Following a Feb. 6 meeting of the U.S.-Japan Joint Committee, the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement regarding the agreement; another statement was released Wednesday.

“The government of Japan and the United States government have decided today to consider the feasibility of commercial aviation use at Iwakuni Air Base,” said the statement, obtained via Master Sgt. Leah Gonzales, a USFJ spokeswoman.

The decision came from the Facilities Adjustment Panel of the Facilities Subcommittee, which is a subordinate body to the U.S.-Japan Joint Committee, the statement said.

Questioned about further details, Gonzalez said: “USFJ does not discuss the internal deliberations of the Joint Committee,” which meets every other week.

According to Col. David Darrah, commander of Iwakuni MCAS, the U.S. has “agreed to talk about it,” but nothing further. He said USFJ officials would represent the U.S. interests in such talks as they occur.

The government of Japan is moving a local mountain offshore to be shaped into a new air station runway. The project is designed to decrease the danger of a plane crash in densely populated neighborhoods and at a nearby petroleum plant, and to reduce exposure of local residents to aircraft noise.

The new airstrip, about 1,000 yards east of the air station’s current runway, is being built using a 2.1-mile conveyor system hauling the dirt from 360-foot Mount Atago to the offshore site.

The Japanese government began the project in 1996. The $1.5 billion, 8,052-foot runway is slated for completion in 2005; it will be more than five years before planes can use it.

The United States and Japan have a joint-use arrangement at Misawa Air Base’s 10,000-foot runway, where Japan Air System stages commercial flights. U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft, along with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, also use Misawa’s runway.

Yamaguchi Prefecture has one of the weakest economies in Japan. Officials started considering the plan in fiscal 1998, said Kenji Nakamura, of the Yamaguchi Prefecture Regional Development Division.

“Private and public promotional organizations were formed, and the prefecture requested in 2000 that the Japan government consider the joint use of the facilities,” he said. “Iwakuni City has collected 70,000 signatures of people who want an airport in the east side of the prefecture."

In June 1952, Iwakuni began to accommodate international commercial flights. Private flights from Britain, Australia and South Korea flew in, and it served as a stopover airport for Japan Airlines’ domestic flights to and from Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. The joint use was stopped after the Hiroshima Airport opened in December 1964.

“There were many reasons why joint use was suspended, but … there are gaps between Hiroshima and Iwakuni that are not covered now,” Nakamura said.

Politicians, including Iwakuni Mayor Katsusuke Ihara and Yamaguchi Gov. Sekinari Nii, were pleased by the recent decision to explore joint usage.

“I believe it is a great step forward toward joint military and civilian use. I want to promote resuming it soon to the government, and to U.S. Forces Japan,” Nii said in a Feb. 7 report in the Mainichi Shimbun.

Asked if commercial activities and the air station’s military air traffic could coexist, Nakamura said, “The Defense Facilities Agency said joint use might be considered on the condition that it will not affect operations of the U.S. military.

“Sufficient safety would have to be considered.”