TOKYO -- U.S. military Black Hawk helicopters, like the one involved in a fatal collision with a passenger jet near Washington D.C. Jan. 29, are stationed at a base near Japan's capital, and frequently make low-altitude flights including over crowded, central areas.

Five Black Hawks are stationed at the U.S. Army's Camp Zama in Kanagawa Prefecture south of Tokyo. The aircraft are around 20 meters across counting their rotor blades, and weigh over 5 metric tons. Their main mission in Japan is believed to be transporting political VIPs, military leaders, soldiers and others. They were used by then Vice President Kamala Harris and her entourage on a visit in 2022.

United States Forces Japan (USFJ) actively promotes their use when deployed to help following disasters such as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake or the Noto Earthquake that struck on New Year's Day in 2024. However, their regular use is for the most part kept shrouded in secrecy.

The Mainichi Shimbun has since 2020 investigated the flights of USFJ aircraft in and around Tokyo, including those of the Black Hawk helicopters. Those craft often land at the heliport on top of the Akasaka Press Center in the Roppongi district of Tokyo's Minato Ward, and take off on flights above central Tokyo that are believed to be training exercises.

So far, the investigations have shown that U.S. military craft frequently make passes above the densely crowded Shinjuku Station at altitudes lower than the minimum 300 meters above buildings as stipulated for crowded areas in the Civil Aeronautics Act. They also fly near Tokyo Skytree in the capital's Sumida Ward.

Pilots often approach the Roppongi heliport in the skies above the "keyaki" zelkova tree-lined Omotesando Avenue straddling Shibuya and Minato wards, as the road leads to it in a straight line. There is a possibility the street is considered a takeoff and landing route.

The opening of a new approach route to Haneda Airport in 2020 allowed passenger aircraft to make low-altitude flights over the city, and some experts are pointing out the danger from how the Black Hawks frequently pass below this route.

The U.S. military also conducts takeoff and landing training at the Yokohama North Dock facility at the Port of Yokohama, and runs circular flights along Tokyo Bay, showing that their area of activity is broadly across the capital region. It is further known that troops at Camp Zama are called "ninjas" within the U.S. military, and that their activities take place day and night.

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The Mainichi Shimbun's investigative series has covered two aspects, one focusing on abnormal flights above the Japanese capital and the other on in-depth verifications of U.S. forces in Japan and Japan's airspace. There are currently 24 videos containing evidential footage and interviews with experts, accessible for free on the Mainichi's Japanese news website.

The English website The Mainichi has carried most of these videos with translated captions in its "US military helicopters' low-altitude flights" series.

(Japanese original by Hiroyuki Oba, Tokyo City News Department)