Agence France-Presse,
YOKOSUKA, Japan: A giant US aircraft carrier docked here Thursday to become the first US nuclear-powered vessel based overseas, setting off protests in the only nation to have suffered atomic attack.
The 97,000-ton USS George Washington, which can carry more than 70 airplanes and 5,600 personnel, sailed into the naval hub of Yokosuka on Tokyo Bay on a sunny day as US troops at the dock waved flags and beat drums.
The USS George Washington replaced the diesel USS Kitty Hawk, which is being retired after being stationed in Yokosuka for 10 years that included missions to fight in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“The forces of freedom in the Pacific will have no more powerful ship to defend their interests than the USS George Washington right here in Yokosuka,” US ambassador Thomas Schieffer told the assembled sailors.
Recalling World War II, Schieffer said that neither side could have imagined then that a US nuclear carrier would come “not to subjugate Japan, but to defend Japan.”
The mood on the Yokosuka dock was festive with some 2,000 people, mostly US military personnel, holding balloons and ribbons of red, white and blue.
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, in a speech read in his name, said that Japan “wholeheartedly” welcomed the USS George Washington.
“A strong US-Japan alliance is the linchpin of Japan's diplomacy seeing as the security environment in East Asia remains harsh, as illustrated by such problems as the North Korean nuclear issue,” he said.
But at a waterfront park, some 300 demonstrators raised their fists in the air as they saw the huge vessel cruising into Tokyo Bay.
“The USS George Washington, go home now!” the protesters shouted. Hundreds of more demonstrators rallied elsewhere.
“We regret that the aircraft career has arrived here, but the real crisis for the residents of Yokosuka has just begun,” said Masahiko Goto, a lawyer and leader of a local civil group opposing the deployment of the vessel.
“If it was a nuclear energy plant, the central and local governments could check it thoroughly,” he said. “But they cannot control and monitor the US aircraft carrier.”
“The US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is untouchable for us,” he said.
Some activists have even urged residents to carry iodine syrup, which is effective in preventing thyroid cancer, especially for children, due to exposure to atomic radiation.
Yokosuka is 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Tokyo. Anti-military activists say it is unprecedented for a nuclear-powered ship to be so close to densely populated areas.
Japan has campaigned against nuclear weapons since US atomic bombs destroyed its cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, killing more than 210,000 people.
Since its defeat, Japan has been officially pacifist and relied on a security alliance with the United States, which stations more than 40,000 troops in the country.
Japan accepted the USS George Washington after US military authorities presented studies which they said showed there were no risks to local residents.
But concerns grew after a fire broke out on the USS George Washington in May, injuring dozens of sailors and delaying the carrier's arrival in Japan by a month as it underwent 70 million dollars in repairs.
The Pentagon also said last month that a nuclear-powered US submarine may have released a small amount of radiation during a visit this year near Nagasaki.
Relations in Japan have often been tense between US troops and residents, who accuse servicemen of causing noise and crime.
