said, “I want the central government to seriously demand that the United States give back [the exclusive zone].”